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Backlinks Google Study

Google Says Links Are Less Important: Our Data Tells a Different Story

Google's Perspective

Recent statements from Google suggest that backlinks may no longer hold the weight they once did. However, as we’ve all found out recently, what Google says, and what is the truth, can often diverge. To shed light on this “are links less important question, we conducted an analysis of 200 search phrases and analyzed the resulting 1,113 websites to determine if backlinks are still a crucial factor in achieving top rankings on Google.

"I think they are important, but I think people overestimate the importance of links. I don’t agree it’s in the top three [ranking factors]. It hasn’t been for some time. ...it is possible to rank without links."

Links are not a top 3 Google Search ranking factor, says Gary Illyes - Search Engine Land - Sept 25th 2023

"Over the past six months Google has been saying and hinting that links are less important than they used to be."

Google: Overfocusing On Links Could Be A Waste Of Time - SEJournal - April 1, 2024

"Gary reportedly said, 'We need very few links to rank pages... Over the years we've made links less important.' "

Google: We Need Very Few Links To Rank Pages; Links Are Less Important - SERoundtable - April 22, 2024

The Study

Do you need “very few links to rank in Google”? ….conventional wisdom suggests that the answer might vary depending on what you’re trying to rank for. If you’re targeting long-tail informational phrases (non-commercial phrases), then perhaps you don’t need many backlinks. However, on the flip side AI might be starting to eat these searches for lunch. Perhaps if you live in a small town and you target specialized local phrases, you might not require a lot of backlinks. But what about medium or short-tail commercial phrases? Can you rank with “very few links”?

Curiosity drove me to investigate whether sites with minimal backlinks could be ranking for commercial phrases. I devised a straightforward test and even imagined a news headline: “Very Few Links Needed to Rank for Commercial Phrases Now!” However, as you’ll see below, that isn’t the case. You can’t really blame me for double-checking what Google says about the value of backlinks (or anything really) when it comes to ranking in Google these days. Despite repeatedly hearing “Links aren’t important,” no one has ever backed up this claim with data or analysis, so I decided to conduct a simple analysis to test it.

The Analysis

I used AI to generate a list of 200 random commercial intent keyword phrases. Afterward, I removed 9 phrases that didn’t make sense, and added in 9 “Las Vegas” phrases to include some local commercial searches (such as restaurants, hotels, shows, etc.). In the report below, you can view the list of 200 phrases by clicking on the “View Keyword Stats” button, where detailed information about each search phrase is available.

With this list of 200 phrases, we scraped the first page of search results for each phrase and collected the top 10 URLs for each organic search results page. My aim was to gather a diverse range of URLs, covering as many different commercial areas as possible. After processing the 200 search phrases and extracting all the organic results from page 1, we ended up with a total of 1,113 unique sites. Below we have an analysis of the 200 phrases, and there is also an analysis of the 1,113 domains. 

To find the unique domain backlinks of these 1,113 sites, we utilized four sources: Ahrefs, Moz, Majestic Historic, and SEMRush. These sources to provided us the number of unique domains going to each of the 1,113 sites. We then recorded the highest number reported by any of the four sources in a column labeled “Highest Ref Dom” (for finding the highest/lowest Unique Referring Domains). For example, if Moz reported 100 unique domain backlinks for a site, Ahrefs reported 200, Majestic Historic reported 300, and SEMRush reported 400, we would enter “400” in the “Highest Ref Domain” column.

Thoughts on Data Sources
I debated between using Majestic Fresh or Historic and opted for Historic to capture a larger number, even though many of those links may not be live today. Each of these four sources—Ahrefs, Moz, Majestic Historic, and SEMRush—has its strengths and weaknesses. They each maintain their own index of the web, which includes a mix of valuable URLs and irrelevant ones. None of these databases perfectly mimic Google’s index of “good,” “bad,” and “irrelevant” links. When analyzing backlinks for a client, I often use all four sources (and sometimes more) for a comprehensive view. It’s important to note that not all backlinks are equal, and focusing solely on the number of backlinks has its limitations. However, to simplify our analysis, we considered the sheer number of unique domain backlinks, given Google’s statement, “We need very few links to rank pages.”

How Many Sites that Rank on Page 1 Have Few Backlinks?

I have some additional findings, but let’s jump right to the big conclusion. Out of 200 random phrases entered, we got 1,113 unique websites that ranked in the top 10 for those phrases.

Here’s some interesting stats from our data:

Referring Domains Number of Sites Percentage in range
0-50 0 0%
50-100 3 0.3%
100-1K 38 3.4%
1K-10K 375 33.7%
10K-100K 411 36.9%
100K-1M 230 20.7%
1M+ 56 5%
Average Referring Domains over 1,113 domains
Moz: 184,821 Ahrefs: 45,073
Majestic H: 661,909 Semrush: 236,475

To summarize:

  • None (0.00%) of these sites has less than 50 unique domain backlinks going to them.
  • Only 0.03% (3 out of 1,113 sites) have between 50 and 100 links.
  • Only 3.4% (38 out of 1,113 sites) have between 100 and 1,000 unique domain backlinks.

96.3% of the sites that ranked in the top 10 have over 1,000 unique domain backlinks.

So, do backlinks seem important? If 96.3% of the sites ranking in the top 10 for commercial phrases have over 1,000 backlinks, then it’s clear that a substantial number of backlinks are crucial for ranking well in Google.

Other Interesting Discoveries

Detailed Analysis of Specific Sites​

In theory, these are the weakest 10 sites out of the 1,113 we analyzed. The weakest site on the list is snowsportoutlet.com, which has 54 referring domains (according to SEMRush). By clicking on the “Times Seen” number, you can see that it ranks #6 for “snowboards for sale”.

This finding underscores that while these sites have the lowest backlink counts among the analyzed domains, they still need a considerable number of backlinks to rank. This insight reinforces the importance of a robust backlink profile for achieving competitive search engine rankings, even in less competitive niches. 

Analysis of the Weakest Sites

I anticipated that local searches would require fewer backlinks, and sure enough, three of these “weakest” 10 sites, ranked for “Las Vegas” phrases, but they still had more backlinks than I expected:

  • Nevadanews ranks #6 for “Best pizza in Las Vegas” with 76 backlinks.
  • Desertskydayspa ranks #8 for “Las Vegas Spa Packages” with 132 backlinks.
  • Tix4vegas ranks #7 for “Las Vegas show tickets” with 285 backlinks.

If we focus on these lowest 10 sites out of the 1,113, they average 164 unique domain backlinks, which appears to be the minimum required to rank in the top 10 for any of our “Las Vegas” phrases. For instance, if I operated a Las Vegas Spa and aimed to rank for “Las Vegas Spa Packages” (considered a long to medium-tail search phrase), the data suggests I would need at least 132 other websites linking to me.

A Look at the Nine Las Vegas Phrases

We can see that to rank on the first page for any of the “Las Vegas” phrases, you’ll need an average of at least 21,000 backlinks.

This raises a critical question: if I only have a few backlinks, should I be concerned despite Google’s claims that backlinks aren’t very important? 

According to this analysis, the quantity of backlinks remains a significant factor in achieving high rankings, even for local and specialized search phrases.

Dominance of Major Domains in Google Rankings

I was surprised that Amazon ranked in the top 10 for 164 out of 200 phrases (191 if we exclude the 9 Las Vegas phrases).  Below are the stats showing the frequency of each site’s appearance for these 200 phrases:

10 Most Seen Domains Times Seen
amazon.com 164
walmart.com 57
bestbuy.com 49
nytimes.com 39
homedepot.com 38
target.com 31
reddit.com 29
cnet.com 28
lowes.com 26
wired.com 20

Amazon clearly dominates commercial phrases on Google.

Analysis of Keyword Phrases with the Fewest Backlinks

Below, we’ve identified the 10 sites with the fewest backlink counts by ordering the 200 phrases we analyzed by “Average Referring Domains.”

This data indicates that even for keywords with lower search volumes and fewer backlinks, a significant number of backlinks are still needed to rank in the top 10. This further underscores the importance of having a robust backlink profile, regardless of the keyword’s competitive landscape.

Final Observations

I fully understand that not all links are equal. I could (and I guess I will) list a few of the factors that can determine the value of any link, like: 

  • How powerful/trusted is the site that links to you, 
  • How powerful/trusted is the page that links to you, 
  • What is the anchor text linking to you, 
  • Does the link get clicks, 
  • When was the first and last good click,
  • Is there an author on a page and how trusted are they
  • and so many more things that can give value to a link.

I was really hoping to find a unicorn of a site that had very few backlinks, yet ranked for commercial phrases. I have yet to find one. My findings reinforce the conclusion that links are very important to rankings in Google. Sure, there are other major factors, such as the technical setup of your site, your content, and the user experience, but to say “you can rank with little or no links, and links aren’t very important” just seems like another misleading and inaccurate statement from Google.

See the full result set:
View Full Analysis of 1,113 Domains View Full Analysis of 200 keywords

Need Help to Get More and Better Links?​

At Internet Marketing Ninjas, we specialize in crafting high-quality content designed to attract valuable backlinks. Our team not only creates engaging content but also actively promotes it to garner links, mentions, and traffic from across the web, thereby enhancing your organic rankings on Google.

If you’re looking to boost your website’s visibility and improve your backlink profile, we can help. Contact us to learn how our expertise in content creation and link-building can drive more traffic and elevate your site’s search engine performance.

This study was conducted by Jim Boykin, the CEO and Founder of Internet Marketing Ninjas.