Does the amount of links figure in page ranking?

[agbates]

I apologize if this is not the correct place for this type of question, although it will help me in the decision process in buying PhpLD.

I've been reading more and more about search engine optimization. While it seems the exact methods used to score rank on the major search are shrouded in secrecy (other than the obvious "pay for placement" methods) I keep hearing that the amount of links to a site are one of the ways a site can boost its ranking. Any opinions on this?

[David]

Yes, directories are a way to get "one-way" links, so many webmasters submit to directories as a method of increasing links. Some links are more valuable that others based on the pagerank of the page containing the link, and the amount of traffic the page receives. Nobody knows for sure how valuable, but certainly a lot of people think directories are worthwhile, or we wouldn't have as many people creating them.