I once had a client tell me, proudly, that they were “building tons of links every week.” Their traffic? Flatlined. Their rankings? Dropping. Their SEO “strategy”? A graveyard of blog comment backlinks and irrelevant directories.

The problem wasn’t effort. It was bad link popularity—the kind that looks impressive on paper but means nothing to Google.

Let’s talk about what link popularity actually is, why it’s still relevant in 2024, and how to build it without playing the outdated SEO games that everyone should’ve left behind years ago.

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So, What Exactly Is Link Popularity?

At its core, link popularity is about how many websites are linking to yours—and how much those links matter.

But don’t confuse popularity with promiscuity. Google isn’t impressed by thousands of backlinks from low-rent forums or generic business directories. What it’s looking for is authority. Relevance. Trust. The kind of links that mean something.

In short: not all backlinks are created equal.

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How Link Popularity Has Changed (and Why Most People Missed It)

Once upon a time, link building was a quantity game. You could rank with a thousand junky backlinks if you pointed them to the right place. Those days are long gone.

Google’s algorithm has matured, and now context is everything:

• Is the linking site relevant to your topic?
• Was the link earned, or bought?
• Does the content around the link make sense?

If you’re still chasing links like it’s 2009, you’re not just behind—you’re probably hurting your rankings more than helping them.

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Why It Still Matters (Even Now)

Despite all the shiny new ranking factors—Core Web Vitals, E-E-A-T, AI content—link popularity hasn’t gone away. It’s just gotten smarter.

Here’s why it still plays a crucial role:

• Google still uses links to discover and evaluate content
• Authoritative backlinks boost your credibility
• The right links open doors to better crawl depth, indexing, and SERP positioning

The bottom line? Strong links still work. They just require more effort and more strategy.

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How to Build Link Popularity Without Playing Dirty

There’s a reason people gave up on link building: it’s hard. But hard doesn’t mean impossible—and it definitely doesn’t mean “spam your way to the top.”

Here’s what actually works in 2024:

• Guest posts on relevant, quality blogs
• Original data, research, or insights that others want to reference
• Digital PR done right—think HARO, expert roundups, thought leadership
• Internal linking that passes authority across your best-performing pages

If you wouldn’t proudly show your backlink strategy to a Google engineer, don’t use it.

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How to Know If You Have a Link Problem

Not all traffic drops are content problems. Sometimes, it’s your link profile that’s the issue. If your best pages aren’t getting visibility, or your site’s been stuck on page 2 for months, chances are Google doesn’t trust you—yet.

Here’s how to dig into it:

• Use Ahrefs, Moz, or Majestic to analyze your backlink profile
• Fire up Google Search Console to see which pages earn the most links (and which ones earn nothing)
• Use Sage SEO to tie link metrics to keyword performance—so you’re not just looking at data, but taking action from it

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So… Is Link Popularity Still a Thing? Absolutely.

Let’s settle this: yes, link popularity still matters. But only the good kind.

Not “I paid a guy on Fiverr to get me 800 backlinks” kind. The kind where credible sites link to your content because it’s worth sharing.

Google isn’t asking for more links. It’s asking for better ones. If your content is strong but your rankings are weak, this is probably where to look first.

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Want to See What’s Holding You Back?

Let Sage SEO help you run a full backlink audit—no fluff, no filler. Just real insights, real data, and an actual plan for building authority the right way.

Because in this game, trust beats tricks every time.