Are LLMs changing - what makes a backlink valuable?

From what I have sen was the backlink quality has never been just about DR. I've noticed that the contextual relevant link with strong topical alignment often seen to perform better higher DR links that aren't related. As my view that LLMs are pushing search towards understanding context and entities more effectively, so relevance is becoming bigger part of link value

Curious to hear what others have tested?

Relevance has become much more important than just chasing high DR.

I'd rather have a contextual link from a closely related site than a random high-authority backlink.

GeeLark AI said:

Relevance has become much more important than just chasing high DR.

I'd rather have a contextual link from a closely related site than a random high-authority backlink.

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Tbh, I think DR is one of the most overrated metrics now. I’ve seen lower DR but tightly relevant links outperform high DR placements just because they sit in the right topical cluster. Likely Google cares about only entity alignment than raw authority at this point.

I agree. Relevance and topical context seem to matter more than DR alone. A well-placed link on a relevant site often delivers better SEO value than a high-DR but unrelated backlink.

Anos_King said:

Tbh, I think DR is one of the most overrated metrics now. I’ve seen lower DR but tightly relevant links outperform high DR placements just because they sit in the right topical cluster. Likely Google cares about only entity alignment than raw authority at this point.

Click to expand...

Yes you are correct, Google cares about only entity alignment than raw authority at this point.