If backlinks suddenly, completely died as ranking factor what would you rely on as the next best alternative?

If off-page died completely, all efforts would have to focus on on-page. Maybe we'd see the resurgence of meta keywords and spammed comment tags. Actually you still see shit like that nowadays.
Or just buy Google Adwords.
 
Semantic SEO + Content Relevance
How relevant the content is to the search query, this is what AI powered search could excel at.
 
I guess all will go back to the original "content is king" saying.
 
I would focus on:
1. high-quality and valuable content: relevant keywords and phrases that align with my audience's search queries
2. the topics, formats, and distribution channels that will resonate with my target audience
3. social media mentions, shares, and engagement
4. understanding and optimizing for user intent and user engagement metrics like bounce rate, time on site, and click-through rate
5. Google ads for immediate visibility and precise targeting
 
Lets see what everyones views are on this

It would be a combination of:

- Searchers intent being fulfilled.
- Social media representation. (likes, retweets, followers, activity, etc).
- Other site metric variables (time spent on pages, click value, etc).
 
Quality of Content &Popularity like Social Media Ads
 
backlinks currently hold significant weight, a shift in the ranking factors would likely lead to a more balanced approach to SEO, focusing on the overall quality, relevance, and user experience of a website.
 
Understanding Semantic content network will be crucial then. (it already happening)

Google is a semantic search engine, that means using semantic related keywords variations will make it cheaper for Google to understand a page context much cheaper.

But for you to stay there for long term, you will need backlinks to survive, because smart competitors who can figure it out will do the same.
 
Search intent and relevance
Google uses it as a pointer though
 
Good quality content and maximing your presence in social media
 
The best alternative of backlinks are Content marketing and social media marketing.
 
Low competitive niches with topically grouped and interlinked SEO optimized content is what works and should always if backlinks are not to be considered as a ranking factor.
If that's the case then getting into competitive niches will become impossible, PBN, Link farms and Expired domains will surely die.
Most likely the serp results will only be dominated by existing authority brands and websites.
SEO will lose some value for sure and webmasters will focus on alternative traffic sources like online UGC community pages.
PPC will rise as the most opted alternative because most people in IM lack patience and seek fast results with minimal to no effort.
 
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