Bonjour 
When you are aiming to increase the SERP of a site by building inbound links is an increase in SERP’s just dependant on the placement of the link or is it imortant actual traffic is sent through the link for it too improve SERPs.
Any insights welcome.
How would Google be able to determine the actual traffic sent through the link?
Should a link from a widely respected academic journal with few actual readers be less important to ranking than a link from a celebrity gossip site with millions of readers (all other things being equal)?
Traffic through the link is irrelevant.
Hi Zygoma,
As mentioned above, the volume of traffic is completely irrelevant - it’s based on the quality and volume and variation of links delivered, there are several tools out there to help you determine the quality of a site etc.
If you’re considering doing some SEO yourself, I’d strongly recommend you pull an agency or freelancer in to run your campaign. SEO teams within online agencies have a wealth of experience, I assume you’re just starting out and if not executed properly, there’s a list of negative repercussions!
Cheers.