Google uses relevance, trust and authority to rank websites. There is a bias towards information sites as they can act as sources of information for industries.

• Prefers natural link growth over time
• Is good at determining paid links
• Biased towards link based data
• Site age can determine trust
• Keyword usage, density and variation is important
• Anchor text is important (it is used in the relevance factor)
• Reciprocal and sitewide links do not carry as much importance as plain editorial links
• Can take up to 12 months to penetrate search engines for competitive terms

Google place the most importance on backlinks compared to any other search engine. The quality and quantity also plays a considerable factor. Getting as many links from anywhere and everywhere can actually hurt your site as the links may not be relevant to your website. If you really want to dominate your niche, you need to build your links the right way from the start!

Good luck with your Search Engine Optimisation