Like good PR, high search engine rankings are supposedly free, but take a lot of work and chasing to get links from quality online publications that are relevant to your subject.

Here are a few tips to make your hunt for links more effective

1. High search engine rankings are the result of good inbound links and optimized web page contents. You must have both to succeed on search engines.
2. Submit your web site to general directories (such as the Yahoo directory and Dmoz.org) and industry-specific directories to get links from these sites.
3. Exchange links with other related web sites. Find web sites that link to your competitors’ sites. They might want to link to your site as well.
4. Exchange links with web sites that offer “add link” forms.
5. Make sure that other web sites use your desired search term in the link text when linking to your site. Search engines assume that your web page must be relevant for the search term if other web pages link to your web site with that term in the link text.
6. Make sure that surfers can find the links to your site on your link partner’s web sites. The link to your site that is buried 3-4 levels away from the home page may not be as valuable as a link prominently placed on the home page.
7. Links that are in bold face or uses a big font may be more important than other links.
8. Use the search term in the link texts of your own links.
9. Do not use exactly the same link text for all links because that might look unnatural to search engines. Use different but related link texts that contain your keyword and related keywords.
10. The best way to attract new links is if your web site offers unique content that cannot be found anywhere else. Then web sites voluntarily link to your site. Try to regularly add new web pages, articles and texts to your web site.