What Google Says About Link Building and Backlinks (2016-2023)

Does link building remain a pillar of SEO in 2024?

For nearly eight years, Google has multiplied its communications on link building and backlinks, often causing confusion in the SEO community. Between assertions about the importance of links and declarations about their loss of weight, the official discourse has considerably evolved.

This analysis reveals a clear trend: Google seeks to minimize the apparent importance of backlinks while continuing to use them as a ranking signal. A communication strategy that deserves to be deciphered to understand the true place of link building today.

Our insights are based exclusively on official statements, allowing us to identify strategic constants and apparent contradictions in Mountain View's discourse.

How has Google's discourse on backlinks evolved since 2016?

In 2016, Google openly acknowledged that backlinks remained at the heart of the algorithm. Statements affirmed that without this signal, the quality of results would be significantly inferior. This period corresponded to a traditional vision of PageRank as the foundation of ranking.

Between 2018 and 2020, the tone began to change. Google multiplied assertions about what did not constitute a quality criterion: number of backlinks, popularity metrics, link anchors. This period marks the beginning of a strategy to minimize the apparent importance of links.

When did Google intensify its discourse on devaluing links?

The year 2020 represents a major rhetorical turning point. Google began to explicitly state that links are no longer the most important factor. This declaration marks a break with the search engine's historical discourse.

In 2021-2022, the messages became more prescriptive about practices to avoid: link exchanges, forum links, black hat strategies. Google emphasized more on the futility of certain techniques than on the importance of good practices.

What does the 2023 declaration reveal about strategic evolution?

The September 2023 statement represents the culmination of this evolution. Asserting that backlinks are no longer among the top 3 signals represents an official paradigm shift, even if the wording remains deliberately vague about what replaces them.

This chronology reveals a progressive communication strategy aimed at reducing the SEO industry's obsession with link building, possibly to limit manipulations and refocus attention on content and user experience.

Are Google's statements on backlinks consistent?

An apparent contradiction runs through all the statements: Google simultaneously affirms that links remain important (2016) while minimizing their weight (2020-2023). This ambivalence is probably not accidental but reflects a nuanced communication strategy.

Consistency is found in the implicit message: Google still uses backlinks, but in a more sophisticated way than simple counting. The algorithm now favors contextual quality over raw quantity, which explains why traditional metrics lose their relevance.

Why does Google insist so much on the futility of counting links?

Between 2019 and 2022, several statements repeat that counting links is technically impossible and that the number is not a ranking factor. This insistence clearly aims to discourage the use of third-party SEO tools and the race for metrics.

However, this position creates tension with the affirmation that links remain a used signal. The resolution of this contradiction lies in the notion of algorithmic quality: Google analyzes links contextually, making simple quantitative approaches obsolete.

Does the treatment of toxic links reveal a technical evolution?

From 2019 to 2022, Google repeats that most sites don't need to disavow their links because the algorithm automatically ignores spammy links. This consistency suggests a real technical improvement in detecting artificial link patterns.

The evolution of discourse on disavowal shows a Google more confident in its ability to filter noise. This technical assurance helps understand why the engine can simultaneously reduce the apparent weight of links while continuing to use them as a signal.

What link building strategy should be adopted in light of these statements?

The first actionable lesson is to radically favor quality over quantity. Google has clearly abandoned volumetric metrics in favor of contextual and semantic analysis of links. A strategy based on accumulating backlinks without editorial consideration has become counterproductive.

Statements converge toward a model where the link must be naturally justified in its context. This means that artificial placements (forums, exchanges, systematic footers) lose all effectiveness, while contextualized editorial links retain their value.

Should time still be invested in backlink audits?

Google explicitly minimizes the importance of link building audits for the majority of sites. Only sites with a history of aggressive practices should dedicate significant resources to them. This position has been consistent over several years.

The recommended approach is to monitor without obsession: periodically check backlinks via Search Console, disavow only in case of obvious attack or toxic legacy, but don't make auditing a permanent process. Energy should be reallocated toward content creation and user experience.

How should the official devaluation of backlinks be interpreted?

The 2023 statement about falling out of the top 3 doesn't mean backlinks have become useless. Rather, it indicates that other signals (probably related to content, user behavior, and expertise) have taken on greater relative importance.

This evolution reflects the algorithm's maturation toward a more holistic understanding of quality. Link building remains an external validation signal, but it can no longer compensate for fundamental weaknesses in content or experience. The strategy must therefore be balanced across all SEO pillars.

Which link building practices are definitively obsolete?

Statements clearly identify several practices to abandon: reciprocal link exchanges, forum links for SEO purposes, links from YouTube to accelerate indexing, and strategies based solely on third-party metrics (DA, TF, CF).

This negative list allows us to define positively what works: links obtained naturally through content quality, authentic relationships with other sites in the ecosystem, and spontaneous editorial mentions. Effective link building in 2024 resembles digital public relations more than technical optimization.

• Focus your efforts on creating linkable content rather than actively acquiring links
• Abandon volumetric metrics and exhaustive counting tools in favor of contextual qualitative analysis
• Disavow only links from documented past practices, ignore the background noise of negative SEO
• Reallocate link building budget toward improving content, expertise, and user experience
• Consider backlinks as one validation signal among others, not as the main objective of your SEO strategy