If you ever hear this line from your SEO company — "backlinks are no longer important" — then you are probably facing the "we aren't ranking so well" dilemma at the same time. Here's the truth about backlinks and why they're staying right where they are.
Since the beginning of search and Google, backlinks have played the most important part in winning at the search game. Over the years, the elements that determine a top ranking have expanded to include a lot of closer focus on the website itself — but backlinks remain. And as long as Google wants to function as a democratic voting process, presenting the most popular sites at the top, then backlinks are here to stay.
What Is A Backlink?
A backlink is simply a link from someone else's website, linking to your website. For example, you may be an experienced professional who has expertise in some new procedure or have a good understanding of a niche topic, and your blog post adds great insight into matters being discussed elsewhere online.
Since people are searching for information to solve their problems, this scenario presents itself as a typical way that backlinks are created naturally. Google developed its search algorithm around this democratic voting system — links from other people's websites counting as votes in the election process for who should be ranked at #1. This changed the way search engines, and people the world over, searched for and found things on the internet forever.
It wasn't long before many savvy webmasters began to take advantage of this ranking method, and the process of SEO — search engine optimisation — was born.
Backlinks Important In The Early Days And Still So
In the early days of my trade, it was a simple process to rank #1, which involved amassing more backlinks than the guy ranked at #2. It did involve a lot of work at times, but if you put in the grunt work, it eventually got you there.
Google saw that many people were onto their "super secret" algorithm, so they decided to mix up the process to penalise anyone seen to be over-optimising their sites. The first of these changes rolled out in 2012 under the codename Penguin. Fast forward to today, and Google has slowed down the aggressive penalties, as most people are now convinced that the search engine giant can't be messed with. There are many who believe SEO is dead. They are wrong.
SEO Far From Dead
In reality, SEO is far from dead and many people understand and execute it very well. The problem is there is great confusion in the SEO world. Many practitioners have jumped ship and become content marketers, some with varying degrees of success.
Google is very vocal about what you can and can't do when it comes to SEO. Companies that tread the line strictly by the Google book are those who will convince you that backlinks are no longer important — simply because Google says that you can't build backlinks anymore. They want you to create great content and then somehow magically people will find it and link to it. The only problem is that without any links to your "great content," it is not going to rank. And if it doesn't rank, how is anyone going to find it in order to link to it?
Also, with the right tools, anyone can see that the sites that are ranking at the top of Google are sites that have lots of backlinks. Content alone is not enough.
So What Do Google Actually Say About Backlinks?
In finally smashing the "backlinks are no longer important" myth, one needs only to listen to the voice of Google themselves. In a video by the Google SEO spokesperson Matt Cutts, they openly admit that they have a private version of Google that shows the search results without any backlinking influence — and they say it ain't pretty.
Well there you have it. Backlinks are here to stay. If you hear differently, it's probably because your SEO provider is too scared to build them anymore. There are still ways to build backlinks that are very effective and will not get you into any Google hot water. If top search engine rankings are what you are looking for, you first need to locate an SEO consultant who can produce results based on what Google actually allows to rank — not just what they tell you they allow.