i would like the importance of Link Popularity to get a high SERP .. also i would like to know how does Search Engines know If the backlinks are coming from a related site or same niche. thx
It's very simple. When visiting a site / page search engine bots spider through all keywords, and contents for the site. From there they can understand what kind of site it is. And the algorithm they use it's tooooooo large and they can cehck if you are linking to a site of your genere or not.
Inbound links/link popularity is a big factor to get high ranks. Link to your site correspond to a vote to your site.
Having quality links pointing to your site using targeted phrases will do more for your rankings than anything else. The other SEO techniques are important but quality link building is what will take your site to the next level.
yes, i do understand everything you guys telling us about getting quality links but i can't seem to get any results specially at google... i planning to start again... i think i submitted to a lot of directories, getting link exchange, etc. i noticed that there aren't any website who gets 5 and above PR related to my site... this SEO thing sure is challenging but I feel SEO doesn't want me... hehehe
to get ranked into google takes a heck of a long time. ranking in yahoo and MSN is easier, so i focus on getting ranked in BOTH SEs.
Rankings for less popular terms will happen (in google as well) regardless of the links you have from other sites, but as everyone says, get as many links as possible to boost SERPS for for popular terms.