What's The Deal With Search Engines And Text Link Advertising?

In the Beginning There Were Links

A simple concept, hyperlinks connected the websites within the world wide web. Linking is what the world wide web is about. This certainly didn't start with search engines, but rather with hyperlinks created with HTML code.

The rules for producing viable websites joining the world wide web sprang from this language. So why is there so much power allotted to search engines and their rules about linking? Sad to say but the past linking between sites voting for quality have gotten muddled in the link building frenzy. Search engines have created their own linking monster.