It is the never ending game all of us play with SEO (search engine optimization). Backlinks. Now you already know that you need backlinks to improve your ranking in the search engines. Whether it be Yahoo, Bing or the almighty Google, your link popularity is what counts. So the question here is how to get FREE backlinks. Especially high PR links.

There are many sources for free backlinks. Lets look at a few-

Article Directories -

Possibly the easiest one of them all. Find a list of the article directories with the highest page rank and write a unique article on your subject matter. Include a link to your website in the text or the resource box. You now have a free incoming link to your site.

Blog Commenting -

As with an article directory, you need to not spam this resource. Just because it is free, doesn't mean you can treat it as such. Have respect for the blog owner and they will let you have a link in your comment, or a link in your username.

Reciprocal Link Exchange -

This is one you need to be careful with. Are they free? You bet they are. The thing with these kind of links, you increase the risk of being penalized by Google. They can see the link exchange that is going on. You are blatantly showing Google you are trying to 'buy' your position in the SERPS. This is one tool I would steer clear of.

Your best bet is finding an article directory with high PR that allows a link in the resource box. This is the most natural looking link to the search engines, apart from a direct link from Google themselves.