What Are Backlinks? A Beginner's Guide

1. What Is a Backlink?

A backlink is simply a link from one website to another. When website A links to website B, website B has received a backlink. In the context of SEO, backlinks are also called “inbound links” or “incoming links.”

Think of backlinks as votes of confidence. When a website links to your page, it is essentially saying: “This content is worth referencing.” Search engines like Google use these signals to help determine how trustworthy and authoritative a page is.

The concept dates back to Google's original PageRank algorithm, which treated every link as a vote. While Google's algorithms have evolved enormously since then, the fundamental principle remains: pages with more high-quality backlinks tend to rank higher.

2. Why Do Backlinks Matter for SEO?

Backlinks matter because they are one of the strongest signals Google uses to rank web pages. Multiple independent studies consistently show a strong correlation between the number of quality backlinks a page has and its position in search results.

Beyond rankings, backlinks serve several important purposes:

• Authority building. Links from high-authority websites pass a portion of that authority to your site, making your pages more competitive for difficult keywords.
• Discovery. Google uses links to crawl and discover new pages. Without backlinks, search engines may take much longer to find your content.
• Referral traffic. Backlinks on popular websites send real visitors directly to your site, independent of search rankings.
• AI search visibility. AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity use web data to generate answers. Sites with strong backlink profiles are cited more frequently in AI-generated search results.

3. Types of Backlinks: Dofollow vs Nofollow

Not all backlinks are treated equally by search engines. The two main types are:

Dofollow backlinksare the standard link type. They pass SEO authority (sometimes called “link juice” or “link equity”) from the linking page to yours. These are the links that directly improve your rankings.

Nofollow backlinks include a rel="nofollow" attribute that instructs search engines not to pass authority. Common on social media, blog comments, and sponsored content. While they do not directly boost rankings, they contribute to a natural backlink profile and can drive referral traffic.

There are also UGC (User Generated Content) and Sponsored link attributes, introduced by Google in 2019 to further categorise link types. In practice, the most important distinction for SEO is between dofollow and nofollow.

When you buy backlinks from a quality provider, you should be receiving dofollow links unless otherwise specified.

4. How Google Uses Backlinks

Google uses backlinks in four main ways:

1. Authority assessment. Google evaluates the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to a page to determine how authoritative it is on a given topic.
2. Relevance signals. Links from topically relevant websites help Google understand what your page is about and which search queries it should rank for.
3. Trust signals. A diverse backlink profile from multiple trusted domains signals legitimacy. This is especially important for YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) topics.
4. Crawling and indexation. Googlebot follows links to discover new pages. Backlinks help ensure your content is found and indexed promptly.

5. Quality vs Quantity

In 2026, the quality of your backlinks matters far more than the quantity. A single link from a high-authority, relevant website with genuine traffic can have more impact than 50 links from low-quality sites.

What makes a backlink high quality?

• High domain authority. Use metrics like Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) to gauge a site's authority. DR30+ is a good baseline.
• Real organic traffic. The linking site should receive genuine traffic from Google, not just have a high DR number.
• Topical relevance. A link from a site in your industry is worth more than a link from an unrelated site.
• Contextual placement. Links within relevant content are more valuable than sidebar or footer links.
• Editorial legitimacy. The linking site should be a real website with genuine content, not a PBN or link farm.

6. How to Get Backlinks

There are several proven methods for building backlinks:

• Link insertions (niche edits). Get your link placed into an existing, already-indexed article on a relevant website. The fastest way to earn backlinks that pass value immediately.
• Guest posting. Write (or have written) original content for other websites in exchange for a backlink. Builds relationships and creates new content around your brand.
• Digital PR. Create newsworthy content, research, or data that journalists and bloggers naturally want to reference and link to.
• Resource link building. Get your site listed on relevant resource pages, industry directories, and curated lists.
• Brand mentions. Get your brand featured in listicles and review articles on authoritative websites.

For businesses without the time to manage outreach themselves, a link building service handles the entire process - from publisher outreach to placement and reporting.

7. Frequently Asked Questions