Digital marketing is constantly evolving with new marketing techniques coming in, leaving out the old ones. Although, marketing methods such as video production, mobile marketing, and social media marketing have yielded businesses exploding revenues and lots of brand awareness.  But, do the benefits of link-building prove to be a highly effective marketing strategy still today?
Some experts say yes because link-building has to do with effectively strengthening the SEO of a website. But is link building still a Google ranking factor today?
Both SEO and digital marketing have come a long way in their evolution. And the role of link-building strategies in the SEO growth of websites is more crucial than ever before.
To emphasize the growing significance of link-building in 2023, we will look at its benefits and some reassuring stats.
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Does The Benefits Of Back-Linking Still Yield Result On Google?
Yes, backlinking definitely does do a lot when it comes to improving the ranking of a website on Google. Backlinking is in fact the backbone of a long-term SEO strategy that brings in huge amounts of organic traffic.
The more high-quality white-hat links a website’s page has, the better it is for fetching traffic from Google. The point is to stay updated with the changes that are new in the algorithms of Google that determine rankings.
This means that you also need to create new types of backlinks to keep up with the changes.
What Importance Do Links Hold Currently?
There’s no doubt that link building holds the same importance for the past two decades as a major SEO strategy. No matter how surprising this may seem, that’s how it is.
One reason why links are so essential is that links are the basis of how the world wide web works.Â
Links are like the binding force that keeps online properties i.e. websites in one place. In the absence of links, the whole landscape of the internet would be different.
Back in the day, doing SEO was a matter of inserting keywords into a website’s content for the most part. Marketers did not bother much about improving the user experience or improving the website quality.
If any business wanted its rival business to rank low in the search results, it would simply stuff in more keywords. They were not aware of the benefits of link building to and from quality relevant websites.
But today, the search engine algorithms are sophisticated in that try to create the least friction between searchers’ intent and the information that is shown to them – for maximum relevancy.
In this scenario, the inclusion of links as a major ranking factor changed the way search engines like Google work.
Links are like the binding force that keeps online properties i.e websites in one place. In the absence of links, the whole landscape of the internet would be different. #SEO Share on XLinks Not Just Keywords Anymore
With links, Google is no longer dependent on just the content and keywords. With the help of backlinking, high-quality websites can stand out in the algorithms of Google as worthy of showing on page one.
Due to the relevance in the search results made possible through backlinking, a website with quality backlinks gets popularity and relevance in search results.
This way, backlinks proved a breakthrough in creating a network of quality websites. Resultantly, all the websites that are low quality with keywords stuffed are automatically not part of the network.
This further forces all website owners to make sound link-building strategies and level up the worth of their site in search algorithms.
What are the Essential Elements of High-Quality Backlinks?
Relevance
The topmost thing about high-quality backlinks is that they should be relevant to the content and page they are linking to. This means the backlink is contextual and that the phrase lets the reader know exactly where the link will take them.
Low-quality backlinks have no context and are irrelevant to the content they are placed in. It is why Google penalizes websites for creating low-quality content.
For instance, if you run an IT services website, then getting backlinks from software or internet service websites will make sense as in relevance. It’s because businesses interested in IT are likely to take an interest in content relating to software or the internet.
On the other hand, irrelevant and non-contextual links are pointless insertions and do not even get clicks as readers can sense the inauthenticity.
So, bad backlinks not only hurt the ranking algorithm but also forces the readers to click away from the content.
It amazes me how many emails I receive asking this website to link to casino and cannabis websites. Totally irrelevant linking. Into the spam folder, they go!
Is Link Building Still a Google Ranking Factor Today With Only Trusted Sites?
There are literally millions of websites on the internet selling products and services. But, not every other website is a high-quality website.
There are a small number of websites out there that are well-established in their niche, unlike so many others that aren’t as high-quality.
Websites that have made a big name, and have a domain authority of more than 70 are said to be the ‘authority sites’.
However, getting a backlink from such trustworthy websites isn’t a piece of cake. But, all the websites with links from authority sites, have high-quality backlinks.
Quality Backlinks Direct Big Traffic
The main aim of a backlink is to bring in traffic. In this respect, all such backlinks that are generating considerable amounts of traffic can be seen as backlinks with high quality.
Whereas, backlinks that bring in no to low amounts of clicks contain low-quality links.
Quality backlinks ensure that potential leads continue to land on your website. Not just once but, on a consistent basis – adding to the organic traffic.
Uniquely Phrased and Contextual Links
A chief characteristic of high-quality backlinks is that they are phrased in a novel way instead of copying generically. Unique links have originality as they are not duplicate links.
Therefore, it is ideal that you link to ten trustworthy sites than getting backlinks from a hundred low-quality websites. Due to the reason that generic backlinks will hurt your website, and will bring the progress backward instead.
So, another sign of a quality link is a unique phrase. You can use these in guest posts that you write.
So, Are the Benefits Of Link Building Still A Google Ranking Factor?
The above-discussed points show how backlinking is here to stay in 2023 and its unique benefits for the ranking of your website. It’s time that you start implementing link-building in your marketing strategy if you haven’t yet.
Last, I’d love to hear from you about how are you building quality backlinks to your blog or website. What other tips would you add to this blog post?
She has 30+ years of experience in marketing/advertising with 11 years of experience in content marketing, social media, blogging, and SEO.
You can purchase her eBook about Twitter on Amazon.
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This blog post is a fantastic resource for understanding the current state of link building as a Google ranking factor. The article thoroughly explores the topic, shedding light on the evolving role of backlinks in SEO and providing valuable insights on effective link-building strategies. As a digital marketer, I appreciate the clarity and up-to-date information shared in this well-written piece. Thank you for sharing your expertise
Hi Bhaskar, welcome to Inspire To Thrive. I’m glad you found this post up to date and with clarity. You are most welcome. I hope it helps you with your website’s link building. Have a great day.
Hi Lisa..
You’re back with another quality post.
I agree 100% with you!
Backlinks still play a huge role when it comes to ranking a website/blog on Google.
Though these days things seem to be a little bit different from back then!
One can now setup a blog and write some high quality content targeting super easy to rank keywords without any link-building and they still rank page one and get traffic.
If you ask me I’d day backlinks still play a huge role but it kinda depends on the niche.
General niche like finance, relationship, etc.. where the writers have little to no knowledge on link building tend to do really without backlinks.
It’s not so with niches like ours; internet marketing/blogging niche where we are super knowledgable about SEO.
These kind tend to not really survive page 1 rankings without constant link building no matter how easy the target keywords are!
I setup a small blog in the cat niche back in April (that’s about 3 months ago)
No Link-building yet, but it’s starting to rank and getting little traffic.
Niche matters too.
Some niches do well little or no links, while some just can’t.
Great Post Lisa.
Tweeting this.
Hi Prosper – nice to see you back here, been a while. That’s very interesting on the niches. I wonder how your cat site would do with more link building? I would think the cat niche would be big with so many cat lovers out there. Thanks for coming by and love to hear how your new site is progressing Noah. Have a great rest of the day!
Link building has been a Googe ranking factor since the very early days of Google. Even though the specifics have changed over the years, link building is still a valuable ranking factor in 2022.
Back in the early days of Google, link popularity was the primary ranking factor. This meant that websites with lots of inbound links ranked higher than those with fewer inbound links. Of course, this led to a lot of black hat tactics as people tried to game the system by buying links or participating in link farms.
Google has since refined its algorithm to be much more sophisticated, but links are still an important part of how they rank websites. In order for a website to rank well, it needs to have high-quality inbound links from other websites.
Thanks for sharing, Lisa.
Have a good week!
Hi Erik, Yes, it has survived all the Google updates surprisingly! I look at links as testimonials to your content. If people like it and want to cite from it, they will link to you naturally. Thanks for your input Erik and I hope you enjoy your upcoming vacation. 🙂
Of course yes.
Quality and relevant link will always be a Google ranking factor in years to come.
Hi Kingsley, Welcome to Inspire To Thrive. Yes, those links will surely be ranking factors as it is sort of a recommendation when someone links to your content. Thanks for coming by and have a great day.
Hello Lisa,
Backlinks still play a great role in ranking a website on the search engine result page. Quality backlinks are very important. We need to create quality backlinks from high-authority websites. Guest Posting and Blogger outreach can definitely help to get quality backlinks. Thanks for sharing this detailed post.
Regards,
Vishwajeet Kumar
Hi Viwhajeet, They sure do play a role in ranking. It can be hard to get some backlinks from the very high DA sites though you can work your way up:) Thanks for coming by here and enjoy your day!