Link Popularity - The New King in Search Engine Optimization

We've all heard the saying that content is king. Well, there's been a coup. Link Popularity is the new king of search engine optimization. Don't get me wrong, content is still extremely important, and is still the second most important factor in getting your site on the first page of Google for your most important key phrase. But Link Popularity is been proven to be the most important factor, especially on Google. Off page factors, such as the number and quality of websites that link to your website have exceeded the importance other factor found on your own site.

The three most important things in determining link popularity are..
1) The Number Of Incoming Links To Your Website
2) The Quality And Relevancy Of The Links To Your Website
3) The Anchor Text Of The Links To Your Website

The Number Of Incoming Links To Your Website
Simply put, the more links a site has pointed to it, the more popular it is deemed to be. However, it's not always that simple. Links that are 'reciprocal' (they link to you, you link to them) are often discounted. So, it's one way, they link to you links that are important here.

The Quality And Relevancy Of The Links To Your Website
While the sheer number of links that you have pointing to your website is important, it's also important to consider the quality of those links. All links are not equal. Some links are more important than others. A link from the very popular Yahoo would be much more important than a link from a website that just got started yesterday. The more popular the site is that links to you, the more important that link is. Popularity isn't the only consideration though. Relevancy is equally important. You want to be sure that sites that link to you are very similar in subject. A electronics site that links to a health site isn't going to count as much as a fitness sites that links to a health site.

The Anchor Text Of The Links To Your Website
The text that is used to link to your site is also strong consideration in determining link popularity. You want link to you site to be descriptive, easy to read, and have the key phrases that are important to you and that match the key phrases you have optimized your site for.