Two Named Studies · Google's Own Words
Are Backlinks Still Important in 2026?
Yes — backlinks still matter in 2026, but less than they used to. They’re one trust signal among several, not the whole game.
A backlink is just another website linking to yours. For years it was the main way Google judged trust. The numbers below are from Backlinko’s study of 11.8 million search results (updated April 2025), Ahrefs’ search-traffic study (December 2023), and Google’s Gary Illyes speaking at Pubcon in 2023 — each fetched and checked in August 2026. Nothing here is our guess.
What the data says, side by side
| Source | Finding | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Backlinko, 11.8M results (upd. Apr 2025) | The #1 result averages 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-#10, and 3x more referring domains | Links still track with rank. Correlation, not a recipe. |
| Ahrefs traffic study (Dec 2023) | Roughly 1 in 6,671 pages with no backlinks gets more than 1,000 visits a month; Ahrefs calls backlinks a top-three factor | Zero links is a real handicap for a page that wants traffic. |
| Gary Illyes, Google, Pubcon (Sep 2023) | “I don’t agree it’s in the top three. It hasn’t been for some time.” | Google itself says links carry less weight than they did. |
Those three don’t contradict each other as much as they seem to. Pages that rank well tend to have more links because good pages get mentioned. That doesn’t mean adding links to a weak page makes it strong — and Google has spent a decade making sure it doesn’t.
Do backlinks still matter in 2026 for a local business?
Yes, but the links that count look nothing like what link sellers offer. A local business earns trust through mentions a real business would have: the local paper, the chamber of commerce, a supplier’s “find a dealer” page, the youth league you sponsor, your trade association. Five of those beat five hundred from unrelated blogs. And here’s the part most advice misses: Google’s AI and ChatGPT assemble their recommendations from the same public mentions. Earned mentions work twice. Bought ones work zero times.
What should a small business do instead of buying links?
Do the things that produce mentions naturally and feed AI recommendations at the same time. Ask every customer for a review. Get your name, address, and phone identical on every listing. Write pages that plainly answer what customers ask (“how much does a water heater replacement cost in my area?”). Join the associations you’d join anyway and make sure they list you. That’s the groundwork behind Get Recommended, and it’s also the off-page part of SEO done the way Google intended.
Earned vs bought
Which links help and which hurt
| Helps | Hurts or does nothing |
|---|---|
| A local news story that mentions your business | Paid “guest posts” on unrelated blogs |
| Your supplier or manufacturer’s dealer locator | Directory packages promising “500 submissions” |
| Chamber of commerce, BBB, trade association listings | Link exchanges and private blog networks |
| A charity or league you sponsor listing sponsors | Any link you paid for by the link |
Google’s own guidance on hiring an SEO says to avoid anyone who “talks about link popularity schemes.” If a proposal is mostly about link counts, that’s your answer.
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Backlinks in 2026 — FAQ
Are backlinks still important in 2026?▾
Yes, but they're no longer the whole game. Backlinko's study of 11.8 million Google results (updated April 2025) found the #1 result averages 3.8 times more backlinks than positions 2 through 10, and Ahrefs' 2023 traffic study calls backlinks one of Google's top three ranking factors. Google's own Gary Illyes disagreed in 2023: 'I don't agree it's in the top three. It hasn't been for some time.' Read together: links still correlate with ranking, but Google leans on them less than it did a decade ago.
Do backlinks still matter for a small local business?▾
They matter, but the links that count for a local business are not the ones link sellers offer. A mention from the local paper, your chamber of commerce, a supplier's dealer page, a charity you sponsor, or a trade association carries real weight because it's what a real business earns. Google's AI and ChatGPT read the same mentions when deciding whom to recommend. A thousand bought links from unrelated blogs do nothing good and can get a site penalized.
Should I buy backlinks?▾
No. Google's Search Central guidance on hiring an SEO explicitly warns against anyone who talks about 'link popularity schemes,' and a site caught buying links can be penalized or dropped from results. Money that would go to bought links does more in reviews, a clearly written website, and consistent listings — all of which also feed AI recommendations, which bought links never will.
What replaced backlinks as the main signal?▾
Nothing single. Google's Illyes has said links aren't in the top three, and Google doesn't publish the list. In practice, the things that move rankings and AI recommendations together are content that plainly answers what people ask, consistent business details everywhere, real reviews, and genuine mentions. Links are one form of mention; reviews and directory listings are others.
How many backlinks do I need?▾
There's no number, and anyone selling you a number is selling links. Ahrefs' 2023 study found that only about one in 6,671 pages with zero backlinks gets more than 1,000 visits a month, so having none is a handicap. But a local service business typically needs a handful of real, relevant mentions — not hundreds. Earn those and then stop worrying about the count.
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