Google Predicts Strength Of Backlinks Ranking Factor Will Drop

In the SEO community, there’s been a lot of speculation lately about the future of backlinks as a ranking factor. Google has finally broken its silence on the matter, and the Search Engine Giant predicts that the strength of backlinks will drop as a ranking factor shortly. 

This news is a bit of a shock to the SEO world, as backlinks have been one of the most important ranking factors for years. However, Google’s reasoning behind this change is sound. This blog post will explore Google’s reasoning and what this means for your SEO strategy moving forward.

What Are Backlinks?

Google’s Matt Cutts has suggested that the company may be rethinking backlinks’ role in its search algorithm. In a recent video, Cutts said that Google is looking at whether the “rel” attribute associated with backlinks is still a valuable ranking factor.

If the rel attribute is set to “nofollow,” it indicates that the linked document’s author does not endorse the link.

Google has traditionally given more weight to links from documents with high PageRank. However, if Google decides that the rel attribute is not a valuable ranking factor, it could mean that links from lower-quality websites will be given more weight.

This would be a significant change to Google’s search algorithm, and it needs to be clarified when or if it will happen. 

See Also: Buying Backlinks For SEO: Yes, This Is Still A Thing

How Do Backlinks Affect SEO?

Although backlinks serve as one of the primary ranking aspects in Google’s algorithm, their value is expected to decline with time. The main reason is that Google has become better at detecting low-quality backlinks and is therefore devaluing them.

This implies that backlinks’ function in SEO is improving, not that they are no longer significant. Google is now focusing more on the quality of backlinks rather than the quantity, so it’s essential to ensure that your backlinks are from high-quality websites.

Consider these points:

1. Verify the website’s PageRank to see if it links to you. A PageRank of 5 or higher is however consider as good, while anything below 5 is generally seen as low quality.

2. Take a look at the backlink’s keyword phrase. If the keyword phrase is appropriate to your website, the backlink is probably of good quality. However, if the anchor text is generic (such as “click here”) or irrelevant, it’s probably a low-quality link.

3. Check whether the website links to you from high-quality websites. For this, you can employ a tool like MozBar. 

See Also: Keyword Research In RankBrain World

Google’s Prediction For The Future Of Backlinks

Google has announced that the backlinks ranking factor will be less critical from now on. This change may result from other aspects—like content and user experience becoming more relevant.

Google recently stated that the value of backlinks as a determinant of performance would decline in the coming years. The growing application of AI and machine learning is undoubtedly in charge of this change. While the role of backlinks in ranking will remain, their importance will likely diminish over time.

This change will likely cause a shift in SEO strategy, as backlinks will no longer be as important as they once were. Content and user experience will now be critical factors in achieving a high ranking on Google.

See Also: A Complete Guide to the Google RankBrain Algorithm