Links from trusted, authoritative sites with descriptive, natural anchor text are worth much more than spam links from unrelated sites with low-quality content. Google has an algorithm to target websites with a suspicious number of links from low-quality sites, making link building notoriously difficult. However, it makes sense that links should be earned by strong content, not bought. It’s important to remember that SEO isn’t purely about optimising content for a search engine – its purpose is to make websites better for users.
The most effective way to increase your number of quality inbound links is therefore to produce engaging content that people will actually want to link to. To help you along, use social platforms to promote your site, run competitions, take part in reverse guest posts and befriend influencers where possible. All of these actions boost awareness of your site, and if you have valuable content then people will want to link back, connecting you with more sites and simultaneously boosting your search engine ranking position.