Inbound links, or what are commonly called backlinks, have played an important role in SEO ever since Google used algorithms to rank search results.
Historically, the more inbound links you have, the more likely your website will rank high in search results.
Links are still important to Google, but they are more nuanced than they were in the days of PageRank.
Let’s take a look at the claims around inbound links as a ranking factor. Then provide evidence that supports or refutes those claims.
The Claim: Inbound Links Are a Ranking Factor
Inbound links are links to your website from another domain.
There are many claims surrounding inbound links as a ranking factor.
First, inbound links are a ranking signal for Google’s search algorithm.
This means that Google evaluates links to web pages when determining how to rank them in search results.
Other claims about inbound links relate to the strength of the ranking signal generated by the links.
Volume is said to be one of the factors, the more links the stronger the signal.
The referring domain is said to be another factor. High authority and relevant sources generate stronger ranking signals.
The next section analyzes these claims and discusses what is important to Google regarding inbound links.
Evidence of Inbound Links as a Ranking Factor
Google’s algorithm is based on links.
PageRank, the algorithm by which Google’s search engine is built, relied solely on links to rank content when it was first introduced.
When explaining to the public how their algorithms work, Google once said:
“PageRank works by counting the number and quality of links to a page to approximate the importance of a website. The underlying assumption is that more important websites outperform other websites. It means that you are likely to receive a link.”
Our algorithm has since been updated to consider other factors, but inbound links are still an important signal.
The company says the same thing on its How Search Works microsite, which explains how Google’s algorithms evaluate web page quality.
“We look for sites that we believe many users rate similar queries highly. That has proven to be a good sign that the information is sufficiently trustworthy.
Aggregated feedback from the search quality evaluation process is used to further improve how the system identifies information quality. ”
Inbound links are definitely a Google ranking factor. Now let’s look at the following claims.
Is the number of inbound links important to Google?
The claim that the number of inbound links is a ranking factor has been refuted by Google.
Google’s John Mueller said that the total number of inbound links pointing to a website has “nothing to do with” search rankings.
Mueller explains why the number of links isn’t a factor, saying it’s an easy-to-manipulate signal.
He advises site owners not to focus on the number of backlinks. Google may even choose to ignore most of your site’s inbound links and only check those that are relevant.
“We’re trying to understand what’s relevant to the website and how much weight these individual links should have, but the total number of links doesn’t matter at all. Hundreds if you want. You can create millions of links to millions of websites, or you can ignore them all.
Or there could be one very good link from one website. This is a very important sign that you should treat this website as relevant because of that one link. I don’t know, maybe it’s something like the home page of a big news site, for example. So the total number is essentially completely irrelevant. ”
In that statement, Mueller confirms that the authority and relevance of referring domains are also taken into account.
Inbound Links as a Ranking Factor: Our Judgment
In summary, here is the verdict on all claims based on the evidence presented:
- yes – Inbound links are a ranking factor.
- No – The number of inbound links is not a ranking factor. To be clear, this means that just increasing the raw number of backlinks won’t help, especially if your links are of poor quality. There are two. Having many good links is always better than having few good links.
- yes – Relevance and quality of referring domains are ranking factors.
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
