Author: Ryan Walsh
Date: 07/07/2025

Introduction

Okay, so it’s safe to say that things are a bit topsy-turvy right now.

With masses of people proclaiming “SEO is dead” and the other doom sayers commenting that they think AI will take over, take our jobs, possibly even walk our dogs!

The last one would be handy, I believe.

We digress.

The truth is, businesses still need customers to find them easily.

Organic SEO remains in very high demand. This means that backlinks continue to play a pivotal role in helping businesses gradually rise to the top of Google’s search results pages.

 

So is SEO dead?

No

Is link building an outdated tactic?

No.

So with that out of the way, let’s deep dive into what backlinks are, how to build them, and why we are the best agency since sliced bread.

 

Table of contents:

• How Google has evolved since the days of Google PageRank
• Are backlinks still important?
• Why it’s essential to build high-quality backlinks
• Why would I not recommend using AI to generate content marketing for link building
• Why do you still need a copywriter (a good one, might we add)
• Why quality matters when it comes to link building
• Why more links can equal better sales (if you get it right)

 

Google seems to be rolling out more algorithm updates than ever before.

At the time of writing, Google is currently rolling out a significant core algorithm update in July 2025.

Yet this is nothing new, as it follows a series of recent Google updates.

What this produces, however, after every Google Core Update is a lot of chatter and online conversation discussing how people believe SEO is changing. As we mentioned earlier, this is often a key factor in the fact that Google is increasingly replacing its first page with AI Overviews, resulting in an increasing number of zero-click searches.

Often on LinkedIn, marketing managers complain that despite more effort being ploughed into their marketing, organic traffic is decreasing. This stands to reason: when Google is answering more questions with Google AI Overviews, it means many businesses are receiving less organic traffic.

Now, this is all probably the case.

Yet, this means we believe that businesses should now double down on what’s important. What has always been important since the days of Google’s PageRank was backlinks. Therefore, we believe it’s back to basics: more quality links, better quality content marketing, and yes, you should aim to increase your organic visitors, as zero-click searches are becoming increasingly common.

However, in our humble opinion, what businesses can’t afford to do is radically alter and change their approach to SEO. Now, in this era of uncertainty regarding how Google’s SERP’s are changing, it’s even more important than ever to stick to what is good, what is proven, and what works.

And good-quality links work; it’s as simple as that.

What is link building?

We aim to cater to all audiences and SEO abilities, so let us quickly walk you through what link building is and how it works.
To increase a website’s visibility, one part of our job is to enhance the website’s authority.

It’s now part of Google E-EAT, which is “authority” – how authoritative is your business’s SEO?

In a nutshell, Google determines the authority of your company website. It utilises backlinks to assess the authority of a company website.

 

The cream of the crop

The heart of the matter is this: Google’s algorithms have consistently ranked pages at the top of Google that have the strongest and best backlinks (this is nothing new). Therefore, the businesses that have stuck to their guns, so to speak, and built quality links have often enjoyed ranking at the top of Google for extended periods.

This has been the case since Google’s PageRank was the formula that all SEO agencies optimised websites for.
For example, in most cities, regardless of your industry, the company that occupies the number 1 spot on Google organic results will often have the best do-follow backlinks out of the entire bunch.

 

Backlink profile

This is what SEO consultants refer to as the “backlink profile”. It’s simply the list of links, whether they be do-follow or no-follow, that are linked to your website. If the links are all of high quality and relevant, sending a substantial amount of “link equity” through to key pages, this can significantly help improve your search engine optimisation.

A word on Google’s PageRank formula and links as a “vote of confidence”

You know that warm and fuzzy feeling when someone likes your post on Facebook?

Well, it’s a bit similar in terms of a business improving its search engine optimisation.

That’s because links are simply a “vote of confidence” in your business; the more links, the higher you will rank.

That’s if the links are of good quality, of course.

So, backlinks are simply like a “vote of confidence” in your business.

This means that the more high-quality and relevant links your business accumulates, the more it is like a vote of confidence in your industry.

Therefore, this is why we use the analogy; it’s like a thumbs-up on Facebook from another company.

However, the difference here is that the more quality links you obtain, the higher your business will rank on Google.

 

Currency of the web

You often also hear about backlinks being the “currency of the web” – the reason being that the more links a business gets, the higher it will rank on Google.

Regardless of the products or services you sell, if you operate in a highly competitive niche, you can bet your bottom dollar that your agency will be spending most of your retainer on backlinks.

Backlinks, when built correctly, can make a significant difference.

They are what makes the difference, what can propel your business up Google’s ranks when built right.

PageRank was created by Google in 1997; however, fast-forward to today, and backlinks are still important. With that said, a common mistake many businesses make is knowing that backlinks are essential, but not understanding the importance of quality links.

 

Link dilution

Yet, with that fundamental grasp of how backlinks work, businesses often do something we refer to as “dilution”; it’s a bit like self-sabotage.
They dilute their backlink profile by mixing in spam links with what can sometimes be good-quality links.

Why do businesses do this?

Well, often because this mindset that ‘more is better’ is working its way down the food chain within a marketing team.

What do we mean by that?

Clients and management often prefer concise KPI reports, for example, detailing the number of backlinks built that month.

However, this usually means that, for instance, the link builder is then put under pressure to create a link that they can make before 4:30 pm on that Friday.

Therefore, we can’t overemphasise this enough; more is not better. Have fewer links; even pass on a link-building opportunity if it’s not the right one for your business. This way, you will have fewer links but a higher quality backlink profile.

 

Google Panda update (2011)

In 2011, Google introduced the Google Panda update.

Part of the Google update involved removing from Google’s index shallow, content-thin, and low-quality pages.

This would have included pages set up on “link farms” or “content farms,” where the pages were only used to try to improve the business’s search engine optimisation, yet didn’t offer any value to the shopper.

Now, in 2025, there’s still a lesson to be learned here: to prevent history from repeating itself.

Businesses often used “spun content,” a mass of jargon, to try to get a backlink pointing back to the homepage.

This gibberish, or “spun content,” was a piece of cake for Google’s algorithms to detect, demote, and penalise the businesses that overly indulged in link-building spam.

So what’s the lesson here?

While sipping an espresso, with one eye on the football, and using an AI programme to write a mass of text for you, ask yourself: does that mass of text even serve a purpose?

Is it helpful? (Google Helpful Content Update)?

Are you helping a shopper to solve a problem?

Or are you returning to an era of link building before 2011, when lazy SEO consultants used spun and automated content, which later resulted in significant Google Penalties and clients calling them down the phone in outrage that their SEO has taken a tumble?

Don’t return to 2011; think smart and build links the right way.

 

Google Penguin update (2012)

The 2012 Google Penguin update prompted many SEO agencies to reassess their backlink-building strategies.

This was a significant change introduced in Google’s update, aimed at reducing web spam.

Many businesses received an algorithmic penalty for building a spammy backlink profile.

Now, again, this update, in terms of its position on the timeline of Google updates, is as old as the hills. However, it’s worth noting that, as it’s still built into Google’s core algorithm, meaning that if you don’t make those links correctly, whether it’s 2012 or 2025, backlink quality is still crucial to get right.

 

Google SpamBrain (2018)

Google continues to adjust its algorithm to identify and remove spammy pages. In 2018, Google released SpamBrain. Google employed this to devalue spammy pages.

Outdated link-building methods are now obsolete.

Black hat link-building tactics are therefore now dead, as described by the updates noted above.

Consequently, this is why our agency would only ever recommend that you build quality backlinks.

How to build quality links:

Let’s get to the good stuff

Now that we have covered all the “why you must build links the right way,” let’s focus on how you should build those links.

Roll up your sleeves, here we go:

It must come from authoritative sources.

Your backlinks must now come from authoritative sources; they must be high-quality links. For example, a single link from, say, Sky News, can be significantly more effective than attempting to build numerous low-quality links.

Google E-EAT should be like what the Northern Lights were to fishermen without a Garmin GPS back in the day. Meaning, Google E-EAT must guide you; follow it closely, and it will lead you safely to your destination.

Google E-EAT, in our opinion, is all about making SEO more human and less robotic.

Mass link building, such as buying links, serves no one well, not even a genuine shopper.

So, backlinks must be built right.

Therefore, ask yourself, by placing that link there, will it help a real shopper?

Will it help them get closer to that goal, finding the right product or service that they are on a quest to find?

If so, great, built that link.

Suppose you’re slapping that link to try to get Googlebot to crawl it. In that case, we’ve built another link, well, don’t build it, as you’re just serving the robots and not real shoppers, which is when you start to enter the realms of spam link building, Google penalties, and the marketing manager screaming down the phone if you get deindexed.

 

Must be relevant

The links you build for your Cardiff-based business should be from other relevant companies or websites.

For example, if you run a gym, you should obtain links from fitness or gym-related websites.

Links from totally different business sectors, such as the automotive sector, could be discounted by Googlebot because they are not relevant to your industry.

Link velocity and a diverse range of sources/ websites

Ideally, you want backlinks that are high quality, built over a long time frame; therefore, they should be built slowly.

Additionally, you will want them to build links from a diverse range of websites.

Therefore, having one high-quality link will only take you so far; you want many high-quality links, from as many different high-quality websites as possible.

 

AI, Chat GPT and Google E-EAT

We now live in an era where you can generate content marketing, such as 1,000 words, in under 60 seconds flat.

Yet should you use this for your SEO efforts?

Well, we would say no.

You shouldn’t use it because we believe that if your business is serious about improving its search engine optimisation, then you should reconsider Google E-EAT. Therefore, for content marketing, whether it’s used off-page or on-page, to achieve a high E-EAT score, it must be well-written and demonstrate real-life experience of what you are discussing.

Link outreach

Link outreach can be an effective way to build links; however, there are numerous caveats.

First things first, it can be soul-destroying, why?

Well, because it can feel like cold-calling or knocking on people’s doors to drum up business, often, many of the calls and emails you send will be brushed aside.

So, you must think, why would that business want to reply?

What am I offering that makes it worthwhile for them to link to my business?

It’s not about paying for links; it’s about whether you can supply content marketing that addresses a question customers of other businesses might be asking.

Let’s give you an example. Let’s say you manufacture a product that’s superior to what’s out there right now, like a motor for an e-bike.

Let’s say the other company doesn’t manufacture e-bike motors, but they do sell e-bikes. If your product benefits their customers, they may ask you for an article; then this is what we call a win-win.

The company receives an article that informs its readers about a new product launch or why the company’s product is superior to others.

You can include a link that should direct users back to the product pages.

 

Earn links (it’s the best way)

We believe that the best way for a business to build links in 2025 is through “earning links”, which means creating high-quality, useful, and helpful content marketing. For example, just like the guide you are reading here. By doing so, other businesses will want to link to you.

One handy way is to undertake market research. Now we know that this is often expensive; however, if the statistics are helpful in other businesses and related organisations, you will usually find that your market research gets cited. This means that if they haven’t done so already, you could ask for a backlink.

The great thing here is that if another business has cited your statistics, then they will most likely be a related website. Therefore, because the link is highly relevant, this can again help give your website’s SEO a boost.

 

Offer good quality advice, if possible, make it timeless

So, this is quite an important point here, who’s going to link to an article that’s titled “the best product to buy in 2018”- if the shopper is reading it in 2025, precisely no one.

Therefore, content marketing must be continually updated.

This is important, as otherwise, a business may want to link to you, but doesn’t simply because the information is outdated, even though it may rank high organically on Google.

 

Bake it into your web design.

So, what you can do here is bake good advice into your content marketing.

This could mean:

– Adding FAQ to key pages
– Adding different advice in different formats, such as text / embedded YouTube videos
– Adding infographics

Even main pages, such as product pages, will tend to accumulate more links if the content marketing offers top-quality advice for shoppers.

Come to the best SEO agency in Wales:

We are one of the most established SEO companies in Cardiff. Monthly retainers start from £1k.

For a no-obligation quote, do call us.