Matt Cutts Answers “Will backlinks lose their importance in ranking?”

In the latest video published on Google’s Webmaster Help channel, Matt Cutts (head of Google’s Webspam team) weighs in whether backlinks will lose their importance as a ranking metric in the near future. The answer? Ideally, overtime, yes.

While Mr. Cutts  states that links still have many years left in them,  Google has made no secret that quality content and resource creation will be the way of the future. There is no denying that backlinks will still hold value as a metric of measurement for quality resources, but as Google shifts focus towards furthering it’s ability in understanding conversational language in search we may see their influence take a back seat as a ranking factor.

Matt Cutts has stated:

“As we get better at understanding who wrote something and what the real meaning of that content is, inevitably over time, there will be little less emphasis on links. I would expect that for the next few years we will continue to use links to assess the basic reputation of pages and of sites.”

So while backlinks may be safe for now, it may be wise to begin investing in a good resource and content strategy that will encourage organic linking and set your business as a resource, before the hammer falls.