The claim
Links from authoritative, relevant sources remain a foundational signal of a page's importance.
What the evidence shows
Page and Brin's PageRank work modelled the web as a graph in which a page's importance depends on the number and importance of pages linking to it. Although modern ranking is far more sophisticated, the underlying principle, that endorsement flows through links, remains foundational. Earning links from authoritative, topically relevant sources still builds durable authority.