Links no longer a top 3 ranking factor for Search: Google

We all know the fact that if you want to rank higher on Google Search, you would want to have links pointing to your website from authoritative websites because of the fact that there is a clear emphasis being put on the links your website has by Google to determine how your website will rank on their search engine. This also makes sense in Google’s eyes because they reveal that if the website does not have links from other websites pointing to them, how will they determine if the website is worth indexing or not.

Google says that if a website is linking to yours inside its content then it means that they have either cited you as a source or referenced your content which is a ranking factor. In a recent SEO conference, however, Google’s Gary Illyes who also runs the popular Google account for Google Search, said that links is no longer a top 3 ranking factor on Google Search. First of all, it is very weird and surprising to hear such a thing from person of such high authority on Google to directly reveal that something in Google’s 200+ ranking factors has been downgraded.

Coming back to his statement, it could still mean that links are still the fourth most important ranking factor on Google but it does mean that it now has less of an influence on how your websites can be ranked as it is now possible that you might not have the links as others but you can still rank high on Google Search.

Here is the exact quote from this event and Gary’s answer to it as well: “Are links still one of the most important ranking factors? I think they are important but I think people overestimate their importance. I don’t agree that it’s the top 3 and it hasn’t been for some time. The top ranking factor is content.” If Gary says that links are no longer a top 3 ranking factor on Google then you should stop building links right? Right? Not really. It will always be a very important metric for Googlebot to evaluate your site’s worth.