Ten years ago, all digital marketers cared about was link building. For a while, sites with the most external links received the highest SERP rankings on Google and everyone lived happily in SEO land.
But it didn’t take long for companies to find a way around organic backlinks. Link spamming and buying became a popular practice that threw the whole system off, and Google promptly changed its algorithms.
But for small companies in Utah and across the U.S. trying to boost rankings, do external links still matter to SEO? Should marketers simply forget about the practice altogether? A recent study by Moz looked at the relevance of backlinks to SEO in 2015, and might suggest otherwise.
As reported by Cyrus Shepard of Moz, 99 percent of the top 50 search results had at least one external link pointing to the website, and most had several links. “In other words,” as Shepard put it, “if you’re looking for a site that ranks well with no external links, be prepared to look for a very long time.”
Anyone looking at these results can gather that Google still factors backlinks into the SEO equation to some degree. And unless you’re trying to target unique keywords like a kitty cafe in Utah, ranking without external links doesn’t seem likely.
However, that’s not to say all backlinks are created equal. A ski resort in Utah cumulating links from ski blogs will generate good SEO, but a ski resort with dozens of links from low quality sites won’t look so good.
As Shepard stated, “Links from reputable and relevant sites carry far more weight than links from spammy or irrelevant sites.” In fact, the more sketchy links you accumulate, the faster Google is likely to penalize you and shut it down. In the long-run, link buying and other sketchy practices really aren’t worth any ranking.
Michael Peggs of the Huffington Post warned against companies who become too focused on SEO and begin to feel deceptive. “Don’t sacrifice your long-term growth to be on the first page of Google for a few weeks. SEO is a long-game built on relevant backlinks from reputable sites.”
Managed Admin points out that “when it comes to SEO, there are no shortcuts.” The best way to improve rankings is always to focus first on content. Whether you’re a small company in Utah or a five-star hotel, genuine, engaging content updated frequently and consistently is always more likely to be shared and trusted.
Emily Culp writes for Fusion 360, an SEO and content marketing agency. She writes for many other clients as well. Follow on Twitter
But it didn’t take long for companies to find a way around organic backlinks. Link spamming and buying became a popular practice that threw the whole system off, and Google promptly changed its algorithms.
But for small companies in Utah and across the U.S. trying to boost rankings, do external links still matter to SEO? Should marketers simply forget about the practice altogether? A recent study by Moz looked at the relevance of backlinks to SEO in 2015, and might suggest otherwise.
As reported by Cyrus Shepard of Moz, 99 percent of the top 50 search results had at least one external link pointing to the website, and most had several links. “In other words,” as Shepard put it, “if you’re looking for a site that ranks well with no external links, be prepared to look for a very long time.”
Anyone looking at these results can gather that Google still factors backlinks into the SEO equation to some degree. And unless you’re trying to target unique keywords like a kitty cafe in Utah, ranking without external links doesn’t seem likely.
However, that’s not to say all backlinks are created equal. A ski resort in Utah cumulating links from ski blogs will generate good SEO, but a ski resort with dozens of links from low quality sites won’t look so good.
As Shepard stated, “Links from reputable and relevant sites carry far more weight than links from spammy or irrelevant sites.” In fact, the more sketchy links you accumulate, the faster Google is likely to penalize you and shut it down. In the long-run, link buying and other sketchy practices really aren’t worth any ranking.
Michael Peggs of the Huffington Post warned against companies who become too focused on SEO and begin to feel deceptive. “Don’t sacrifice your long-term growth to be on the first page of Google for a few weeks. SEO is a long-game built on relevant backlinks from reputable sites.”
Managed Admin points out that “when it comes to SEO, there are no shortcuts.” The best way to improve rankings is always to focus first on content. Whether you’re a small company in Utah or a five-star hotel, genuine, engaging content updated frequently and consistently is always more likely to be shared and trusted.
Emily Culp writes for Fusion 360, an SEO and content marketing agency. She writes for many other clients as well. Follow on Twitter