It is impossible to over emphasize the importance of links for Google. It is by far the most important factor in achieving a good ranking. In trying to achieve a high ranking for a page in Google, and similar search engines, you are claiming that the page is of sufficient interest or importance to be given that high ranking.

The two most important factors for Google are the content of the page and the links from other successful pages on the web.

• A recommendation from a reputable person is seen as a good reference. Similarly a link from a page that is already ranked well by Google is seen as a vote for the page that receives the link. This is the most important factor for Google. 

1. Google Page Rank. 

• One of the factors in the Google algorithm is the Google page rank or PR. This is an indication of the value that Google place on that page. 

• To see the value of any page you need the Google toolbar. 

• When you have downloaded it, open any web page, place the mouse on Page Rank and it will show a number out of 10, e.g. PR7. 

2. Links for PR. 

• To be of value for PR a link needs to come from a page that itself has a reasonable PR. 

• You should, however, work on getting as many links as possible as some of these could get a higher PR in the future. 

• In our linking work, we totally disregard PR, and will accept a link from any relevant page that is indexed by Google. 

3. How many links per page for PR? 

• A page passes some if its PR to pages to which it links. One asumption is that it can pass 85% of its own PR. For PR purposes links includes both internal as well as external links. The PR to be passed is divided by the total number of links. A link from a page that has 100's of links is therefore of little value for PR. 

4. Links for help with ranking. 

• A link from a page that is on the same subject as your page is the only type of link that has value for ranking. There are those who say that the site has to be on the same theme as that to which it links. However we will happily accept links that are from pages on the same theme as the recipient. 

• Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote by page A for page B. 

• However, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes or links a page receives, as it also analyses the page that casts the vote. 

• Votes cast by pages that are themselves important weigh more heavily and help to make other pages important. 

• Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's content. 

• Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant . It is important therefore that the page from which you receive a link, has relevant text that will justify to Google the value of the link. 

• Getting a link from an important site that's relevant is the key. 
  
   

5. Text of Link. 

• The use of anchor text for Google is vital. 

• If your search term is "big blue balloons", then ask the webmaster of the site to include those words in the text of the link. 

• The task of acquiring these links is referred to as off page search engine optimisation. These off page factors are far more important for Google than the on page factors described in Page Content. 

• There are pages that are No.1 in Google, against many millions, purely on the basis of many high PR links. 

• There are pages that are No.1 in Google, against many millions, purely on the basis of anchor text, without the search term appearing on the page, and where the Google cache will say, "these words only appear in links to this site." 

• With all the details about the importance of links for Google, it is possible to forget that any link is also worthwhile because it can provide you with traffic. 

CAUTIONARY NOTE: Before tackling the job of getting links, make sure that you understand all the tricks that can get your page or site banned by Google.

ADVISORY NOTE: Read carefully the Google Webmaster guidelines.