A backlink is a link on another website that points to yours. If a cooking blog links to your recipe page, that’s a backlink for you.
Why backlinks matter
Google uses links as one of its signals for which pages are worth ranking. A link from a relevant, trusted site is a bit like a recommendation. One good recommendation from someone who knows the subject beats a hundred from strangers.
Not every backlink is equal
- Relevance: a link from a site in your field counts more than one from an unrelated site.
- Authority: links from sites that have strong backlinks themselves pass on more value. Tools express this as Domain Rating or similar scores.
- Follow or nofollow: links marked nofollow, UGC or sponsored are treated as hints rather than votes. See dofollow vs nofollow.
- Placement: a link inside the article text is worth more than one in a footer or a list of fifty links.
- Anchor text: the clickable words tell Google what your page is about. See anchor text.
How do you get backlinks?
By publishing things worth linking to, by asking (outreach), through PR, through partnerships, and by buying them. Each has trade-offs; we list them in link building strategies.
Backlinks that hurt
Links from link farms, hacked sites, spammy directories and private blog networks can lead to a penalty or simply be ignored. Read more about toxic links.