Google: Links are not the most important factor in SEO.
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the most important aspect of digital marketing. Why? It is because SEO makes the website appear on the search engine results page on Google. But you know other factors are also there that impact the performance of SEO. One such factor is the link. No doubt, links are considered to be the most important ranking factor for SEO. There are many links out there such as internal, external, inbound, and outbound links that can help you as well as hurt your SEO. If you ask any webmaster about links then they will only say that links are a very crucial part of fetching the rank of the site.
But If I say this is wrong, will you believe me then? You have to believe guys because recently Google has confirmed this. Do you want to know what Google said about links? If yes, continue reading this article.
So let’s dive into the matter below.
Google says that the links are not the most important factor of SEO
Yes guys it is true that Google has said now that the links are not important SEO factors now. Recently, Google’s John Muller said on Twitter, “links are definitely not the most important SEO factor.” Actually, he said this while replying to a person on Twitter who said, “I’m confused tho…when you say “of course” that is “of course links pass authority”, right? We’re not acting like links aren’t still the most important SEO factor?
Then John in his response said that links are definitely not the most important SEO factor. However, prior to this statement John said about link juice.
Let me first tell you what link juice is before telling you what John said about link juice.
An overview of Link Juice
In very simple words, link juice is a non-technical term used in Search Engine Optimization. It refers to an idea that shows certain links pass value and authority to a particular website or webpage. The value actually passed through hyperlinks. Basically, search engines see links as votes by other websites that your page is valuable and worth promoting. In fact, this shows that link juice is another important factor for SEO, right. But John Muller says something about it also. Let’s read below.
John Muller’s statement on link juice
On responding to the person’s comment on Twitter, Muller said, “if all you’ve read uses the term “link juice”, it’s almost certainly wrong, and you should instead focus on the basics instead of worrying about “link juice.” He said you should “make a website, watch your server logs, learn how search works, understand your users, and make a better website.”
Further he said, “links are definitely not the most important SEO factor.”
However, the most important SEO factor that search engines or webmasters think that is content. No doubt, the content has always been a king and most of the SEOs will be agreed with this. But the fact is that most of the SEOs still think that links are the most important factor of SEO.
To clarify this someone on Twitter asked Muller whether the links are an important factor for SEO or not. John Muller said, “We use lots of factors when it comes to Search crawling, Indexing, and Ranking.”
Other important factors for SEO apart from links
Guys, links are not the only ranking factor that you should focus on for SEO. There are many other factors you can consider. Below is the list of some factors you can think of focusing on. Have a look below.
#A secure and accessible website
Yes, guys, a secure and accessible website is very important to get traffic to the site. For that, you need to have the right kind of URL which is of HTTPS. Include sitemap, robot.txt file, and make it a well-coded site.
# Page speed
This is another important factor that you should pay attention to. The speed of the website matters a lot. Every person likes fast-loading sites that can open within 2-3 seconds. In July 2018, Google announced that if your site doesn’t load fast on mobile devices, then your site will be penalized.
# Mobile friendliness
Today, the majority of people use mobile devices than a desktop or laptop to access any website. No doubt, Google give more preferences to those sites that are mobile-friendly and index mobile website first. So make sure your site is also mobile-friendly.
Wrapping up
Guys, in this final section I want to say that backlinks play a major role in getting high rank of the site. But it is not that much important SEO factor that you should pay much attention to it. And now Google has also said the same. There are many other important factors that you should consider into account other than links.
I hope you liked this article and the update of Google. For more updates subscribe our website till then keep reading and keep sharing.
