Search engine optimization seems to be becoming more and more difficult, with search engine algorithms becoming more complexed with what they require to be important. However, one thing for sure is that backlinks in particular are still one of the most effective search engine optimization techniques.
When you receive links to your website, search engines view this as a vote for your site. Now the value of this vote depends on a number of factors such as the number of outgoing links the page with your link on has, the number of incoming links the page has, and whether the site that contains your link is seen by the search engines as an "authority" site.
There are many contributing factors for your website to rank highly in SERP's, but one thing for sure is that you need to continually build the number and quality of links pointing to your site. This could be through a number of methods:
1) Reciprocal linking - you contact other webmasters to offer the opportunity to provide a link to their website for the same in return.
2) One-way linking - this can be from many methods. Write articles and submit to article directories, add a link in your sig in forums, post opinions on blogs with a link back to your site (providing that the site owner does not mind!), and link directories.
There is no doubt that one-way linking is more powerful than reciprocal linking by a long way. Also consider that reciprocal linking should be conducted with sites that are relevant to your own websites theme.
Link building using your chosen keyword is also important. For example, should you have a website that you would like to rank highly in search engines for the phrase "Dog Beds", then if possible have website owner's link to your site using the search term as the actual link to your site. This shows the search engines that your site is relevant to this keyword phrase, and will rank it highly should you receive many links like this. Merely gaining links to your site is not the ONLY optimization that you must do for your site, as mentioned earlier, but it is certainly a significant contributing factor in search results.
An important note to remember is to never link to "link farms". These are sites that contain hundreds upon hundreds of outgoing links on one page. Search engines do not tend to look upon them favorable, and in any case if your link is also on this "link farm" page, the benefit will be minimal due to the large number of other links taking a share of the value of links from the page.
There are many free article directories, and free link directories where it is possible to gain good quality links to your site. However, paying for a link from a link directory is often very rewarding. You may find that paid directories will guarantee the acceptance of your website within hours to a couple of days. This is compared to many free directories often taking months to review your submission, and may not even approve it in the end. There are some exceptions but the key is to find them. Another good point to remember is that many new link directories that are well setup will possibly have categories with very few websites currently accepted. This provides a great opportunity to submit your site to benefit from the page's link value to the fullest.
The new directory at http://www.articleblotter.com/directory offers the perfect opportunity to gain one-way links to your website. The site also allows you to write and submit articles if you choose to in order to gain links. Also keep upto date with article marketing information and site news with the article marketing blog.