What's the state of link building for SEO in 2016 & beyond?

Your first job is finding the right publications and sources from which you want to achieve inbound links. You can’t post links indiscriminately, as this practice will get you flagged by Google’s Penguin algorithm. When scouting for new link sources, select only those that are:

• Respectable. This can be a subjective term, but use common sense. Do a lot of people use, read, and trust this site? Does this site cite its sources? Has it been around for a long time? Is it a household name? The more respected your source is, the more value the links are going to hold (unfortunately, that also means the links are harder to acquire).
• Relevant. Your sources should be as relevant as possible to your business and industry. If you’re posting content about manufacturing on a dentistry blog, it’s going to send a red flag to Google.

Link building isn’t dead, and it isn’t something you should avoid entirely — after all, Google does still value external links. However, you might want to consider updating your strategy.