Ranking without traditional backlinks is increasingly possible in 2026, primarily due to Google’s continued development of its AI-powered understanding of content relevance, and the growing importance of Experience-based signals. This relies on Google’s ability to directly assess a page’s helpfulness to users, rather than solely relying on external validation via links.
Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), now widely available in Australia as of December 2025, plays a key role. SGE prioritises content that directly answers user queries, assessed through signals like dwell time, Core Web Vitals, and user interaction with featured snippets. Platforms like Frase.io, popular with Australian marketing teams, integrate with SGE data, allowing content creators to identify question clusters and optimise for ‘people also ask’ sections – a significant driver of visibility. Furthermore, Google’s Helpful Content System, continually refined in 2026, focuses on rewarding original, high-quality content that demonstrates expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) *without* needing external links to prove it. Google Business Profile optimisation remains crucial for local search, and is a separate ranking factor independent of web page backlinks.
Essentially, Google is evolving to judge content based on its inherent quality and user experience, rather than solely on its link profile, making ranking without backlinks a more viable strategy in 2026.
