Google's Gary Illyes Debunks Link Importance for Google Search Rankings
Gary Illyes, an analyst on the Google Search team, stated at Pubcon Pro that links pointing to a website are no longer among the top three ranking factors in Google Search. While links still hold importance, Illyes emphasized that their significance has been overestimated. Google's algorithm now places more importance on factors such as machine learning, natural language understanding, and relevance signals. Illyes mentioned a case where a website with zero links ranked consistently due to its exceptional content, which Google discovered through the website's sitemap. Other Google representatives have also downgraded the importance of links in recent years, stating that they are not the most crucial factor for SEO.