Google On Why Important Links Might Not That Be Important Or Helpful Jan 3, 2024 - 7:41 am 7 — by Barry Schwartz ... Filed Under Google Search Engine Optimization ...

Google Explicitly Confirms That Links Matter Less In 2023 Google’s Gary Illyes shared at a PubCon Austin that links were not even in the top 3 of ranking factors. Then in March 2024, coinciding ...

Then, in March 2024, Google released a Spam Policy update, removing the word “important” in reference to links as a ranking factor. This change coincided with the March 2024 core algorithm update.

“I think they are important, but I think people overestimate the importance of links. I don’t agree it’s in the top three [of ranking signals]. It hasn’t been for some time.” ...

Gary said this a year ago, also in 2022 and other times as well. We previously covered that Google said links would likely become even less important in the future.

After Google became important it was realized that links were the key to better rankings. Whole industries rose to service the need for links, such as web directories and link selling brokers.