Search engines follow people, true or false?

For a long time I built links all over the place to get search engines, mainly Google, to boost my rankings in the search results. If I am too aggressive then I can get some early traffic from my efforts, but it usually has a negative effect later. If I build links slowly, it takes a long time to get traffic, and the rankings don't always stick.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about the statement, "Search engines follow people." This has led me to analyze the way I seach the web. What I have noticed is I use Google a lot to get started with my searches, but I spend a lot of time following different links from one site to another. This is how I really discover.

I am applying this thinking to my link building and it is having a dramatic effect. I get traffic early from the site I build links on, the search engines like the link building because it is natural, and I don't really feel like I am link building because I am providing quality content and relationship building that has benefits out side of just search engines.

Do you think is is a good approach?