News: Links Are Not a Top 3 Google Search Ranking Factor

Atlanta, GA | October 2, 2023 – Gary Illyes, a prominent figure at Google, has stated that links are no longer among the top three factors in Google search rankings. This statement suggests a significant shift in how Google evaluates and ranks web pages in its search results.

In the year 2016, @andreylipattsev/, a distinguished strategist in the realm of search quality at Google, emphasized that the presence of inbound links directed towards your website stood as one of the foremost tripartite determinants affecting the rankings in Google Search. This ranking was concomitantly influenced by the quality of content and the enigmatic algorithm known as RankBrain.

However, Google’s search algorithm is constantly evolving, and it appears that other factors are now considered more important for ranking websites. Gary Illyes, an analyst on Google’s Search team, at a recent Pubcon Pro event in Austin, noted this.

“I think they are important, but I think people overestimate the importance of links. I don’t agree it’s in the top three. It hasn’t been for some time.”

Illyes also said, “It is possible to rank without links.” Although it very much sounded like an edge case, he mentioned one case in which a website had zero links (internal or external) but had such fantastic content that it was ranking number one consistently. Google was only able to discover it via the website’s sitemap.

While the exact factors that have overtaken links in importance weren’t specified, Google has been placing increasing emphasis on factors like content quality, user experience, mobile-friendliness, page speed, and even artificial intelligence and machine learning in recent years. This reflects Google’s ongoing efforts to provide users with the most relevant and high-quality search results.

Google’s John Mueller stated on the Search Off the Record podcast episode that links will be not as important of a ranking factor for Google:

“Well, it’s something where I imagine, over time, the weight on the links. At some point, will drop off a little bit as we can’t figure out a little bit better how the content fits in within the context of the whole web. And to some extent, links will always be something that we care about because we have to find pages somehow. It’s like how do you find a page on the web without some reference to it?

“But my guess is over time, it won’t be such a big factor as sometimes it is today. I think already, that’s something that’s been changing quite a bit.”

It’s important for webmasters and SEO professionals to stay updated on these changes in Google’s ranking algorithm to adapt their strategies accordingly and continue to improve their websites’ visibility in search results.

References:

1. https://www.seroundtable.com/google-links-no-longer-a-top-three-ranking-factor-36094.html
2. https://seochatter.com/google-links-are-no-longer-a-top-3-ranking-factor/
3. https://searchengineland.com/links-google-search-ranking-factor-gary-illyes-432422