simonm, you're not cheating the system.
cbp, you're not getting out of the sandbox.
What you did (the extra linking fron on-topic sites) helped because it got you past the first set of ranking and into the second set of ranking.
We're now dealing with LocalRank, which essentially is two ranking processes. Here's how it works:
Say, for example, the keyword is Red Widgets. The first ranking process gets a list of URLs that could rank for Red Widgets. For my example, say we have 10k pages that are about Red Widgets. Of those 10k pages, they then calculate the REAL rankings based on the links that pages have from those other 10k pages. The rankings are based on 10k pages, not all the pages on the web that Google knows about.
By adding additional deep links to your site(s) from on-topic pages (that would be in the original list of 10k pages), you're essentially qualifying your site into the second round of the ranking process. And that's why your site suddenly appears to have gotten out of the sandbox (or whatever you call it). Personally, I like to call it what Greg Bosier calls it, the Litter Box.
So, to rank well now (or show up in the top 1000 results) you need to have a site about Red Widgets and have on-topic links (from other sites or pages about Red Widgets). Off-topic links and links from your own sites don't count, they're disregarded.
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