An analyst from the Google team explained the importance of links when ranking a site

The Google team emphasizes that the influence of links on rankings can change over time. Although links are not always the main criterion, they still contribute to increasing authority and relevance in the network.

Andrii Lipattsev, Google's senior search quality strategist, stated in 2016 that a link to a site is one of the top three ranking factors in the search engine. However, according to Harry Ilyes, an analyst of the Google Search team, in 2023 the situation has changed somewhat.

Ilyes emphasized that links still play a significant role in site ranking. However, it is also important to understand that the modern Google search engine differs from its previous versions in 2014 or the early 2000s, when PageRank determined the majority, and each link was considered a full "vote". New technologies such as machine learning (BERT, MUM), natural language understanding and other relevance signals now also matter in Google's algorithms. 

Most importantly, Ilyes did not rule out the importance of references. He only noted that they are not one of the "three" main ranking factors. The analyst often refutes the idea of the existence of universal "three" ranking factors for each site, since they can be different for each web resource.

In a podcast episode Search Off the Record John Mueller, a spokesperson for Google, offered his own opinion on the importance of links in Google search rankings. He stated that over time the value of links may diminish slightly due to the difficulty of determining how content fits into the context of the network. But links will always worry them.

Although the Google team claims that links are less important for ranking, SEO experts tend to think that this is another misinformation from the company. Google continues to keep the main ranking factors a secret, so no one knows 100% all the factors. Experts are sure that it is correct link building strategy allows you to increase the credibility of the brand and increase its ranking in the eyes of the search engine.