Backlinks & search rankings: Google values user action｜Dec. 2022 Content Marketing Latest Trends Report

Abe: The "December Content Marketing Latest Trends Report" explains the relationship between backlink metrics and search rankings.

A backlink is a link to your own website that is placed on an external webpage. For example, let's say a content marketing company creates an article about the some research findings. If other media outlets want to refer to these research findings, they will cite the source by providing a link to that article, resulting in a backlink.

Abe: It is a common theory that backlinks are important in SEO. In order to find out how important it actually is, we investigated whether there is a tendency that the quantity and quality of backlinks affect search rankings. We believe separating the overall backlinks and backlinks that actually prompted click-throughs is a unique approach to this study.

Iwama: I see. So you also verified whether or not the backlink prompted a click-through. But how do you know whether user clicked on the blacklinks?

Abe: The data that VALUES, Inc. collects is online behavioral data comprised of the actions that consumers are taking online. Therefore, we were able to use whether a user actually visited the website from that link as an indicator for our research.

Iwama: What did you find out as a result of the research?

Abe: First, let me explain regarding the number of backlinks. It is commonly believed that while the quality of backlinks is important, websites with more backlinks tend to appear higher in search results.

The results of the survey were in line with the common theory, and showed that the average number of backlinks tends to be higher in the group of webpages with the highest search rankings, and while there were some fluctuations between June and November 2022, there was still a correlation between the number of backlinks and search rankings.

It is important to note that it is like the chicken or the egg causality dilemma, and it is possible to look at it as a website that is often used as a backlink because it is at the top of the search ranking.In other words, it is possible that because a website is listed high on the search ranking, it is more likely to be used for reference on external webpages. It is necessary to note that a website appears at the top of the search rankings because it has a large number of backlinks, but also that they are often used as backlinks because it appears at the top of the search rankings.

Abe: Next, let's talk about the number of domains. The number of domains with backlinks refers to the number of websites that have backlinks to the company's website. The average number of domains with backlinks tends to be higher for the highest ranking pages, indicating a correlation. Comparing June and November 2022, the number of domains with backlinks is more obvious in November.

Iwama: What about in terms of actions that users are taking?

Abe: This one is in the form of the number of domains, not the number of backlinks. It is about how many users visit your website from external websites.

The results show that the group of webpages with the highest search rankings have a higher average number of domains with backlinks that are prompting users to take action. A closer look reveals that from June to November, the number of domains appearing in the top 1 to 10 websites in the search ranking increased, while those in the top 11 to 20 and 21 to 30 decreased. This can be seen as a more pronounced shift to higher rankings.

Abe: Lastly, we will look at the number of sessions (visits) via backlinks where users were actually clicked through. Earlier, we looked at the number of external websites that had an inflow of visitors, but here we are looking at the number of visits from external websites.

The results show that the group of webpages with higher rankings also had more sessions via backlinks (visits), and this trend was more pronounced in November than in June.

Iwama: It was commonly accepted that the higher the number of backlinks, the higher the search ranking. On the other hand, when it comes to backlinks that are actually acted upon by users, I got the impression that the there is a stronger tendency for higher rankings.

Abe: Yes, and judging from the trend in the period from June to November, it is quite possible that this trend will continue to strengthen.

Iwama: In addition to the backlinks explained this time, I felt once again that Google places importance on the behaviors executed by users.

Abe: We believe that this trend did not start recently, but has been going on for a while. The following document is from 2010, but Google has patented a ranking algorithm based on the backlinks that users are acting on.

Abe: Considering that such a system that focuses on actual user behaviors already exists or is being prepared allows us to easily accept the research results without any doubts. It seems that Google's user-first direction will not change.

Iwama: But why in 2022? The move to evaluate backlinks that are clicked on by users, as explained in this article, and the move to incorporate core web vitals into the PC version in March of this year, which evaluates display speed, etc., seem to indicate that Google is creating a system that emphasizes UX for 2022....

Abe: Although it is hypothetical, I think that Google has recently put various systems in place. In the past, they have wanted to evaluate backlinks that were truly valuable, but there have been many people trying to get through holes in the algorithm in various ways. When Google was only evaluating the "number" of backlinks, some people creating dummy websites to collect lots of backlinks, etc. are examples from the past. This is not a good thing from a user-focused perspective.

As part of such strategies, it may be possible that backlinks are evaluated based on user behavior.

Iwama: How should marketers act in light of this finding?

Abe: First, let's consider what kind of backlinks actually prompt users to take action. Although we do not have a wide range of control over this, we believe that there are three broad perspectives, as follows.

Iwama: Thank you very much. When we talk about ways to increase backlinks, for example, you can become a member of an association and ask the association to post a link to your website on their website, or ask to be listed on a government agency's website. Of course, such things are important, but simply being on the list may not be enough to get people to click through to your website.

Abe: Yes, that's right. In the future, rather than acquisition strategies that ask users to include backlinks to related websites or municipal websites, it would be better to seek the number of backlinks that can be expected to actually prompt user actions, such as reverse outreach.

Abe: We also need to create a mechanism to attract visitors from external websites to our own website. For example, if we post a research article on our own website, and then contribute a brief summary of the article or an interview about the research to other websites, and have them post a link saying, "For more information about the research, please visit this website," it would make sense for users to move to our website.

This was the December Content Marketing Trends Report "SEO Edition." We will continue to update you with the latest information next year, so please look forward to it.