Is it even possible to achieve a top 10 ranking in Google with minimal backlinks? According to a recent study by Internet Marketing Ninjas, the answer is unlikely. Their analysis revealed that:

• Over 96% of websites in Google's top 10 rankings had more than 1,000 backlinks from unique domains.

• Only 0.3% had fewer than 100 backlinks.

Why is this significant? Google has been downplaying the importance of backlinks as a top ranking factor. However, the study clearly shows that sites ranking well tend to have a higher number of backlinks. This could be because pages that rank well naturally attract more backlinks due to their high visibility.

The study also uncovered other interesting findings:

• Amazon dominated the top 10 rankings, appearing for 164 out of the 200 keywords analyzed. Walmart was a distant second with 57 top 10 rankings.

• The "weakest" site in the top 10 had 54 referring domains and still managed to secure the sixth position.

• An average of 164 unique domain backlinks was found to be the minimum required to rank in the top 10 for local search terms, based on the lowest-ranking 10 sites.

It appears that Google’s recent downplay of the significance of backlinks in their ranking algorithms (post document leak) isn’t exactly accurate. However, as with many things Google states publicly, there may be a divergence between their official statements and the actual weight backlinks carry in their search ranking processes.

However, it's worth noting that not all backlinks carry equal weight. Factors such as the authority of the linking site, anchor text, and the click-through rate of the links can influence their value.
The data for this recent study was gathered from an analysis of the top 10 Google Search results for 200 random commercial intent keyword phrases, involving 1,113 unique websites.