Link Popularity Considers :

Total number of links

Links to your site and links within your site both matter.

What text links say

Linked keywords are most valuable. Words near the linked text help, but not as much.

Directory Listings

Links from large, human powered directories are weighted very heavily. A link from a directory-listed site has far more weight than a link from an unlisted site. Your Yahoo listing is still the single most important link you can get.

Subject of pages that link to you

A link from a page on the same subject counts much more than a link from an unrelated page. If your site is about race cars, you want lots of links from other sites about race cars.