Backlink

What is a Backlink?

One of the most common terms in SEO, a backlink simply refers to a link that exists between one website and another. 

Backlinks are earned when one site links to a page on yours. Another common term for a backlink is inbound links, or incoming links, or just ‘links.’ They are highly valuable in search engine optimisation, which is largely built around earning quality backlinks. 

Why are Backlinks Important? 

The reason why backlinks carry so much weight in SEO and the wider marketing landscape is because of how search engines like Google decide what’s trustworthy online. 

Google treats a link in a similar way to a recommendation. In this regard, if a respected site in your industry links to your article, it’s akin to a vote of confidence, and votes from respected sources count for much more than their lower-quality or anonymous counterparts. 

This is the fundamental idea behind PageRank, and although Google’s ranking systems have become more sophisticated in recent years, the underlying logic still rings true today. 

Websites and pages with stronger backlink profiles typically rank better than their peers with weaker links. 

Quality is Key

No two backlinks are created equally, and nuances can have a major impact over the websites that they’re linking to. 

There are a few things to keep in mind when separating a high-value backlink from a worthless or harmful one in the eyes of Google, they involve the following: 

• Relevance: Gaining a link from a website in your industry, on a page that’s similar to your topic, lets Google know far more about your page than you might think in comparison to one from an unrelated or irrelevant site. 
• Authority: Because a link from an established and trusted domain holds more value than one from a site with no reputation, focusing on authority is especially important. 
• Placement: If a link is inside the main body of an article or is an editorial or contextual link, it’s more likely to carry far more value than one that’s buried out of sight in a footer or sidebar. 
• Follow or Nofollow: Whether a link is followed or nofollow can affect how it passes ranking signals on to Google. 

Low-quality backlinks can do more damage than good, especially if they’re from spammy networks, link farms, or paid schemes that appear manipulative to Google. In some cases, shoddy backlinks can result in a penalty. 

It’s for this reason that backlink audits are a good idea, because they can identify toxic links before they become a problem. 

In most cases, healthy sites that earn links naturally don’t have to worry about backlinks. But if you’ve ever bought links or used aggressive link-building tactics in the past, there’s a danger that the websites referring to your pages could be a problem for your SEO. 

If you’re taking your first steps in SEO, the best way to manage your backlinks is to focus on a handful of high-quality links that will help to grow your reputation in a more sustainable way than stockpiling low-quality ones. You can do so by simply outsourcing our link building to a reputable link building agency.

Chasing high volumes of backlinks for the sake of it can be a waste of time and effort. As a rule of thumb, look to add only the type of links that you’d be happy to show Google’s webspam team and your rankings are likely to follow.