Google proves that one real backlink is better than a lot of substandard links.

During the Google Search Central SEO on February 19, Google’s John Mueller (@JohnMu) was asked, “What matters most? The number of unique referring backlink domains or the total number of backlinks?”

Mueller, who is known for giving vague answers, directly said, “So, the total number essentially is completely irrelevant.”

Google focuses on quality not the number of backlinks. The quantity is irrelevant, really.

“We try to understand what is relevant for a website, how much should we weigh these individual links, and the total number of links doesn’t matter at all. Because you could go off and create millions of links across millions of websites if you wanted to, and we could just ignore them all,” Mueller said.

Google assesses the relevance and direct relationship of each backlink.

So, site owners should take this advice to heart: having one high-quality backlink is enough.