Every once in a while, SEOs try to be so cutting edge that they fall off the deep end. In the past few years, there have been some pretty significant shifts in search algorithms, and cracking down on links has been one of the primary focuses at Google. But no where in there did links suddenly become irrelevant.
Google even stated that they made an attempt at removing link signals completely from their algorithm and, well, the result was not what they had hoped. Which tells us that links, at this point in time, are still valuable.
Any SEO telling you otherwise either has an agenda, or they are just regurgitating what their best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who said links were not important.
For now — and for the foreseeable future — they are. But what we should be focused on is the quality of the links we are getting. Search engines will forever be tinkering with their algorithms, and you can be sure that the standards that determine what constitutes a valuable link will get tighter and tighter.
[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]Stop link building. Start developing content and relationships that produce earned links, shares and word of mouth.[/inlinetweet]