Google changed. It happened slowly, then all at once. If you've been in the digital marketing world for more than a week, you've probably heard the whispers about the murder of the links. It sounds like a true-crime podcast title, but for webmasters, it’s a horror story about how the fundamental currency of the internet—the hyperlink—is being devalued by the very company that made it famous.
Back in the day, SEO was easy. You got a link from a high-authority site, and your rankings went up. Simple. But today? Larry Page’s original PageRank patent feels like a relic from a lost civilization. We are living through a period where Google is systematically distancing itself from backlink dependency, favoring "entities," "user intent," and AI-generated snapshots that don't even require a click. It's a mess, honestly.
What People Get Wrong About the Murder of the Links
Most people think "the murder of the links" means backlinks are dead. That’s a massive oversimplification. They aren't dead; they're just being ignored in favor of more complex signals.
In the early 2000s, a link was a vote. Now, Google treats many links like spam until proven otherwise. Gary Illyes and John Mueller from Google have hinted at this for years. They’ve basically told us that the "penguin" is now part of the core algorithm and that it ignores "bad" links rather than punishing them. But when your hard-earned links are ignored, your traffic dies. That’s the murder. It's a silent execution of your hard work.
The Rise of Zero-Click Searches
Have you noticed how you don't actually click on websites anymore?
You search for the weather, and Google tells you. You search for a celebrity's age, and it's right there in a big box. This is the "Zero-Click" phenomenon. According to data from SparkToro, over 50% of searches end without a single click to a third-party website. When Google uses your content to answer a query directly on the search results page, they are effectively bypassing the link you worked so hard to build. They’ve murdered the incentive to link out.
The Technical Shift: From Strings to Things
Google's Knowledge Graph was the beginning of the end for traditional link-building.
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Instead of looking at a webpage as a collection of keywords and links (strings), Google started looking at it as a collection of "entities" (things). An entity can be a person, a place, or a concept. If Google knows that "Apple" is a company that makes "iPhones," it doesn't necessarily need a thousand backlinks to verify that your article about an iPhone is relevant. It understands the context.
This shift to semantic search is a huge part of the murder of the links. When the algorithm can understand the relationship between topics through Natural Language Processing (NLP) and models like BERT or Gemini, the brute force of a backlink profile starts to lose its luster.
Why "E-E-A-T" is Replacing the Backlink
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. You've heard it a million times. But think about it: why does E-E-A-T exist? It exists because links are too easy to manipulate.
Anyone with $500 can go to a shady forum and buy "high-DA" guest posts. Google knows this. So, they started looking at other things. They look at who wrote the article. They look at whether that person is mentioned elsewhere on the web without a link (unlinked mentions). Honestly, a mention of your brand on a major news site might be worth more today than a do-follow link from a blog nobody reads.
The Real-World Impact: Small Sites are Suffocating
It’s getting harder for the little guy.
I remember a time when a well-researched blog post could outrank a massive corporation just by having better content and a few solid links. Those days are mostly gone. The murder of the links has paved the way for "Brand Authority." Google trusts the big players—Reddit, Quora, Forbes, The New York Times—because they have established trust that transcends mere link profiles.
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Look at the "Hidden Gems" update or the recent core updates in late 2023 and 2024. Many niche sites saw their traffic plummet by 80% or more. Why? Because Google decided that "real people" on Reddit or massive authority sites were more "helpful" than specialized niche blogs. The links those niche sites built didn't save them. The algorithm simply looked past them.
Is AI the Final Blow?
Then came SGE (Search Generative Experience) and AI Overviews.
When an AI summarizes four different articles into one paragraph, it might provide a tiny source link at the bottom. But let’s be real: nobody clicks those. The AI uses the data from the links to train its model and provide the answer, then discards the need for the user to visit the source. If that isn't the murder of the links, I don't know what is.
How to Survive the Link Apocalypse
So, what do you do? Throw in the towel and become a goat farmer? Maybe. But if you want to stay in the game, you have to change how you think about "authority."
First, stop obsessing over Domain Authority (DA). It's a third-party metric that Google doesn't use. A site with a DA of 90 that sells links to anyone is a sinking ship. Instead, focus on "Relevance and Reliability."
- Build a Brand, Not a Link Profile: Get mentioned in places where your audience actually hangs out. If you're in the tech space, getting discussed on Hacker News or a popular Discord server matters more than a "guest post" on a site about "lifestyle and tech tips."
- Entity Association: Make sure your site is technically sound and uses Schema markup. Tell Google exactly who you are, what you do, and who you are connected to. Use "SameAs" properties in your JSON-LD to link your social profiles and other mentions.
- Focus on Information Gain: Google's patents suggest they reward "Information Gain." If your article just says the same thing as the top 10 results, why should Google rank you? Add something new—original research, a unique survey, or a controversial (but backed up) opinion.
The murder of the links is really just the evolution of search. Google is trying to get closer to how humans actually recommend things. When you recommend a restaurant to a friend, you don't give them a hyperlinked document; you tell them you had a great meal there. Google wants to replicate that vibe.
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The Future of Digital Influence
The internet is becoming more fragmented. People are moving to "dark social"—WhatsApp groups, Slack channels, and private forums. Links in these places are invisible to Google, but they drive actual sales and real influence.
We are moving into an era of "Digital PR" rather than "Link Building." It’s about being part of the conversation. If people are searching for your brand name specifically, that is a much stronger signal to Google than any backlink. Navigational intent is the holy grail. If you can get people to search for "[Your Topic] + [Your Brand Name]," you’ve won. You’ve bypassed the need for the algorithm to "decide" if you’re relevant.
Actionable Steps for the New Era
Forget the old playbook. If you want to rank in a world where links are being murdered, you need a new strategy.
- Audit your current links. Use a tool like Ahrefs or Semrush, but don't just look at the numbers. Look at the traffic. If a site linking to you has zero traffic, that link is likely doing nothing for you. It might even be a liability.
- Double down on Video. YouTube is the second largest search engine. Google loves embedding videos in the SERPs. It’s a way to claim real estate that isn't dependent on traditional backlink structures.
- Optimize for "Answer Engine" optimization. Structure your content so it's easy for AI to parse. Use clear headings, bullet points (the kind that actually help humans), and concise summaries at the top of your pages.
- Prioritize User Experience (UX). If a user clicks your link and immediately bounces back to Google, you’ve failed. That "pogo-sticking" behavior is a clear signal to Google that your "authority" is fake.
The murder of the links isn't the end of the world. It’s just the end of an easy ride. The web is getting smarter, and we have to get smarter with it. Stop building links for robots and start building a reputation for people. If you do that, the algorithm will eventually follow, because at the end of the day, Google's only job is to follow the users.
Shift your focus to becoming an "Entity" that Google cannot ignore. Document your expertise through original data and case studies. Ensure your authorship is verified across multiple platforms. This creates a "trust graph" that is far more resilient than a collection of links. Move away from the mindset of "how many links do I need" to "how much value am I adding to the index." When you become the definitive source of information on a topic, Google has no choice but to cite you, even in an AI-driven world.