Not all links have an equal value. What determines the value of the link is its relevancy to the page it is linked to. The more relevant the page is the greater the value of the link. If not just the page, but the whole site is relevant the link is even more valuable.

Here are some methods you can use to create links to your site.

Reciprocal Links.

Reciprocal links were once of real value. Today they do not have the value they once had. It is still good to use them providing the site you are linking to is relevant to your industry or business.

Writing Articles

This is one of the best ways of creating links back to your site. This can have a viral effect as webmasters take up your article and post it on their site or send it out in a newsletter. Articles you submit must have a link back to your site. Most article directories allow you to place a link in your bio section. There are hundreds of these article directories that you can post to. Here are some you must make sure to include: EzineArticles.com, ArticleCity.com, and GoArticles.com.

Link Farms

If you come across a link farm go the other way. A link farm is a site of scrolling pages with countless links. These links are bad. They can actually kill your rankings. They are really part of a spammer's network. Never link to any of these sites as it can downgrade your ranking with Google.

Directories

Links from directories can help significantly. Directories such as DMOZ, Yahoo and other reputable directories can greatly help you in your rankings. If you can get your site into DMOZ you will reap the benefits. The difficulty is getting it included. Search for the best category and submit your site every 4 - 6 months until you are listed.

It is easier to get listed with Yahoo. Easier in one way and that is you don't need to keep trying. Not so easy in another way and that is it will cost you $299. Google sees Yahoo directory as somewhat of an authority. Your link will be valuable because of this.

Another link that is important is anchor text. Anchor text is the text in the hyperlink. An example of anchor text is this: For the very best in web hosting you can't go past LinksParadise. The words "web hosting" is hyperlinked. This is anchor text. I used "web hosting" as this would be a keyword my site is optimized for. If you did a search with Google for the words "Click Here" you will find that the #1 site for that search term is Adobe. This is because many sites link to Adobe Acrobat Reader, and use the anchor text "Click Here"

So now when you use anchor text be sure to use keywords you are optimizing your site for. So even though "click Here" is appropriate at times, try to use your keywords as this will greatly increase the value of the link.

This of course is just a few of the thing that will help to increase the ranking of your site with the search engines.