Yes, backlinks still matter in 2026, but the focus should be on high-quality, editorial links that are relevant and earned through value, relationships, and relevance, not quantity or spammy link-building tactics.
First, check your conversion tracking, checkout drop-off rate, page speed and payment errors to see if the new checkout is affecting your PPC performance.
First, I would check Google Search Console to check the queries, rankings, and CTRs and then optimise the title/meta description and ensure that the page matches the search intent.
I agree that SEO isn’t suddenly dead. The real change is how people find information. It makes more sense to focus on search AI answers, social media, PR and other channels. Trying to chase every label doesn’t help much. Staying practical across all these areas works better.
I would look at search intent and traffic quality first, better rankings can still bring less relevant visitors.
Then I'd audit the landing page and conversion funnel and see where the drop-off is.
I don't believe changing the sitemap URL again and again will bring any significant SEO enhancement. Better to keep sitemap clean and focus on internal linking, lastmod properly and crawlability.
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