Are backlinks still important for SEO in 2024?

General Forum
1

I’ve been hearing mixed things about backlinks recently. Are they still as important as they used to be for SEO? I know some people say links aren’t as crucial anymore. What do you guys think?

2

Honestly, backlinks still matter, but maybe not as much as they used to. I saw somewhere that Google’s reducing the importance of links and focusing more on other stuff like content and user experience.

3

@Amanda
Yeah, I heard that too. But aren’t backlinks still tied to PageRank? I thought that was still a big factor.

4

StellarNomad said:
@Amanda
Yeah, I heard that too. But aren’t backlinks still tied to PageRank? I thought that was still a big factor.

Yeah, Google still uses PageRank, but apparently, it’s less important now. I read they’ve made links ‘less important’ over time. It’s not in the top 3 anymore, according to some folks at Google.

5

From what I’ve seen, it’s all about the quality and diversity of the links now. It’s not just about having a ton of backlinks, but getting links from different high-quality sites.

6

MobileMaestro1 said:
From what I’ve seen, it’s all about the quality and diversity of the links now. It’s not just about having a ton of backlinks, but getting links from different high-quality sites.

What do you mean by ‘diversity’? Like different types of websites or what?

7

@BacklinkBaronBill
Yeah, exactly. You want links from multiple sources, not just one or two. Google values a variety of sites linking back to your page, not just quantity.

8

I’ve been doing some link building myself and it’s still helping my rankings. But I do wonder if it’s worth it in the long run… Anyone else seeing results?

9

robert said:
I’ve been doing some link building myself and it’s still helping my rankings. But I do wonder if it’s worth it in the long run… Anyone else seeing results?

Yeah, I got some good results from building links too, but I’m starting to focus more on creating better content. It feels like the days of just spamming links are over.

10

@EvanderJames
True, I feel the same. Better content seems to attract natural links anyway, without the need to go overboard with manual link building.

11

So is it still worth paying for link building services? I see a lot of SEO companies pushing those services, but I’m skeptical.

12

RankTrackerPro said:
So is it still worth paying for link building services? I see a lot of SEO companies pushing those services, but I’m skeptical.

Honestly, I wouldn’t bother paying for those. Google even said you can’t buy better PageRank, and it feels like they’re cracking down on paid links more than ever.

13

@CodeCraftsman
Totally agree. Plus, if Google catches on, they might penalize your site. It’s better to focus on earning links naturally through good content.

14

I read that Google’s trying to rely less on links and more on AI to rank pages based on content. Could this be the future of SEO?

15

Grace said:
I read that Google’s trying to rely less on links and more on AI to rank pages based on content. Could this be the future of SEO?

Yep, with all the AI improvements, Google might eventually rank pages based on content quality alone. But I think we’re still a few years away from that.