Reassessing the role of links in SEO: What data tells us
The debate over the significance of links has been a recurring theme in SEO.
Recently, Google’s Gary Illyes has once again ignited discussions around the topic when he said that “people overestimate the importance of links,” and it hasn’t been in the top three ranking factors for some time.Â
Such statements from Google have been made in the past, prompting SEO professionals and businesses to reconsider their strategies.Â
This got me thinking about how essential links really are today. What would the data show?Â
To find out, I analyzed 100 random keywords spanning various categories, collecting data on the top 100 ranking websites, including referring domains and backlinks. This comprehensive dataset consisted of over 10,000 rows of URL ranking data.Â