In the session "Secrets for Getting More and Better Links for Higher Search Rankings," Stephan Spencer founder and president of Netconcepts talked about free tools to use for checking link popularity.

Coverage of the ACCM conference continues at WebProNews Videos.  Keep an eye on WebProNews for more notes and videos from the event this week.)

You can check the popularity of links using Yahoo’s Site Explorer, Netconcept’s Link Checker and Thumbshots Ranking tool.

 To check page rank use the Google Toolbar for IE or Firefox, the Google Directory, which only works for pages that are listed in DMOZ. You can also use PageRank Lookup tool from SEOChat and PageRank search tool from SEOChat.

When it comes to getting links Spencer said, "Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want to tell your family or a Google rep about."

Seth Besmertnik, CEO of LinkExperts talked about link building for structure. The ideal structure includes a critical mass of links, well-designed page and a well-designed internal structure.

Paid links have a bad reputation because they have been search spam. Aggregator and spam sites tend to be very aggressive and thoughtless and do not consider the user.

Besmertnik said," Always be a good Internet citizen and make sure you are doing things that are good, valuable, and provide a good experience."

Neil Patel, chief technology officer, Advantage Consulting Services, said the keys to success include learning and following rules and providing valuable content. He said to participate in the community and to build relations which you know matters.

Patel said," Social media may not be valuable for every company." You can find out by researching your target audience, listing goals and researching your competition.

Rhea Drysdale, Online Marketing Director of Less Everything, said the top tips for link building were time, money and experience. If you don’t have time, money or experience you can spend 15 minutes a day practicing link building techniques.

Do your homework and come up with a good strategy. Exhaust on site optimization and establish tracking methods using Google alerts, Yahoo Answers and Tweetscan.