Google December update: Do Intent-driven Landing Pages Outperform Backlinks Now?

[Nitin Kaku]

Hi everyone,

After the recent Google core updates (especially December), I'm noticing something interesting across a few projects.
Some landing pages with strong intent alignment, clear user reassurance, and better on-page structure are recovering impressions faster than pages that still rely mainly on backlinks. In contrast, a few older pages with decent link profiles but weaker intent matching have continued to lose visibility

I'm currently testing this approach on a custom artwork site called whataportrait by restructuring landing pages to focus more on:

• Decision-making content instead of pure sales copy
• Clear answers to user doubts directly on the page
• EEAT-style reassurance rather than aggressive SEO headings

So my question to the community is:
Are backlinks still the main ranking lever for service/landing pages, or is Google now prioritizing intent satisfaction and on-page clarity much more heavily?

I'd love to hear if others are seeing similar patterns, especially for non-blog commercial pages. Thanks in advance for your insights.