Pay attention to the quality of your incoming links. Avoid mistakes that can hurt your rankings. Quality incoming links are the most important off the page factor that can affect how well your site places in the search engine results page (SERP). Avoid the temptation to get as many links as possible without considering the source and quality of those links. A well planned gradual approach is much more likely to give you the long term results you want. The wrong tactics in the beginning can actually hurt your rankings.

The Kind Of Links You DO Want…Links That Live in Your Neighborhood

The major search engines, Google in particular are striving to generate search results that are relevant to the keywords that are used in a search query. It follows then that links from other sites that have content that is related to yours will be of greater value to you. Google states that the sites that link to you can provide context about the subject matter of your site, and can indicate its quality and popularity. Finding sites with related content should be the cornerstone of your link building strategy. Conduct searches using keywords that users would use to find your site, think about trade or professional organizations, or other related sites that might be willing to link to your site.

The Kind of Links You Probably DON’T Want

Avoid links from sites that live on the wrong side of the tracks – just stay out of the "bad neighborhoods" If the sites that are linking to you are untrustworthy in Google's eyes, then your site might be branded as untrustworthy as well.

So just what is an untrustworthy site? Google's Webmaster Tools discussion of quality refers to "bad neighborhoods" as sites that engage in spam. They warn not to participate in link schemes that are designed to boost your page rank. Specifically they recommend refraining from:

• Links intended to manipulate PageRank;
• Excessive reciprocal links or excessive link exchanging ("Link to me and I'll link to you.")
• buying and selling links that pass PageRank

Link Farms and Link Exchanges…Just Say No!

While it may be tempting to respond to sites offering you numerous and easy links, be careful. Engaging in these types of link building practices violates Google's Webmaster Guidelines, and can negatively impact your site's ranking in search results. Keep in mind that it is not just the number of links that point to your web site, but the quality and relevance of your link sources.