Backlinks have always been closely associated with Google SEO because they began as a fundamental component of Google’s search ranking algorithm.
In Google’s early stages, backlinks helped distinguish the quality of its search results from those of competitors like Yahoo, AOL, and Altavista.
Anchor text, which is the words that are linked from one website to another, was the factor that most influenced rankings.
As the SEO industry grew, professionals began to game the system to make their client’s websites rank for specific keywords based on paid backlinks from spammy content farms.
Google figured out this loophole and shut it down in April 2012 with the Penguin Algorithm Update, which targeted link schemes.
Since then, Google has made hundreds of thousands of improvements to its algorithm to mitigate link manipulation.
How Backlinks SEO Influence Diminshed Over Time
Technology has advanced, allowing Google to shift the weight once given to backlinks to other, more applicable ranking factors.
One of those factors is RankBrain.
This article from Backlinko shares how RankBrian may value links based on search query:
“Depending on the keyword, RankBrain will increase or decrease the importance of backlinks, content freshness, content length, domain authority etc“
RankBrain is just one-way links’ value on modern SEO has changed.
More broadly, the impact of links on Google rankings has been increasingly dwindling since at least 2023.
Google search analyst Gary Illyes said the following in 2023:
“I think they are important, but I think people overestimate the importance of links. I don’t agree it’s in the top three. It hasn’t been for some time.”
Other Google staff members have rejected the premise of links as SEO currency, including John Mueller, the Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst, who said the following in 2024:
“There are more important things for websites nowadays, and over-focusing on links will often result in you wasting your time doing things that don’t make your website better overall.”
Links for National SEO and Local SEO
The first part of Illyes’s statement is ” I think they are important,” which may prompt some readers to overlook the context of backlinks as they relate to SEO.
As a local plumber, you don’t compete with national sites like Wikipedia, which has hundreds of thousands of inbound links, which they’ve accumulated over twenty-four years of brand building.
You can never replicate their link acquisition or brand development because these things occur not from purchasing backlinks but building and sustaining a brand.
Secondly, even if you came close to their backlink quantity, Google still would not rank your website.
Why? Google’s algorithm is highly sophisticated in terms of user intent and legitimacy.
So, in essence, Google does not want a local plumber to aspire to be Wikipedia, as it dilutes the topical authority of their website (which is supposed to be about local plumbing services).
Also, Google would know that any website that acquires that many links in such a short period is using banned techniques and will be diminished in search results.
Simply put, a backlink’s value depends on whether a website is doing national SEO or Local SEO.
Backlinks have always been more critical in the national SEO and less important locally.
Local SEO expert Joy Hawkins states the following about backlinks for Local SEO:
“links play a crucial role in boosting organic search rankings, but their impact on local pack rankings is limited”
But What About Local Organic Rankings?
Backlinks can influence local organic rankings, but businesses that get these links do so through community outreach and offline brand building.
Valuable local links come from other credible sources in your community and not from purchasing links from an online vendor.
Furthermore, backlinks are only one ranking factor for local organic rankings and do not supersede user intent or E-E-A-T.
For example, a plumbing website that does not mention Rheem water heater repair will not rank for Rheem Water Heater Repair Near Me even if it accumulates thousands of backlinks.
Meanwhile, a plumbing website with zero backlinks in the same service area will rank for Rheem Water Heater Repair Near Me if it shows proof of a Rheem water heater repair job on its website.
DataPins Comparative Impact on Local SEO
We’ve had Google employees and Local SEO experts concede that backlinks do very little, if anything, for Local SEO.
Compare that to DataPins, which has been proven to increase the number of keywords and variations in Local SEO rankings by several thousand.
DataPins founder Nolen Walker, who has been in the SEO industry for over 15 years, states:
“It’s not a question of if DataPins impacts Local SEO because DataPins is Local SEO. It consolidates every local ranking indicator that Google looks for, from unique images to E-E-A-T to people-first-content, location context, etc.”
| DataPins | Backlinks |
|---|---|
| SEO value growing | SEO value fading |
| Pinpointed service locations | General website links |
| Always fresh job content | Static and stale |
| Real reviews, real work | Hints of authority only |
| Auto schema markup | Needs dev work (if any) |
| Rank for “Service + City” | Mostly homepage links |
| First-party, full control | Third-party dependency |
| Job photos and check-ins | No visual proof |
| Safe, white-hat SEO | Risk of penalties |
| Scales with real jobs | Manual & expensive to scale |
Final Verdict: DataPins vs. Backlinks
DataPins are better for Local SEO than backlinks. The impact of backlinks on Local SEO has always been minimal, at best, and has further decreased in recent years.
That’s not merely speculation, as Google officials have come out and said that backlinks are overvalued for SEO.
Alternatively, DataPins generates each Local SEO ranking factor and publishes it on the client’s website.
The results are stark; many small business owners pay $5,000+ monthly on backlink packages and see no difference or negative results.
Meanwhile, SABs pay $799 monthly for DataPins and have consistently seen thousands of new keyword rankings and significant increases in website traffic.
