During a recent discussion with one of Google’s SEO in-house chiefs, it was suggested backlinks may become less important for helping drive SEO results in the future.

While Google clearly stated that it is likely to always give importance to backlinks, it said links from sites with even the highest authority may not have the impact they once did.

Bottom line: While most businesses driving a paid backlink strategy, it may be time to consider the overall amount being spent and trim back a bit.

In heading down this path, Google is making clear that having tons of backlinks pointing to a page —and again, even from sites with high domain authorities — doesn’t automatically mean that the content on the end site is relevant to the user query. It’s all about content context, and Google is always working hard to find the right balance on that front.