Are backlinks still important?

[Petru]

Hey guys,

I read somewhere the other day that Googles new or upcoming penguin update will eliminate backlinks as a rankling factor and instead focus on ranking sites with better content.
Can someone give me some info on this? I can't remember where I saw it but I'd like to read it. and learn more about that update.

Thanks

 

[SmoothBlackHat]

yes, they are still the key factor

 

[JasonS]

Backlinks relevance still really helps in terms of making sure that we return the best, most relevant, most topical set of search results. - Matt Cutts, head of Google's Webspam team

 

[Petru]

Backlinks relevance still really helps in terms of making sure that we return the best, most relevant, most topical set of search results. - Matt Cutts, head of Google's Webspam team

I remember hearing this also, But what I'm trying to say is that there is a new Update that I've heard about that eliminates the focus on Backlinks and more on the quality of the content. I've seen it around alot, People are saying that it's good for small startups to get better rankings as long as they have the quality. I't only fairly new from what I've heard or probably isn't even rolled out yet. It may be part of the next update I don't know. Hence Why i'd like to find more about it...

 

[jimbobo2779]

Hey guys,

I read somewhere the other day that Googles new or upcoming penguin update will eliminate backlinks as a rankling factor and instead focus on ranking sites with better content.
Can someone give me some info on this? I can't remember where I saw it but I'd like to read it. and learn more about that update.

Thanks

Whoever stated that should be ignored as an SEO.

Google's algorithm is centred around backlinks, if they changed that and focused on content we would see a return to keyword spamming on websites and ranking would be childs play.

All the talk of social signals is basically backlinks from high ranking websites such as facebook, twitter etc. They are just a different form of backlinkbut still backlinks.

In short it would ruin their search results if they were to try this as it is so much quicker and easier to manipulate what is on your own website than it is to do so on others' websites.

 

[eProjects]

If you have a ton of good links, but the rest of the site is garbage, you probably won't get very good results. The algorithm looks at over 200 separate bits of information when determining where to rank a site. Are backlinks high on that list? Absolutely. Does that mean that you can have thin content, bad optimization and design? No.

 

[avalon1981]

Now the quality matters, not quantity. 1 backlink from old authoritative site is better than 300 from empty meaningless MFA's.
The other thing is anchors - now it is better not to use straight anchored links as it can be regarded as an attempt to influence SERP

 

[jimbobo2779]

I remember hearing this also, But what I'm trying to say is that there is a new Update that I've heard about that eliminates the focus on Backlinks and more on the quality of the content. I've seen it around alot, People are saying that it's good for small startups to get better rankings as long as they have the quality. I't only fairly new from what I've heard or probably isn't even rolled out yet. It may be part of the next update I don't know. Hence Why i'd like to find more about it...

No it is not happening and won't happen any time in the foreseeable future, you may hear people saying things like they are lessening the effect or that you are going to need less of X type backlink or more of Y type backlink but ultimately they are not devaluing backlinks.

I read something from Matthew woodward the other day that backlinks are not important or that they are far less important these days but that is because he thinks you can put content out there and magically get it to rank, well no that is idiotic. If you are lucky your content will get noticed and people will talk about it but there are few people in every niche that will get this lucky, the rest will have to do their own promotion and this means doing your own backlinking.

If you have a site that is selling something you cannot expect the average person to go out sharing and posting backlinks to your site, it is just far less common than for a site where you are constantly posting clickbait and have the marketing know how and connections to get people talking about you (and therefore linking back to your site). Someone like Matt woodward can do this as he has the connections and the audience already but it certainly does not mean that he is ranking with no backlinks it just means he didn't personally do the backlinking (or so he claims).

 

[White Night]

I think this thread will end with the conclusion: SEO is dead .... again, lol

 

[Petru]

Whoever stated that should be ignored as an SEO.

Google's algorithm is centred around backlinks, if they changed that and focused on content we would see a return to keyword spamming on websites and ranking would be childs play.

All the talk of social signals is basically backlinks from high ranking websites such as facebook, twitter etc. They are just a different form of backlinkbut still backlinks.

In short it would ruin their search results if they were to try this as it is so much quicker and easier to manipulate what is on your own website than it is to do so on others' websites.

I totally understand that, But i believe spammy keywords wouldn't be classified as a good content website. I'm talking about websites that have relevant content to what the user is searching for. Not keyword spamming websites.
It may have been a rumor I'm not sure. But I've seen it around a bit.

 

[naskootbg]

This is impossible! To rank website it must be indexed first - this is impossible without backlinks. Even the ping to the aggregators create backlinks. Well with WMT and adwords it's possible to get indexed, but this will means that go0gle force the webmasters to use their products and this time they will hit humans rights with hard proof.

If go0gle focus only on the inner content relevancy, bounce rate, site age and related factors which are part of the on-page/site SEO, than the SERP will be easier for manipulating than ever, because each of these parts are easier for manipulating than finding HQ relevant baclkinks (which are most important today).

 

[dennica]

its just like saying voting a president base on popularity

 

[Petru]

its just like saying voting a president base on popularity

Isn't that what happens already? Wouldn't it be better to vote in a president that is better rather then popular? Lol

 

[jimbobo2779]

I totally understand that, But i believe spammy keywords wouldn't be classified as a good content website. I'm talking about websites that have relevant content to what the user is searching for. Not keyword spamming websites.
It may have been a rumor I'm not sure. But I've seen it around a bit.

If you have heard it being said then yes it is a rumour.

I am saying unequivocally that yes backlinks are a big part of the algorithm and that will not be changing any time soon (at least for many years). Anyone claiming otherwise does not fully understand the situation.

You say "good content" will be rewarded not machine written spammy content well that is again wrong. If a site's ranking was based mainly on a site's content it would not be long before someone comes up with a reverse engineer of the algorithm and exploits it by generating content automatically and ranking with it, it would happen so quick it would be laughable.

In short no backlinks will never be discounted, not in the foreseeable future, anyone claiming so is just not a credible source, it is that simple.

 

[Tom189]

Backlinks always have and always will be king, sure good content can help. But I've ranked very thin sites for competitive terms purely using a good backlink strategy.

 

[Petru]

If you have heard it being said then yes it is a rumour.

I am saying unequivocally that yes backlinks are a big part of the algorithm and that will not be changing any time soon (at least for many years). Anyone claiming otherwise does not fully understand the situation.

You say "good content" will be rewarded not machine written spammy content well that is again wrong. If a site's ranking was based mainly on a site's content it would not be long before someone comes up with a reverse engineer of the algorithm and exploits it by generating content automatically and ranking with it, it would happen so quick it would be laughable.

In short no backlinks will never be discounted, not in the foreseeable future, anyone claiming so is just not a credible source, it is that simple.

Thanks for the info, That was kinda what I was looking for. Just wasn't sure how possible it was or weather what I heard was actually true or not.

Thanks for everyones replies

 

[Aty]

I read somewhere the other day that Googles new or upcoming penguin update will eliminate backlinks as a rankling factor

Rest assured, that's not gonna anytime soon.

 

[mktanny]

Backlinks are like real life people talking about a physical business with each other , so i doubt backlinks will lose their importance any time soon

 

[strawlink]

Yes, backlinks are still important but everything is depend on quality rather than quantity, You need to get high quality backlinks which looks real/natural in look.

Thanks

 

[Professor88]

Is breathing important?!?

Of course the backlinks are still important key in this game.