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.
Such statements from Google have been made in the past, prompting SEO professionals and businesses to reconsider their strategies.
This got me thinking about how essential links really are today. What would the data show?
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.
It’s important to note that correlation does not imply causation, especially considering Google’s stance on the ever-evolving nature of ranking factors. However, digging into the data can give us a sense of where links are more important as a category.
Data analysis and key findings
Considering Illyes’s comment, I initially expected we would find a moderate link between backlinks and rankings, but nothing that suggested this was the key to improving rankings.
Probably for the first time in a while, the data aligned with this hypothesis.