Backlinko Isn't What It Used to Be

 Key Points

- Top "white-hat SEO blog" owned by SEMRUSH appears to be artificially refreshing old content (date refreshed without significant content changes).

- Also appears to be publishing overly self promotional listicles (Google is targeting overly self promotional content this week).

Backlinko was once the gold standard for white-hat SEO. Brian Dean built it into a go-to resource with beginner-friendly yet deeply insightful pillar content. Long-form "skyscraper" posts that dominated SERPs through sheer value.

Leading SEO platform SEMrush owns Backlinko. Adobe recently announced they are buying SEMrush for $1.9 Billion, Adobe, November 2025. 

Brian Dean created Backlinko in 2012. 

The SEO Blog That Defined Quality White-Hat Optimization

Backlinko's success came from massive, in-depth guides that earned natural links and bookmarks. A decade ago, almost every SEO bookmarked at least one Backlinko post. The length encouraged repeat visits (an indirect ranking signal via dwell time and returns). Brian's peak ran strong, with the site hitting over 500,000 monthly visits (non-paid) by late 2021.

In January 2022, Semrush acquired Backlinko for $4 million and kept Brian involved (though his focus has shifted to other projects). 

SEMrush's estimates for Backlinko say 458.21k unique visits in the month up to 8 February 2026.

No Published Date SEO Tactic

Posts show only an "updated" date, no original publish date. Checking the sitemap, 29% of Backlinko's 447 posts have been updated in the first 5 weeks of 2016. 

88% of the posts have been updated in 2025 and 2026 (see table below which shows a huge drop down from 256 in 2025 to 18 in 2024). 

Backlinko Blog Posts By Last Updated Date. 

Quality Dropped After Brian Moved On

Recent posts lack the old depth. They feel rushed, like listicles churned for volume rather than insight. The voice is flatter, missing Brian's punchy style (short sentences, semicolons, thorough detail). 

His old rule: "I only publish when it's better than everyone else on page 1." Backlinko no longer follows that. It became a collection decent-but-mediocre content.

Similar Tactics in Medical Research Spotted YMYL

I saw similar tactics on medical research sites, bumping dates on decades-old papers to trick AI Overviews into calling them "recent." One 1980 Polio study got labeled current in Search. Google's AI seemed to excuse it as "academic profit." YMYL topics demand more scrutiny, yet loopholes persist.

Backlinko listicles don't always change much, even over 50 "updates"

Google Update Hits Self-Promotional Listicles (Early 2026)

Listicles were core to Backlinko's playbook. The first posts I spotted were "Best of 2024" lists: minimal changes (intro tweaks), publish date hidden, updated date refreshed every few months, year bumped to 2026. They rank highly but exclude newer options, depriving others of visibility.

"Many articles were lightly refreshed with '2026' in the title, with little evidence of meaningful updates." Search Engine Land Feb 4 2026

 

This looks suspicious but they are updating figures for each year e.g. adding Pinterest 2024 statistics.

Google targets spammy listicles (late January, early February 2026). 

The news is only a few days old but it looks like Google is targeting AI, mass listicle type blogs. I haven't checked if Backlinko's posts overwhelmingly feature SEMRUSH in 1st, will update if I have time to check.

This week, Google appears to crack down on self-promotional listicles , as seen in recent patterns hit by Google's updates Lily Ray, Feb 3, 2026.

SaaS blogs saw 30–50% visibility drops after heavy reliance on these lightly refreshed "best of" pages (per reports from Lily Ray, Search Engine Land, and SERoundtable). It aligns with my expectation that listicles will be hit in 2026 sooner or later.

What Will New Owners Adobe Think?

SEMrush recently finalized internal agreement for it's acquisition by Adobe (shareholder approval Feb 3, 2026); $1.9 billion all-cash at $12/share, expected close first half 2026).  I wonder if altering Backlinko's respected pre-2022 tactics raised questions.

Adobe pays a premium for brand visibility and GEO/SEO smarts. Yet if Backlinko's dominance relies on freshness loopholes now under fire, it could look awkward. Google won't torch big players (they need them), but gentle demotions for Backlinko? Possible.

This highlights why true E-E-A-T matters: Expertise and trust over shortcuts. Backlinko taught us that once—now it raises doubts.

Related:

https://www.seroundtable.com/googleself-promotional-listicles-update-40873.html

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/harryclarksonbennett_manipulating-article-dates-is-a-common-relatively-activity-7419834319667564544-mGBN

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/semrush-stockholders-approve-adobe-acquisition-132313643.html