You've optimized your web site, you have great content, but you're still not getting a lot of traffic? No site is an island on the web -- and if it is, the search engines assume it's not important, and place it accordingly. Here are some ways to make sure you're connected to the rest of the world.
The Question
What's in a link? Why is it considered so important in search engine optimization? Linking is not considered the most important technique in search engine optimization, but it very well could be. What makes Google's PageRank search algorithm unique is the position of importance it accords to sites that have a large number of links pointing to them. But it is not only Google which considers links important; all other search engine spiders travel along links to search and index web pages, so we could term links important to search engines in general and essential to Google rankings.
The Needs
I believe honest and effective linking could very well be the single most important thing to search engine optimization techniques for Google, perhaps more important than keyword density and position. Effective linking strategies take time to develop, however, but the time spent developing links to your site could very well be the most profitable time you could spend on SEO. Effective linking could be your insurance against losing your ranking when Google tinkers with its search criteria, and could make your position consistent month in, month out. In these perilous times when businesses are built or destroyed according to their positioning on Google, this could very well be the Holy Grail of SEO techniques.
No matter what changes in Google's search criteria, one thing has remained constant thus far, and that is the importance it attaches to incoming links (and even outgoing links). Google ranks individual URLs by the number of other URLs which have links to it, and also to the URLs that particular URL links to. One link pointing to a site gives the site one positive vote in the algorithm; two gives it two votes, and so on. Linking is important to positioning; nobody knows the exact criteria by which a site achieves number one status on Google, but I can bet my horse and his grandma that the top ranked site on Google for any category is the one that has the largest number of links pointing to it.
Not only is the number of links important, also important is the caliber (or quality) of sites which have links to your site. Your site is given a higher ranking if the site that links to yours is also a highly ranked site which offers rich and relevant content. But keep in mind, just linking for the sake of SEO can lead to a site being penalized by the major search engines. The sites that link to yours must be related sites. This shows the search engine that you are not only concerned about ranking, but that you want to provide the online public more information, and that you are really offering value. This makes the practice of contracting linking to companies that guarantee you links dangerous, as you are not aware of their linking methods (perhaps they just link all comers together) and a mistake could cause you to be banned from a search engine.
Link Trading 
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