Why Is Everyone Still Obsessed With Backlinks?
For something that’s been discussed, debated and dissected for well over a decade, backlinks still dominate SEO conversations. When rankings don’t move, links are often the first thing blamed. When performance stalls, link building is usually the first lever people reach for.
That fixation is understandable, but it’s also where a lot of businesses go wrong.
Backlinks still play a role in how search engines understand authority, but the way they’re commonly pursued no longer reflects how they’re evaluated. Too many strategies are built around volume, habit and outdated assumptions, rather than relevance, context and judgement.
Backlinks still matter, but context matters more
Search engines haven’t abandoned backlinks. They remain one of many signals used to assess credibility and trust. What has changed is the weight they carry in isolation.
A backlink doesn’t exist on its own. Where it comes from, why it exists and how closely it aligns with the topic of the page it points to all influence its value. A large backlink profile with little relevance tells search engines very little.
Google has been clear on this for years. The total number of backlinks pointing to a site isn’t a goal in itself. What matters is whether those links reinforce relevance and authority within a topic.
This distinction is often missed, particularly when link building becomes a numbers game.
Why quality overtook quantity a long time ago
The idea that more links automatically lead to better rankings belongs to an earlier phase of search.
Today, a small number of well-placed links from relevant sources will usually outperform a long list of generic placements from low-quality blogs or networks. Those links might look reassuring in a report, but they rarely support real performance.
Low-quality links tend to follow the same pattern. They sit on pages created purely to host outbound links, surrounded by unrelated content, and attract no meaningful referral traffic. From a search engine’s perspective, they add little to the understanding of what a site is actually about.
This is why many link building campaigns feel busy without delivering results. Activity exists, but impact doesn’t.
Topical relevance and why it carries so much weight
One of the most important shifts in how backlinks are interpreted is the emphasis on topical relevance.
Search engines look at the overall theme of the linking site, the subject of the page the link appears on, and how closely that aligns with your own content. Links that reinforce a clear topical relationship strengthen authority. Links that don’t are often discounted.
This is where many businesses lose ground without realising it. A link from a large but irrelevant publication can carry less value than one from a smaller site that sits squarely within the same industry.
When backlinks don’t support a coherent topical footprint, they struggle to move rankings in any meaningful way.
What Penguin changed, and why it still matters
Google introduced the Penguin algorithm in 2012 to tackle manipulative link practices. At the time, it caused dramatic ranking drops and long recovery periods for sites with unnatural link profiles.
That changed in 2016 when Penguin became part of Google’s core algorithm. Since then, Google has been far better at assessing links continuously rather than through periodic updates.
The key shift was in how bad links were handled. Instead of triggering obvious penalties, low-quality or manipulative links began to be ignored or devalued. They stopped helping, rather than actively harming.
This is why poor link building today often leads to stagnation rather than visible penalties. The links exist, but they don’t contribute enough to move the needle.
Where PR fits into modern link acquisition
This evolution is also why PR now overlaps more naturally with SEO than traditional link building ever did.
Editorial links earned through coverage, insight or commentary tend to be relevant by default. They sit within content written for real audiences, on sites with a clear topical focus, and for reasons that make sense beyond SEO.
That doesn’t mean PR should be done purely for links, and it doesn’t mean every mention has search value. It does mean that when links are earned as part of genuine visibility, they usually align far more closely with what search engines are trying to reward.
In these cases, links are a by-product of credibility rather than the objective.
Backlink analysis: useful, but easy to misuse
Analysing a backlink profile absolutely has its place. Understanding where links are coming from, how your site is perceived, and how that compares to competitors can be genuinely useful.
Tools like Majestic are particularly valuable here because they focus on context and topical relevance rather than just volume. Metrics such as Trust Flow, Citation Flow and topical Trust Flow help build a more realistic picture of how links sit within an ecosystem.
Used properly, backlink analysis highlights patterns. Over-reliance on certain sources. Links clustered around irrelevant topics. Unnatural growth that warrants closer inspection. These are signals worth paying attention to when diagnosing genuine problems.
Where things go wrong is when analysis turns into panic.
Why “toxic link” scores shouldn’t be taken at face value
Platforms like SEMrush and similar tools often flag links as “toxic” based on automated criteria. Low domain metrics, foreign language sites, directories or thin pages can all trigger warnings.
The issue is that these scores are not Google signals. They are third-party interpretations.
A link being labelled “toxic” by a tool does not mean it is harming your site. In many cases, it simply means the tool cannot interpret context or intent.
This leads to unnecessary clean-ups. Hundreds of links get flagged. Alarm bells ring. Focus shifts from improving the site to trying to “fix” a problem that may not exist.
That time and energy is usually far better spent elsewhere.
Why disavow files should be treated with caution
This is where disavow files come into the conversation, and it’s one of the most misunderstood areas of SEO.
Google has been clear for some time. In most cases, you do not need to disavow backlinks. Search engines are far better now at identifying spammy or low-quality links and disregarding them automatically.
Disavowing links without a clear reason can be genuinely risky. It’s entirely possible to disavow links that are contributing positively, particularly when decisions are driven by automated “toxicity” scores rather than careful review.
The disavow tool exists for specific scenarios. Large volumes of unnatural links. Clear evidence of historic manipulation. Manual action penalties where Google has explicitly flagged an issue. Outside of that, it should always be a last resort.
Treating it as routine maintenance is one of the quickest ways to undermine your own performance.
Why backlinks get blamed for the wrong problems
For many underperforming sites, backlinks aren’t the limiting factor.
Pages fail to rank because they don’t match search intent properly. Content lacks depth or clarity. Internal linking doesn’t support discovery. Site structure makes it difficult for search engines to understand priorities.
Adding more backlinks in those situations rarely changes the outcome. Links amplify what already exists. They don’t compensate for weak fundamentals.
This is where backlink obsession becomes actively unhelpful, diverting attention away from the work that would actually unlock growth.
A more grounded way to think about links
A useful test is to step away from rankings entirely.
If a link wouldn’t make sense without SEO value, its contribution is probably limited. If it wouldn’t be trusted or clicked by the right audience, it’s unlikely to carry much weight.
Links that genuinely support performance tend to come from clarity of focus, strong content and visibility in the right places. They reinforce a story the site is already telling.
Without that foundation, even large volumes of links struggle to deliver meaningful results.
And finally…
Backlinks are still part of SEO, but they no longer work as a blunt instrument.
Quality, relevance and context matter far more than volume. Topical alignment matters more than raw authority. Links perform best when they support a site that already communicates expertise clearly.
Businesses that move beyond backlink obsession tend to make better decisions across SEO as a whole. They focus less on chasing signals and more on building something coherent, credible and genuinely useful.
That’s when search performance becomes steadier, more predictable and far less frustrating.
