Do backlinks still work? Are backlinks still important? And what is the best link building strategy?
In this, we’ll look at whether backlinks are still important and how you can use this to advantage to improve your SEO rankings.
Are backlinks still important?
Here’s the quick answer:
Backlinks are STILL the most important ranking factor for SEO (and I’ll show you proof in a minute).
This is the difference between success and failure:
If you don’t build backlinks, it’ll be extremely hard to rank without them.
Here’s a good example:

As referring domains go up, organic traffic goes up.
They weave in together.
Let’s break SEO down into a simple formula:
More Backlinks = More Authority Making It Easier To Rank
More Content = More Opportunities To Rank
So the solution is simple:
If you want to make it easier and have more opportunities to get more free traffic, just build more backlinks and create more content.
However, there’s 1 exception:
If you’re in a very low competition niche where no one else is building links, you don’t need backlinks.
BUT:
It’ll still help you rank higher.
This is the key:
If you don’t build backlinks your competitors will and it’ll be easy for them to outrank you.
Why are backlinks so important?
Because Google doesn’t have any other way of checking your authority VS your competitors.
Backlinks are like other websites vouching for your site’s credibility:
If your content isn’t good, or you’re a spammy site, no one will link to you so therefore you won’t rank.
This ensures that the best content on Google ranks #1.
(NOTE: It’s not always the case – there are exceptions!).
You see, SEO is like a popularity contest:
Where the site with the best content wins the vote.
And links externally validates that you have the best content.
But the plot gets thicker, here’s why…
Backlink Quality
Quality impacts your rankings:
The higher quality the sites are that are linking to you, the more valuable those links are .
= Better rankings on Google.
So you don’t just need more backlinks, you need higher quality links.
That’s why at my link building agency, we have 3 layers of approval before any links gets built.
You have to filter your links hard.
How? Here’s 5 quick ways to filter those links:
- Anchor text: Keep it relevant and natural.
- Organic traffic: If the site you’re getting links from doesn’t have any organic traffic, it’s a sign Google doesn’t like it.
- Domain Rating: Aim for DR30 and above links.
- Contextual Relevance: If you go too hard on relevance, there won’t be enough sites to build backlinks from. Instead, use contextual relevance – make sure the article you’re getting a link from is relevant to your industry.
- Link Building Strategy: Fail on this and you’re in big trouble. Let’s talk more about this now…
Why is your link building strategy important?
Well backlinks are important.
However, equally crucial is your link building strategy.
If you build backlinks the wrong way, you could do more harm than good to your rankings.
And then Google puts your site in the naughty corner with a penalty.
For example:
If you’re using automated software to build backlinks from forums or blog comments then the backlinks you’re getting won’t help your rankings.
(This could even land you a penalty.)
Your backlink profile is crucial for your rankings:
And that’s why so many clients use our agency for link building:
Because we’ve worked with hundreds of sites and never received a Google Penalty.
Link Building: The Facts
But how do I know link building actually works?
Yes we’ve had hundreds of reviews from happy clients on UpWork.
But I’m a link builder, so of course I’m going to say links are the most important part of SEO.
So let’s talk about facts:
Ahrefs did a case of billions of sites, and they found that 90% of websites get no traffic:
Why?
Because they didn’t build any links.
If you want to be in the top 10% of websites, you need to build backlinks.
If you don’t, then all the SEO content you’re creating will never rank on Google, you’ll be wasting your time and you won’t get any traffic.
You can create all the content you want…
You can have the best keyword strategy in the world…
But if you don’t build links then you won’t rank.
This is the 80/20 rule of SEO:
Backlinks get 80% of the results with 20% of the work.
How to create backlinks?
There are literally hundreds of ways to create backlinks:
I know because I’ve posted over 300 videos about link building on my YouTube channel!
You can check out the tutorial below for tips on this.
My advice:
Just pick 1 strategy and master it.
If you chase 2 rabbits, you’ll catch none.
I’ve never chased rabbits before – but it’s the same principle with link building!
It’s 10X better to do 1 strategy exceptionally well VS 10 strategies average.
Our clients love the skyscraper technique because it’s whitehat, the backlinks look natural and this gets amazing results. More details on that here.
How many backlinks do I need to rank?
There’s an easy way to figure this out:
- Type your keyword into Ahrefs
- Look at the top 3 ranking websites
- Look at how many backlinks your competitors have.
If you can get a similar amount of backlinks, you should be able to rank for that keyword.
Plus if your content is better than your competitors, then you’ll have a much greater chance of ranking for the #1 spot.
That’s it.
So thanks for getting through this guide:
If you want to get started getting backlinks, and figure out the best link building strategy for you, book in a free call at JulianGoldie.com and we’ll be happy to help you.