The PageRank Algorithm, which was what wone the west for Google back in the 90s, may have run its course. That’s hard for me to say. I always believed that links would always be the way that the human element was introduced into the algorithm. But then this whole fancy thing that we now know as machine-learning dropped into the picture.
Google may not need to rely on examining the backlink profile of a piece of content to add that extra layer of authority into the algorithm.
Google can now determine with a high degree of probability based on all of it’s past data the elements of a piece of content that is highly authoritative, is accurate in it’s factual claims and is the best piece of content for its topic, without examining the quality and authority of it’s link profile.
Relying on the link graph to add the human element into the algorithm was, on one-hand, the genius of Google, while also being it’s only weakness. A weakness that was difficult to exploit, but not impossible. In fact, for good link builders, it was a godsend.
I have mixed feelings about the death of link building, because on one hand it was what separated the men from the boys when it came to SEO. On the other hand it was a lot of work with little success.
I recommend reading the thread below which inspired this post.