Why I Don’t Feel Backlinks Are as Important as They Once Were

You may have noticed that when I talk about my SEO skills, I do not emphasise backlinks in the same way many people still do. For years, backlinks were the centrepiece of search engine optimisation strategies. They were once the clearest signal to Google that a website was authoritative, trusted and worthy of ranking highly. The logic was simple: if other websites linked to you, it must mean your content had value.

But search engines have evolved. I believe backlinks are no longer the all-important ranking factor they once were, especially with the rise of Google’s modern approach to evaluating websites.

The Age of Manipulation

When backlinks first became a dominant ranking signal, it did not take long for people to abuse the system. Website owners bought links in bulk, created private blog networks, or engaged in endless link exchanges. For a while, this worked. Sites with little to no real value could climb search results quickly by simply pointing thousands of spammy links to their pages.

This created a landscape where manipulation mattered more than quality. Search engines often rewarded those who played the backlink game rather than those who offered helpful content.

Search Engines Got Smarter

Google soon caught on and began refining its algorithms. Updates such as Penguin penalised sites that relied on manipulative link building and shifted focus towards quality signals. Search engines now take into account far more than backlinks, including user experience, technical performance and, most importantly, content.

This brings us to one of the most significant changes in how websites are ranked: E-E-A-T.

Google’s E-E-A-T Policy

Google now places much greater emphasis on Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Their content policy guides how both human reviewers and algorithms judge the quality of a page.

• Experience: Does the content show that the writer has first-hand knowledge of the topic?

• Expertise: Is the content created by someone with the right level of knowledge or skill?

• Authoritativeness: Is the website itself a trusted source in its industry

• Trustworthiness: Can users rely on the content to be accurate and safe?

Backlinks can contribute to authority, but only when they come from respected and relevant sources. In reality, most links acquired through outreach, swaps or directory listings do little to strengthen E-E-A-T. What really matters is creating content that clearly demonstrates genuine expertise and value.

Google on Links Today

Even Google themselves have spoken about the declining importance of backlinks. Mueller, Google’s Search Advocate, suggested that “over-focusing” on links could be a waste of time, saying it often leads to “doing things that don’t make your website better”.

That statement gets to the heart of the issue. If your entire SEO strategy revolves around chasing links, you risk neglecting the elements that actually improve your site for users such as better content, smoother navigation or faster loading times. Google’s algorithms are designed to reward these improvements far more consistently than a handful of questionable links.

Neil Patel’s Research on What Really Matters

This perspective is echoed by Neil Patel, as he states clearly that “link building is not the key to ranking high on Google.”

To support this, his team analysed 42,391 websites over four years to find out which factors mattered most. Out of all those sites, 138 performed extremely well, with a baseline of 10,000 monthly organic visits and traffic growth of at least 50 per cent year after year.

So what did these top-performing sites have in common? The biggest factor was a large focus on updating content.

As Neil explains, no one likes reading outdated content. Fresh, relevant and regularly updated pages consistently outperformed stagnant ones. This reinforces the idea that high-quality, trustworthy content rather than backlink chasing is what drives long-term growth.

The Reality of High-Authority Links

The only backlinks that truly hold weight today are those from high-authority sites such as leading publications, industry bodies or trusted organisations. Yet these links are notoriously hard to earn. You cannot buy them, automate them or fake them. The only way to secure them is by producing content that is so useful and trustworthy that respected sources naturally want to reference it.

For most businesses, this is not something that can be relied on. Instead, focusing on E-E-A-T principles and keeping content fresh provides a more consistent and achievable path to SEO success.

Why Backlinks Are No Longer Essential

Websites can now perform well in search without obsessing over backlinks. High-quality, optimised content aligned with Google’s E-E-A-T framework, and kept regularly updated, can stand on its own. If your site is technically sound, user-friendly and publishes content that demonstrates real expertise, you can compete strongly without a single backlink campaign.

Rather than chasing links, the focus should be on producing content that answers real user questions, demonstrating genuine experience and knowledge, keeping content fresh and updated, building trust through accuracy and transparency, and ensuring the site is technically optimised for speed, usability and accessibility.

Final Thoughts

Backlinks are no longer the shortcut to SEO success. While a handful of rare, high-authority links can help, they are hard to come by and cannot be the foundation of a strategy. Google values E-E-A-T far more, and Neil Patel’s research proves that updating and improving content consistently drives stronger long-term results.

The future of SEO is about substance, not shortcuts.

If you are hiring for SEO support and want someone who prioritises content quality, user experience and long-term growth over outdated backlinks tactics, I would love to chat.