The most significant gains in search engine rankings come from a protracted, ongoing link building campaign in which remarkable content is published on the primary customer site and additional quality content is published on high authority blogs and web 2.0 properties, then supplemented by additional tactics.

• Guest Blogging

  Publishing on Other People's Websites

  Writing remarkable content and then getting it published on the websites of others, often in hopes or exchange of a link back to the site, is one common form of building brand exposure and improve rankings

  
  Bad:

  Do not publish on 'blog networks', notorious for spamming 'spun' content, like:
  Authority Link Network
  Build My Rank
  

  Good:

  Good sites to find guest blogging opportunities:
  My Blog Guest
  100 Sites to Submit Guest Posts
  500 Places to Syndicate
  

• Link Bait

  Links you can't resist clicking

  Publish items which are informational, humorous, breaking news, unique, unexpected, hard to find or are very controversial.

  Good:

  Good Examples:
  Top 101 Link Popularity Tips
  5 Creepy Beach Sculptures
  30 of the World's Greatest Wedding Cakes
  

• Press Releases

  Top of the Queue, Front of Mind

  News results often appear up above organic search results (along with video, shopping and location based results). This makes press releases a great way to jump to the top of the list and keep fresh news about the company in the front of mind to the customer.