Quality of back links is important. Some websites with fewer backlinks will have more traffic because they are a well known brand name, have a large clientele, have been online for years and years and years. Or, it could be their social media campaign or their marketing campaign, part and parcel. Back links are important, but the quality of back links is also something to consider. A variety of backlinks is good. Make sure your back links come from a variety of sources.
Back links from commenting is good, provided you use your keywords as the anchor text which links back to your site. Directories are also another type of back link. Some directories charge for your submission and others ask for reciprocal links back to their website. Having an authority site within the same subject area as your website or blog linking back to your website or blog is the main prize. This will boost both your traffic and page rank. How you get a back link from an authority site is a task in itself. You can write to the webmaster and ask, or else you can hope that your article or website has quality content and is worth back linking to. That’s the best way to go about it.
So, it is somewhat about the back links. It’s more than that though. Quality content and lots of it will do the trick.