Link building is a vital part of SEO. In fact, without link building your website probably stands no chance to rank in Google. It is also a well known fact that back links are the best way to boost traffic to your website. But are you aware of what back links you can count on and what back links are a waste of your time?
Link building is uncomplicated when defined, but only on trying it out for yourself will you be able to see that not all links are the same. Different links give you different results, and you need to search for links based on the results you want to get from the link building effort. When a website links to your site in return for a link to their site from yours the link that you acquire is called a reciprocal link. If the site gives you a link without demanding for a link back to their site it is called a one way link.
Search engines do not take reciprocal links into consideration when evaluating your site for ranking hence they are of no use in rankings. Only one way links are considered for calculating search engine ranking and hence your focus should be on gaining one way back links to your website.
Simply acquiring as many one way links as you can will also get you nowhere. There are certain principles based on which Google calculates the value of your back links. The value of links you get from websites having a high page rank will outweigh the value of your links obtained from sites that are of a lower page rank. The time between each link you acquire also plays a part in Googles decision to rank you. If your site acquires too many links too soon, there is a chance that it will be penalized.
The links you acquire should be well spaced and appear to be naturally obtained. Keeping these in mind will help you make the best out of your link building efforts.