| Backlinks have meaning but it defiantly isn't the only factor these days. In fact, I have pages on Google's top 10 that don't have a single backlinks. Here are a few things that matter: 1. How competitive is the keyword you are after. If you are targeting "long-tail" keywords - you should rank faster. E-A-T: 2. The writer's Expertise in the domain (i.e. an MD will have better chances to rank in relevant medical search queries. 3. Authoritativeness is about the writers and the website’s reputations. If the writer and/or website have good reputations and have backlinks from relevant high-quality websites, they have authority. 4. The writer's and website's Trustworthiness - We trust the things we see. If there is no about page or no information about the writer, they are less trustworthy. If the content itself doesn’t include links to relevant sources, we tend not to trust it. You can read more about E-A-T here - https://www.spectroomz.com/seo-eat-checker 5. User intent - does your article answer users' real intent? Type a certain search query on Google and see that the results are different than the exact keyword you entered. They have additions. These additions in the results are users real intent. Google knows where users who entered search query X ended their search and return those results eventually, even if they include additional keywords and are different from your original query. 6. Does your article have relevant outgoing links? Do you link to reliable sources? 7. Are the backlinks you get from reliable RELEVANT websites? 8. Is your content long-form or short form? 9. How people interact with your page - do they end the search there (great) or move to other sites? What's your bounce rate like? How is your CTR? 10. Is your search query YMYL related (Your Money Your Life)? If you'd want to rank for the "Covid Symptoms" phrase because you want to sell masks on your new Shopify store, I wouldn't bet on you getting to Google first page. This search query is "your life" related and Google gives significant emphasise on the site's reliability regardless of how many backlinks you have. You'd see MayoClinic there, WebMD, .Gov, Healthline and more. There are many more factors, but I can tell you that while RELEVANT backlinks are important, especially from authoritative sites, it's not the only factor and I even don't treat it as the main factor. Hope that helps! |