The most important part of link building isn't the volume of links. It's the quality. Find out how search engines work, things that affect "link juice", and how to check if a link is worth your time.

1. How Search Engines Work


Search engines give each page a rank in their system. They need to know which pages are more suitable for certain keywords. Let's say that you have a "home based business opportunity" website. Great. So do a lot of people. And which ones are on top? You will notice sites in top page rankings are...
• Older Sites
• High Traffic Sites
• Well Known Sites
• Sites That Have Other Web Sites Linking to Them
To get in the top pages of the search engines for your keyword, you will have to do one of four things: wait a long time, spread the word, get an honorable mention, or have other sites link to yours. But hold on! Some links are no good while others help you out a lot! Each link has a certain amount of "Link Juice" that is outsourced on every page with links.


2. How "Link Juice" Works


"Link Juice" is the amount of respect given to your site by a search engine because another site linked to yours. "Link Juice" is positively affected by various things. The important things to note are as follows:
• Relevancy of Content of the Page Linking to Your Site
• Relevancy of Content of the Link to Your Site
• Less Links Overall on the Page Linking to Your Site
• PageRank of the Page Linking to Your Site
3. How to Use Google's PageRank


Google's PageRank is a system based on a set of algorythms designed to bring you the most relevant and respected pages to the top of Google's search engine rankings. Since Google is the most popular search engine, it is wise to gain their favor. One way you can check if a page has a high PageRank is to download the "Google Toolbar" and install the PageRank feature. If a page has a high PageRank, then a link on their site is worth more!


4. Being Creative to Get Results


Now that you have been bombarded with all this information on how to check pages to see if they are worthy of your link, how do you go about attaining those links? The traditional methods are submitting your Web Site to web directories. However, I suggest that you get creative and try something "out of the box". Try offering the webmaster of a competing website something of value to his or her Web Site. Try to find ways of getting links from well known Web Sites. Try writing the webmasters emails. But most of all, try everything!