u/Effective-Permit-372

For years, SEO conversations mostly revolved around backlinks. More links = better rankings.

But lately, it feels like Google is rewarding websites that deeply cover a topic instead of just collecting links.

I’ve seen smaller sites with fewer backlinks outperform bigger competitors simply because they built strong topical clusters, answered search intent properly, and stayed consistent within a niche.

Backlinks still matter, obviously. But topical authority feels like the thing holding rankings together now, especially after recent Google updates.

Curious if others are seeing the same shift?