"Remember - if you are constantly getting more backlinks, Google will reward you with higher rankings and more customers."
For years I've held on to this idea, but no longer. I've been involved in SEO since the late 1990s, during the Alta Vista days, and there was a time when more links meant high rankings on Google. My website, Boondocker's Bible, has over 3500 inbound links according to Google Search Console, most of which come from other camping-related websites and news websites. But traffic from Google has consistently dropped since last September, and during the HCU last March, it has dropped at a much faster rate. My referrals from Google are now just 10% of what it was since last September.
During the DOJ's antitrust lawsuit against Google, evidence was released showing that the primary driver of Google rankings is simply how many clicks your website gets on its SERPs. the DOJ released documents from Google that it uses to teach its search staff and marketing staff that they always rank a new page high, then monitor how many clicks it gets. If it gets a lot of clicks, they continue to rank it high. If it doesn't get that many clicks, they drop it down in the rankings. And that's all it is, just clicks.
Here is a link to an article that shares some of these documents, you can see for yourself...
So, it all comes down to how your listing appears in the SERP, including the title tag, the meta description, and the URL structure, and then Google monitoring USER INTERACTION to decide if your document is helpful or not. How many inbound links you have, has no bearing at all.
The EEAT guidelines also plays a significant role. The most important of which is "experience". As long you express your experience in your niche, Google will factor that into its rankings. Thus, write everything in first-person, and use phrases like "In my experience...", or "Here's what I found...", "My opinion is..." etc. If you write in third-person, Google drops you.
Otherwise, forget inbound links. Focus on the EEAT, along with Title tags, Meta tags, and your URL structure. That's what drives rankings, and it's been that way for many years. It's only been in the last several months that we've learned this.
"Remember - if you are constantly getting more backlinks, Google will reward you with higher rankings and more customers."
For years I've held on to this idea, but no longer. I've been involved in SEO since the late 1990s, during the Alta Vista days, and there was a time when more links meant high rankings on Google. My website, Boondocker's Bible, has over 3500 inbound links according to Google Search Console, most of which come from other camping-related websites and news websites. But traffic from Google has consistently dropped since last September, and during the HCU last March, it has dropped at a much faster rate. My referrals from Google are now just 10% of what it was since last September.
During the DOJ's antitrust lawsuit against Google, evidence was released showing that the primary driver of Google rankings is simply how many clicks your website gets on its SERPs. the DOJ released documents from Google that it uses to teach its search staff and marketing staff that they always rank a new page high, then monitor how many clicks it gets. If it gets a lot of clicks, they continue to rank it high. If it doesn't get that many clicks, they drop it down in the rankings. And that's all it is, just clicks.
Here is a link to an article that shares some of these documents, you can see for yourself...
https://searchengineland.com/google-search-ranking-documents-434141
So, it all comes down to how your listing appears in the SERP, including the title tag, the meta description, and the URL structure, and then Google monitoring USER INTERACTION to decide if your document is helpful or not. How many inbound links you have, has no bearing at all.
The EEAT guidelines also plays a significant role. The most important of which is "experience". As long you express your experience in your niche, Google will factor that into its rankings. Thus, write everything in first-person, and use phrases like "In my experience...", or "Here's what I found...", "My opinion is..." etc. If you write in third-person, Google drops you.
Otherwise, forget inbound links. Focus on the EEAT, along with Title tags, Meta tags, and your URL structure. That's what drives rankings, and it's been that way for many years. It's only been in the last several months that we've learned this.
Thanks for your thoughts, I'll read your recommended article. Cheers.