Incoming links are, almost always, a good thing for your sites PageRank.
There are exceptions, like being linked to from spam sites or by ‘buying’ you links placement on a site. But for the most part, inbound links are good.
Good vs Great
Google likes good links. These come from sites that have lots of them, like directories, large sites with hundreds of outbound links but that aren’t all that popular, etc. It doesn’t hurt to show up here.
But we want Great links.
Great links come from highly related sites that are ‘important’ (ie lots of traffic and clout in the search engines), especially when these sites don’t tend to link out all that much.
Let’s take an example. You have Site X and Site Y link back to your own homepage after sending a nice letter. Site X is a large site in a similar field, with good traffic, and about 100 links on the sidebar to other places on the net. Site Y might be a little smaller, but has a higher PR because its content is great, it has good and great links back to it, and is firmly entrenched in its niche. Site Y also has only a handful of outbound links on their site, and you’re one of them.
Google looks at this scenario something like this: Site X links to this guy, but he links to lots of people, so it doesn’t mean his site is great, but its probably pretty good. Site Y, on the other hand, links to this guy when he hardly links to ANYONE. This site must be great!
You get the idea?
When link building, make sure you go beyond getting yourself into directories. If your goal is to rank in the top 5, you’ll need a few Site Y’s linking back to you as well.
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