Competitor backlinks placed on high DA "family blog"

[Jessica C]

I have a competitor in the photography space that has backlinks from two high authority "family blogs". When I click into the article where they are mentioned, its clear that this is paid for. The blogs are outdated looking in terms of design, BUT have current and consistent content on all kinds of subjects (Family, Kids Life, Lifestyle, News, Parents, Travel, Society). I can see articles where other photographers are backlinked, too. For example "Family Photography: The Basics of Family Photography" or "8 Reasons New born and Family Photographers are the Best". I even noticed both of these family blogs have the same/similar articles that use the SAME photos.
Example:
https://www.elffamilyblog.com/things-that-you-should-consider-while-choosing-a-family-photographer/
https://addamsfamilyblog.com/major-advantages-of-choosing-a-family-photographer/
But each give backlinks to different photographers.
can anyone shed more light on what is happening here? I assume these are paid backlinks?
Also interesting is that Keywords Everywhere shows Moz DA's of 59/100 and 61/100, but SemRush shows AS of 3 and 5. That seems like quite a difference!

 

[fisicx]

For starters ignore those DA and AS scores - Google takes no notice of these.

There are billions of paid links most of which Google also ignores. These are just more of the same. I wouldn't worry about them.

 

[Jessica C]

For starters ignore those DA and AS scores - Google takes no notice of these.

There are billions of paid links most of which Google also ignores. These are just more of the same. I wouldn't worry about them.

backlinks from higher authority sites are worth more though- so why wouldn't google take notice of these?

 

[fisicx]

backlinks from higher authority sites are worth more though- so why wouldn't google take notice of these?

No they aren't. This is a complete myth. Read this large but very useful document to understand why:

https://guidelines.raterhub.com/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf

It's all about relevance, authority and trust.