May 14, 2026
Back in 2018, Backlinko conducted a study that revealed position one results had 3.8x more backlinks than positions two through ten. And this study became the justification most marketers needed for expanding link-building budgets.
Eight years later, the world of search has changed. With AI Overviews, AI Mode, and a string of core updates, it begs the question - do the value of backlinks still hold up?
Loganix recently re-ran the study like-for-like to determine the answer. They analysed 360 keywords and 4,300 organic results across nine commercial verticals, using the same methodology as the original Backlino study, and the results are certainly interesting... let’s dive in!
At a glance, the relationship between link authority and the top spot in the SERPs has remained virtually the same.
However, when you take a deeper look, the answer is much more nuanced.
The study found that Google treated different industries with a completely different set of rules.
For YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) categories, links are everything. In health, the top result has a staggering 9x more backlinks than its competitors in the top 10. If your backlink game is lacking, you won’t rank.
This isn’t particularly surprising. Google is much more stringent with websites in these sectors, as misinformation has the potential to cause genuine harm to users. Having complete confidence that a website is authoritative, trustworthy, and backed by genuine expertise is critical. Backlinks are needed to establish this credibility and rank well in the search results.
These industries sit somewhere in the middle. Links are meaningful and can have a massive impact on rankings, but they’re not the be all and end all. You typically need a mix of high-quality on-page content and a solid link building strategy to really excel in these industries.
This is where the study gets a little more interesting. In real estate, for example, the top-ranking page actually has fewer links (0.6x) than the rest of the top 10. If you’re in the travel or real estate industry, investing in link building may not be the best use of your time and resources. Instead, focus on things like structured data, local content, and keeping content and listings up-to-date.
The domain rating (DR) for the top spot versus the rest of the top 10 was almost flat (1.04x). Across all verticals, pretty much every site in the top 10 positions already has a high DR, making it the minimum requirement for ranking on page one.
While backlinks are always important, the weight of links isn’t the same across the board. If you’re in health, finance, or any other YMYL sector, you need a high volume of good-quality links. A significant link budget and strategy is required to succeed. But, if you’re in an industry like travel or real estate, shifting some of that budget and investing more resources into technical SEO and content freshness will likely have a bigger impact on rankings.
The fact that even eight years later, the average number of backlinks separating Google’s top-ranking page from positions 2-10 is almost identical says a lot about the resilience of backlinks despite a changing digital landscape. Backlinks are, on the whole, surviving algorithm updates and AI, so it feels unlikely that you ever need to ask ‘are backlinks still worth it?’ anytime soon.
If you need expert help with link building, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today.
