Voices of Search // A Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Content Marketing Podcast The worst SEO myth in the industry
Apr 1, 2026
Kaspar Szymanski, Senior Director at SearchBrothers and former Google Search team member, brings enterprise SEO and search engineering experience. He tackles the biggest SEO myth about backlinks and crawlers. Short, punchy takes: most sites benefit more from product improvements and speed than chasing backlinks. He explains why blocking crawlers is the wrong move for public content.
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PageRank Is Not Always The Priority
- PageRank isn't necessarily the thing most sites need to focus on anymore.
- Kaspar frames accessibility and product quality as higher-return priorities than acquiring additional link equity.
Avoid Chasing Backlinks As Default Strategy
- Avoid spending time building more PageRank-passing backlinks for most websites.
- Kaspar Szymanski urges improving product and site performance instead of chasing backlinks as a default strategy.