Although search engines use page content to make sure a page is relevant to a search they also rely on links to gauge how important a page is. This combination of relevance and importance is the way that most search engines order the results they show.

To explain the concept of page importance we can consider how we trust information that we receive from people and relate it to how search engines make similar decisions:

We instinctively trust information given to us by people we know more than we would trust advice from a stranger. In the same way, search engines usually trust sites that are established and known to them. A new website has to earn the trust of search engines over time or has to be 'recommended' by gaining links from trusted sites.

We expect experts to give us good information on the subject they know about. Likewise, search engines make decisions on what sites are 'experts' in their field, otherwise known as authority sites. Links from these 'experts' carry considerably more weight than links from sites that are less authoritative or off-topic.

Good link building is not about quantity, it's all about quality. Several links from trusted, authoritative sites is far better than hundreds or even thousands from sites that are untrustworthy and have no relevance to your site. This explains why offers like 'Submit your site to 50,000 directories' are not going to help your site, you will just end up with loads of junk email.

Gaining important and relevant links is not a simple task and the identification of potential targets and acquisition of links is best done by hand. Rating Room personalise requests for links and make a compelling case for the link to be made, this dramatically increases the hit rate for your most important targets. This is vital for your site's success.