In case you weren’t aware, link popularity is now THE dominant factor determining which websites hit the heights on Google and the other major search engines such as Yahoo and MSN.

Search engine summits, especially when it comes to popular keywords, are fiercely competitive environments. Link popularity and the strength of your links will make or break your SEO (search engine optimisation) campaign. Links more often than not are heavily content related. To earn them a site must offer high quality content and be considered worthy as a destination to visitors.

Relevance is key and it’s always important to ask yourself, “Does my site have genuine worth?” It’s a pointless exercise otherwise. If your site is well optimised, informative, interesting and a useful destination that will genuinely interest visitors, then it’s time to develop your inbound inks.

Do bear in mind though that link generation and maintaining link building strategies can be frustrating and time consuming. It’s usually much more cost effective and successful to use a professional link building company. 

Here are 5 rich sources that offer plenty of high quality inbound links:

Profile Sites – From Flikr to Newsvine to MySpace and Yahoo! 360 to Digg, Del.icio.us and StumbleUpon "Web 2.0" sites are potential goldmines for links.

Blogsphere – Have you identified the movers and shakers in your field?  Linking to them and letting them know it can inspire powerful reciprocate links.

Your own blog  - A blog can be a very useful starting point from which to generate interest in your site. Is your blog interesting and informative  enough?

High quality exclusive content – Content is king (and queen) – high quality, content reigns supreme. The authority of a site that establishes itself as an industry resource – techcrunch.com is immense. Offering high quality content, useful tools, or other helpful services will attract great non-reciprocal links.

Article submission, syndication and article exchange – Expertly written and well-distributed SEO articles containing inbound links to dedicated landing pages can all contribute to SEO success.