The best way to get backlinks is to create great unique content. With great content, there's a good chance people will link to you.
I have never put much effort into Page Rank or SEO and know very little about either.
However, based on occasional reading and personal experience, I believe that unique content may very well be the single most important factor in getting a website favorably placed on Google.
For example, search Google for the phrase "Calf Creek Texas" and the top 3 or 4 returns will be my websites. This is not because I have put a lot of effort into getting my sites favorably placed. I have not. It is because there is very little information about "Calf Creek Texas" on the Internet and a good part of what is there was placed there for me. Unique content.
Do a Google search for "Pizza in Brady Texas". At or very near the top of the returns will be "Yuk Pizza". I originally setup the Yuk Pizza website as a joke, but the content was unique so Google placed the site right up at the top of the list. Very funny actually.
Anyway, these are two examples that well support Techairlines assertion that unique content is very, very important.