Since the dawn of the internet, basic factors such as keywords and links have formed the foundation of search engine optimization. Given that search engines primarily assess content based on text and find websites via the interconnected web of links that point to and from various websites, it’s not surprising that these elements still play a huge role in how users and search engines navigate content.

Many brands, blogs and businesses have focused intently on earning backlinks for years, which are links that point from other websites to your own. While a variety of emerging factors are changing how search engines assess and rank content, backlinks remain valuable for a variety of reasons.

Let’s take a look at why backlinks will still be vital elements of any marketing effort in the coming year.

Search Engines Aren’t Giving Up on Them

For many years, backlinks have been a vital component of search engine optimization – namely due to the fact that search engines evaluate backlinks as a measurement of authority and trustworthiness. It stands to reason (according to Google and other search engines) that websites linking back to you indicates the information or products you’re providing are credible and desirable.

Because of this, brands pinging your website with links is a highly valuable commodity. While the exact specifics of how search engines evaluate these links may have changed somewhat over time, the fact that backlinks help build credibility with search engines will remain relevant in 2020. Those focusing on SEO therefore simply cannot ignore the importance of building links.

Links Drive Traffic

Much like pleasing search engines by earning backlinks helps drive more traffic to your website, so too do the links themselves. Every website that provides a link to your website helps funnel traffic to your pages, which is a valuable commodity. Even if your SEO efforts decline in effectiveness and your paid marketing budgets dry up, these backlinks will continue to drive traffic to you for as long as they exist.

Obviously this is a very valuable form of de-facto marketing and helps diversify your traffic sources. Given that the nature of how people use the internet isn’t likely to change any time soon, backlinks will remain valuable in 2020 for this very important reason.

Links Improve Credibility

Think about your own personal reputation. The more people speak positively of you, the better your reputation becomes among a particular audience. The same can be said for brands and backlinks. Every time that another website mentions your brand positively, that is in some sense an endorsement of your existence. Even if individuals don’t click on that particular link, seeing one or more references to your brand can help build brand awareness and drive traffic to your website in other ways.

Since brand recognition and awareness will forever be important, earning links via other websites isn’t going out of style any time soon.

Backlinks will likely remain relevant in many different ways for years and years to come. Even if the nature of SEO changes with time, backlinks have other benefits that make other people pinging your website with them a desirable outcome.