With Google’s crawlers becoming more advanced, algorithms are getting better at understanding how content fits within the context of the whole internet, so could this gradually make links a less important part of search engine optimisation (SEO)?
The question was addressed in a recent Google Search Off the Record podcast live from brightonSEO – a search conference in the UK where industry experts meet twice a year to find out more about SEO from a wide range of speakers.
During this live podcast, Google’s John Mueller said that he can see a Google Search ranking algorithm in the future that results in links being less important than they are now for SEO. As algorithms become more sophisticated, this should mean searchers are getting better results and that crawlers should be getting less reliant on links to understand where content sits in the web.
However, he added while links are not as important as they have been in the past, they will always be something Google will use to an extent, as they are currently the clearest way for crawlers to find content across the web.
While this is a timely reminder, it is hardly new information from Google. Back in 2014, the then Google spam lead Matt Cutts recorded a video giving a similar message, referring to the Panda and Penguin algorithm updates fresh in people’s minds at the time.
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