Full Service Internet Marketing Company & Internet Marketing Tools

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”.

Domain Times Seen Ahrefs DA Moz DA Ahrefs Ref Dom Moz Ref Dom Maj H
Ref Dom		 Semrush
Ref
Dom		 Highest
Ref
Dom [?]		 Semrush Organic Traffic Semrush Organic Cost

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
Keyphrase Semrush Search Volume Avg Ahrefs Referring Domains Avg Moz Referring Domains Avg Majestic H Referring Domains Avg Semrush Referring Domains Avg Referring Domains
Best pizza in Las Vegas 5,400 1,185,627 3,609,217 8,542,752 2,779,639 2,277,140
Las Vegas fine dining 590 133,133 1,101,059 2,066,285 585,759 512,655
Las Vegas golf courses 9,900 34,759 87,417 222,816 95,700 61,044
Las Vegas helicopter tours 8,100 66,572 167,366 403,176 182,966 116,777
Las Vegas hotels 368,000 75,681 181,710 615,637 187,680 126,466
Las Vegas Parties 590 48,027 81,124 278,513 82,331 61,726
Las Vegas real estate 6,600 38,641 85,711 341,307 78,283 58,173
Las Vegas show tickets 2,400 13,072 32,526 135,982 28,434 21,453
Las Vegas spa packages 590 76,156 137,682 466,807 116,763 97,202

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.”

Keyphrase Semrush Search Volume Avg Ahrefs Referring Domains Avg Moz Referring Domains Avg Majestic H Referring Domains Avg Semrush Referring Domains Avg Referring Domains
Action cameras 6,600 513,058 1,205,561 3,638,340 1,057,489 783,263
Air fryers 33,100 1,105,217 3,209,613 9,480,420 2,711,248 2,114,638
Anti-aging creams 40 279,261 623,365 1,835,492 548,892 411,269
Area rugs 90,500 268,805 623,468 1,854,457 549,745 406,632
Artificial grass 33,100 774,085 1,793,602 5,567,528 1,852,488 1,264,338
Baby clothes 90,500 22,666 73,030 201,912 62,210 44,626
Baby strollers 14,800 339,220 811,479 2,327,225 693,570 521,332
Backpacking tents 4,400 230,803 535,471 1,612,672 468,316 347,726
Baking pans 8,100 443,241 1,059,139 3,169,678 937,928 687,170
Barbecue grills for sale 1,300 277,851 670,053 2,015,362 604,691 437,716
Basketball backboard and hoop 260 250,279 590,157 1,800,833 512,574 381,994
Bath bomb sets 170 460,742 1,079,645 3,264,366 936,196 698,259
Beekeeping supplies 4,400 666 2,009 5,553 2,335 1,370
Best credit cards 90,500 1,041,761 3,493,175 8,458,443 2,590,283 2,137,822
Best headphones 49,500 264,540 1,166,490 3,607,993 604,544 567,165
Best pizza in Las Vegas 5,400 1,185,627 3,609,217 8,542,752 2,779,639 2,277,140
Bike parts online 880 688 8,396 21,980 10,400 5,213
Bluetooth speakers 27,100 304,728 728,294 2,711,487 639,739 472,426
Board games 135,000 747,726 2,243,990 5,581,863 1,814,287 1,366,894
Box of chocolates 8,100 244,346 575,582 1,757,020 504,962 373,806
Business loans 33,100 24,324 79,635 325,668 79,517 55,413
Buy binoculars 260 228,638 537,113 1,639,044 468,591 347,833
Buy shoes online 1,900 5,236 34,153 102,756 31,165 19,421
Camping chairs 40,500 254,574 597,723 1,826,185 524,411 388,721
Car insurance Nevada 1,600 11,532 33,049 136,465 32,703 23,183
Cat toys 40,500 331,695 1,281,440 2,645,485 712,013 647,169
Catchers Mitt for sale 90 31,601 105,866 530,366 72,606 59,243
Chainsaws for sale 6,600 268,028 667,309 2,206,340 571,945 424,221
Cheap flights 2,240,000 80,304 149,055 10,167,848 5,352,937 1,837,667
Cheap laptops 22,200 376,165 1,374,514 2,928,701 795,696 711,395
Chocolate truffles 18,100 11,626 248,014 577,628 215,166 136,894
Cigar humidors 1,600 221,778 518,963 1,567,479 451,321 335,692
Cocktail dresses 135,000 237,071 566,186 1,690,832 490,027 363,868
Coffee makers 27,100 353,024 841,319 2,431,293 725,742 542,994
Cookware sets 18,100 257,995 603,054 1,794,910 525,997 390,750
Custom stationary 2,900 8,628 96,559 244,667 30,186 36,119
Customized wedding invitations 480 13,424 98,160 306,740 40,902 40,794
Dance lessons online 480 2,377,513 7,435,417 20,236,875 6,205,945 4,912,833
Data Science classes 1,300 47,228 285,311 926,212 242,175 172,100
Designer handbags 18,100 24,507 75,036 230,051 62,669 45,556
Dinner plates 9,900 257,319 605,014 1,798,481 531,076 392,492
Discount flights 5,400 17,131 45,734 210,304 50,098 32,164
Drone cameras 880 333,641 792,424 2,266,572 677,540 509,776
Drones for sale 18,100 233,212 546,742 1,640,216 474,875 354,063
DSLR cameras 3,600 876,345 2,042,312 6,224,626 2,048,193 1,420,201
Educational toys 6,600 455,167 1,076,743 3,241,335 938,520 695,767
Electric bikes for sale 18,100 228,857 534,947 1,629,666 466,163 346,735
Electric scooters 33,100 255,198 611,308 2,349,795 535,957 395,057
Electric toothbrush 110,000 616,654 1,473,281 4,802,054 1,273,250 949,523
Espresso machines 18,100 243,480 563,272 1,681,021 502,393 368,890
Exercise mats 5,400 458,939 1,075,353 3,259,356 934,107 695,794
External hard drives 9,900 1,479,590 4,604,861 11,819,065 3,507,681 2,829,271
Fishing lures for freshwater 170 310,841 1,232,810 2,482,079 665,157 613,697
Fitness apparel 1,600 2,139 6,145 9,846 8,445 4,531
Fitness trackers 5,400 435,794 1,033,559 2,905,055 908,435 674,070
Foosball tables for sale 720 1,431,468 7,434,672 14,310,065 4,595,393 3,971,514
Gaming chairs 40,500 457,261 1,069,015 3,240,627 930,324 692,737
Gaming controllers 6,600 554,868 1,806,865 4,249,033 1,164,393 985,206
Gaming headsets 8,100 489,336 1,174,607 3,543,950 1,027,342 759,034
Gaming keyboards 12,100 470,667 1,103,717 3,341,998 969,336 717,156
Gaming laptops 33,100 280,480 668,212 2,102,383 588,218 434,705
Gaming mouse pads 6,600 297,102 723,689 1,912,521 595,188 452,705
Garden decor 9,900 401,067 1,464,841 4,050,574 868,948 824,943
Garden hoses for sale 880 497,465 1,163,896 3,520,436 1,039,775 761,556
Gas fire pits 8,100 251,528 598,215 1,810,281 530,623 389,171
Gazebos for sale 9,900 236,561 563,225 1,683,430 503,142 366,577
Golf clubs 74,000 1,680 5,152 19,467 5,693 3,427
Golf clubs for sale 18,100 224,696 531,079 1,601,854 464,299 343,373
Hair loss treatments 880 166,242 347,254 863,818 348,205 252,930
Hammock for two 210 454,297 1,067,212 3,203,002 937,731 692,272
Hand blenders 5,400 264,780 628,687 1,857,524 564,398 410,415
Handcrafted leather goods 90 1,184 2,214 2,413 4,399 2,053
Handcrafted wooden furniture 140 64,866 184,582 273,780 123,911 102,095
HDMI cables 14,800 467,216 1,091,958 3,330,624 948,625 707,264
Healthy snacks 165,000 103,877 175,911 390,369 204,926 140,470
Hedge trimmers for sale 720 254,311 606,464 1,842,740 537,825 394,463
Hiking gear 8,100 1,687,471 5,691,656 14,465,351 4,373,361 3,569,110
Home brewing supplies 2,400 457 5,667 20,884 5,750 3,415
Home gym equipment 27,100 225,512 527,589 1,589,641 462,069 342,091
Home gym setups 260 1,057,094 4,112,295 10,066,817 2,671,566 2,388,669
Home gyms for sale 590 221,702 520,369 1,567,085 453,370 336,515
Home security cameras 27,100 266,857 637,739 2,426,659 556,410 412,336
Home security systems 60,500 341,370 839,712 2,871,944 717,839 535,802
Home theater projectors 1,000 135,414 833,118 1,803,478 320,239 355,425
Home theater sound systems 720 239,978 562,469 1,753,868 491,138 365,034
Home theater systems 9,900 337,371 1,292,453 2,712,345 717,328 653,703
Hunting jackets 1,900 275 3,053 7,916 4,215 2,088
Inflatable hot tubs 5,400 344,197 1,323,791 2,734,367 754,539 674,064
Insect repellent 8,100 539,992 1,356,401 3,973,208 1,175,687 870,767
Instant cameras 6,600 476,157 1,614,608 3,484,702 989,478 862,401
Insurance for house 1,000 32,599 88,199 316,137 89,308 61,916
Kayaks for sale 27,100 967,859 6,323,908 10,761,619 3,654,173 3,262,970
Kitchen blenders 1,300 361,085 871,235 2,472,115 764,107 564,109
Laptop sleeves 4,400 539,448 1,274,489 3,718,315 1,098,247 821,359
Laptop stands 6,600 367,006 866,313 2,454,528 750,540 560,357
Las Vegas fine dining 590 133,133 1,101,059 2,066,285 585,759 512,655
Las Vegas golf courses 9,900 34,759 87,417 222,816 95,700 61,044
Las Vegas helicopter tours 8,100 66,572 167,366 403,176 182,966 116,777
Las Vegas hotels 368,000 75,681 181,710 615,637 187,680 126,466
Las Vegas Parties 590 48,027 81,124 278,513 82,331 61,726
Las Vegas real estate 6,600 38,641 85,711 341,307 78,283 58,173
Las Vegas show tickets 2,400 13,072 32,526 135,982 28,434 21,453
Las Vegas spa packages 590 76,156 137,682 466,807 116,763 97,202
Lawn mowers for sale 18,100 1,964,888 12,734,574 21,787,360 7,394,117 6,583,609
Leaf blowers for sale 1,900 349,904 844,715 2,418,433 739,287 546,166
Life insurance over 50 880 227,283 525,223 1,443,426 513,803 364,513
Luxury bedding 8,100 12,256 55,715 132,903 60,397 35,410
Luxury watches 14,800 1,984 4,141 11,540 5,172 3,178
Makeup brushes 22,200 452,549 1,060,739 3,176,365 921,548 685,418
Massage guns 8,100 646,146 1,478,568 4,312,294 1,298,444 969,114
Meal replacement shakes 27,100 123,188 246,089 627,743 231,198 172,294
Mechanical keyboards 14,800 1,192,382 3,929,014 9,729,354 2,914,019 2,389,141
Men's watches 9,900 228,456 537,975 1,625,987 468,944 347,874
Mesh Wi-Fi systems 70 344,153 1,851,652 3,473,844 800,433 828,463
Mobile app developers 3,600 19,642 104,791 308,010 107,168 69,766
Music instruments sale 70 1,209,912 6,937,323 12,834,539 4,168,823 3,648,609
Nintendo Switch accessories 12,100 321,290 760,192 2,324,844 663,086 494,732
Noise-cancelling headphones 1,600 675,934 2,110,635 5,496,178 1,417,382 1,177,505
Online dating site 3,600 222,895 999,004 2,180,816 484,968 476,172
Online tutoring 6,600 5,848 43,578 147,401 40,279 26,300
Order roses online 480 1,494 6,246 20,885 7,499 4,293
Organic skincare products 260 1,525 3,608 8,731 4,307 2,618
Outdoor fountains 12,100 240,297 566,796 1,700,576 503,701 369,046
Outdoor furniture 165,000 62,630 153,301 443,318 152,110 104,194
Outdoor heaters 12,100 264,273 617,473 1,848,942 575,084 410,384
Outdoor kitchens 18,100 20,913 54,683 152,371 60,985 38,299
Outdoor lighting 27,100 242,205 574,512 1,721,390 512,131 373,949
Outdoor rugs for sale 480 266,057 621,828 1,891,632 543,610 404,372
Patio furniture sets 33,100 296,699 691,942 2,070,458 617,856 453,595
Patio umbrellas 9,900 339,125 817,802 2,333,174 711,261 527,515
PC gaming accessories 1,600 335,145 1,305,145 2,748,407 737,690 661,000
Pergolas for sale 3,600 260,959 628,423 1,890,619 567,140 410,361
Personal injury lawyer New York 2,900 81,169 167,125 458,089 167,300 120,681
Personalized gifts 60,500 285,609 711,146 1,866,789 582,692 441,858
Personalized jewelry 6,600 67,119 190,526 283,598 130,939 106,271
Ping pong tables for sale 1,300 1,210,635 6,894,732 12,487,640 4,149,715 3,632,451
Playstation accessories 2,400 283,711 794,762 2,450,474 696,630 503,841
Podcasting equipment 2,900 286,561 828,245 2,184,641 755,111 535,356
Portable chargers 8,100 624,533 1,479,984 4,525,300 1,271,990 956,566
Power tools 18,100 270,578 1,137,942 4,252,000 948,337 690,590
Pressure washers for sale 4,400 261,486 623,698 1,885,774 558,741 407,269
Projectors 18,100 504,477 1,202,752 4,167,341 1,056,012 779,162
Protein bars 49,500 239,950 564,238 1,690,399 494,646 366,146
Protein powders 9,900 261,697 671,465 1,998,146 605,393 435,758
Queen bed sheets 9,900 509,969 1,199,425 3,620,328 1,041,328 775,804
Resistance bands 40,500 547,852 1,296,827 3,786,045 1,116,156 835,409
Retirement Annuity 2,400 26,816 170,251 522,388 193,552 118,937
Robot vacuum cleaners 2,900 394,936 938,427 3,153,477 811,738 606,897
Running shoes for men 18,100 240,281 592,322 1,800,581 522,213 382,147
RV sewage hose 1,900 1,251,010 3,553,081 10,004,199 3,001,237 2,332,672
School supplies 49,500 250,280 592,009 1,801,821 513,329 382,658
Sewing machines 18,100 1,684,030 5,201,083 14,079,249 4,340,767 3,430,443
Skincare routines 1,600 196,055 434,815 1,027,118 390,280 291,895
Sleeping bags 27,100 346,122 823,831 2,366,894 706,256 530,450
Smart doorbells 1,300 362,113 886,760 3,043,485 774,438 571,142
Smart home cameras 210 370,878 914,382 3,593,474 794,844 586,747
Smart home hubs 720 680,575 2,577,362 5,282,161 1,436,449 1,307,759
Smart light bulbs 14,800 589,691 1,397,703 4,082,055 1,217,650 904,485
Smart locks 12,100 145,757 379,926 1,518,555 335,106 244,036
Smart plugs 14,800 602,123 1,442,071 14,675,836 6,566,591 2,697,639
Smart thermostats 9,900 365,360 891,642 3,075,520 778,199 574,762
Smart TVs 27,100 365,329 883,282 3,728,455 783,422 576,148
Snow blowers for sale 8,100 1,212,926 6,907,993 12,524,132 4,170,666 3,642,397
Snowboards for sale 6,600 6,951 26,861 85,670 28,103 17,293
Soccer goals for sale 880 221,830 517,350 1,558,847 449,980 334,855
Solar panels for sale 12,100 222,414 519,923 1,563,292 452,258 336,366
Soundbars for TV 880 338,486 800,325 2,947,278 704,460 522,517
Standing desks 14,800 338,286 817,419 2,268,504 715,785 527,200
Streaming devices 6,600 542,714 1,297,663 4,510,960 1,123,010 836,625
Study abroad programs 8,100 16,787 133,982 453,172 127,884 82,623
Suitcases black 40 467,443 1,102,414 3,331,982 953,969 711,316
Surfboards for sale 2,900 256 2,382 3,796 4,616 1,884
Swing sets for sale 4,400 14,123 30,256 92,707 30,011 21,173
Telescope deals 140 229,333 552,898 1,695,245 480,947 356,573
Toys for toddlers 5,400 339,990 1,303,099 2,706,852 725,608 659,566
Travel accessories 6,600 345,281 822,915 2,348,377 709,633 530,837
Universal remotes 3,600 275,642 658,516 2,514,768 574,934 426,221
USB flash drives 6,600 479,970 1,106,459 3,357,824 1,250,188 820,838
Vacation packages in Mexico 30 45,906 121,647 375,662 138,858 85,638
Vacuum cleaners 27,100 272,984 640,271 1,992,344 560,340 416,968
Vegan makeup 2,400 102,743 746,219 992,210 245,040 299,380
Video editing software 40,500 1,015,943 3,571,128 9,712,187 2,591,922 2,158,852
Vintage cars for sale 5,400 33,724 118,580 577,545 91,734 68,378
VR gaming accessories 40 549,731 1,794,557 4,248,141 1,137,359 972,858
Wedding rings 135,000 869 11,187 27,839 11,754 6,563
Weight loss drugs 27,100 100,375 417,913 1,043,008 402,477 274,155
Weight loss supplements 22,200 674,343 1,628,641 4,549,039 1,472,701 1,078,192
Whiskey decanters 1,900 222,325 519,799 1,566,598 452,061 336,247
Wi-Fi routers 260 427,675 1,054,031 4,051,615 920,996 678,844
Wine glasses 49,500 463,788 1,081,218 3,234,279 944,927 701,152
Winter gloves 12,100 247,694 577,842 1,768,395 504,265 375,452
Wireless earbuds 60,500 581,865 1,847,892 5,658,687 1,523,542 1,147,334
Wireless mice 1,900 348,833 838,614 2,420,939 730,311 541,839
Women's shoes 33,100 32,029 97,328 309,405 90,187 61,803
Wood chippers for sale 4,400 963,681 6,323,715 10,731,524 3,661,878 3,263,237
Wooden photo frames 880 255,590 605,534 1,838,719 527,989 391,967
Wooden puzzles 12,100 221,989 518,228 1,561,247 451,796 335,613
Xbox accessories 9,900 420,260 1,804,432 7,250,247 1,463,201 1,099,012
Yoga classes online 1,300 1,679,207 5,679,863 14,438,111 4,359,504 3,559,879
Yoga mats 18,100 323,476 772,958 2,193,064 661,882 496,366

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.