Anyone that works with Search Engine Optimization knows that link building is a big part of increasing web traffics and a website's search engine ranking. There are many types of link building strategies and this article will list what the different types of linking are and how effective they can be.

For starters, there are roughly nine types of link building: Reciprocal link building, Authority link building, One-way link building, Article submission, Three way link exchange, Social networking, Directory link building, Press release link building, and Blog linking building.

Reciprocal link building is when two websites link to each other. Both websites will benefit in increasing search engine rankings but you have to be careful which sites you link with. You do not want to link with a site you are already competing with for rankings and you have to wary of fraud web masters. It is important to make sure the business or site you are linking with is trust worthy.

Authority link building is taking trusted links from sites like Yahoo and Google. This type of link is considered the top site in its respected niche, therefore it is considered an authority link. For example, Wikipedia is considered an authority link. Linking these sites to your website will greatly increase your site's search engine ranking.

One-way link building is where a site links to another site, but unlike Reciprocal link building, it does not link back. Where Reciprocal link building is done in more of a business sense, one-way link building is performed with quality and interest in mind.

Article submission is submitting articles into different directories. Here you can add one-way links to your articles which connect back to your site.

Three way link exchange is a simple concept where three sites link with each other. The basic formula is Site A gives a link to Site B, Site B gives a link to Site C, and Site C gives a link to Site A.. That way every site ends up with a one-way link. This can sometimes be more beneficial than reciprocal link building.

Social networking is linking your site to a social media site such as Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, Twitter and such. If executed properly, this will be a great way to generate more hits.

Directory link building is similar to Authority link building where in you build a link in popular directories such as Yahoo in order to find niche directories. This is a good to build credibility to your site.

The last two types of link building, Press release link building and Blog link building, are not as useful as the others listed above but they do generate some traffic. They may only gain small amounts of traffic but if you have numerous amounts of press releases and blogs floating around the web gathering hits then you will definitely see a difference in your web site's ranking.

There are other types of link building methods but the ones listed above are the most common. Mastering these types of links will certainly increase web traffic and search engine ranking for your site.