Link Popularity: Why Its The Best Investment You Can Do For Your Business (Mon Dec 5th, 2005 01:16:54 AM, by Marcio Dias) More and more search engines rank your web pages based on the number of links that point to your web site (link popularity). Google uses link popularity as its most important factor in ranking sites. HotBot, AltaVista, MSN, Inktomi, and others also use link popularity in their formulas. Find out why and how you can create a great link exchange program.