Well then I suppose links are queen. The internet is like one huge popularity contest and links are how popularity is measured. Of course there are links and then there are LINKS.... not all links are equal of course.
Show me a website that is worth linking to and I will link to it asap. I think this is the ONLY standard for building "natural" links to a site. Make it useful informative or entertaining and links will follow. It is very simple but not always easy. In fact the most difficult part of a website's success is creating great content.
I prefer to write my own articles and have them published on other sites. The backlinks help with rankings and they also bring in traffic when users click on the link in byline.