TL;DR: A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Google’s Gary Illyes has said links are important but that people overestimate them, so treat backlinks as one signal among many, not a fixed share of your rankings. In our view, a few links from relevant, reputable sites are worth more of your time than lots of links from anywhere, and links built to manipulate rankings can lead to a manual action against your site.
When you start an SEO campaign, backlinks come up early, and for good reason. Google uses the way pages link to each other to work out what pages are about and which are most helpful, so a link from the right website can be valuable. But chasing the wrong links wastes time, and links built to manipulate rankings can lead to a manual action, so it is worth understanding what backlinks are before you start.
What Are Backlinks, Exactly?
A backlink is a link on someone else’s website that points to yours. You might also hear them called “inbound links”. When your own pages link to each other, that is internal linking, which is a different thing with a different purpose.
A site usually links out because it thinks the page it links to will be useful to its readers. So when another site links to yours, it works like a recommendation for its readers and for search engines.
Why Do Backlinks Matter for SEO?
Backlinks matter for two practical reasons.
- Referral traffic. A link on a relevant, well-visited site can send real visitors straight to your page.
- Search visibility. Google says it has systems that look at how pages link to each other to work out what pages are about and which might be most helpful, and that PageRank, one of its core ranking systems when it launched, “continues to be part of our core ranking systems” (Google’s ranking systems guide).
Google’s ranking systems guide does not say how much weight links carry. In 2023, Search Engine Land reported Google’s Gary Illyes saying at Pubcon Pro that he thinks links are important but that people overestimate their importance, that he does not agree they are in the top three ranking factors (“It hasn’t been for some time”), and that it is possible to rank without links. In short, backlinks are a useful, well-established signal among many, not a fixed share of the algorithm.
Backlinks and “Domain Authority”: What Is the Difference?
You will often see backlinks discussed alongside “Domain Authority” (DA). The two get mixed up a lot, so it is worth being precise.
Domain Authority is a score created by Moz, a third-party SEO software company. It is not a measurement made by Google, and the Moz Domain Authority guide itself says it is not a direct ranking factor used by Google. Moz’s Russ Jones said in 2019 that Google does not use Moz’s DA as a ranking factor, and described it as “a comparative metric” (reported by Search Engine Land). It can be handy for comparing sites with each other at a glance, but it is an estimate from a tool, not a Google score. A higher DA is not a goal in itself: what you want are links from relevant sites that are useful to their readers.
Good Backlinks vs Poor Backlinks
Not every backlink helps you. A link from a relevant, reputable site in your field is the kind worth having. We would not expect a link from an unrelated or low-quality site to do much for you, and Google says that in most cases it can assess which links to trust without additional guidance.
That is also why most sites do not need to disavow links: Google’s help page says “most sites will not need to use this tool”. It is still worth reviewing your backlink profile now and then, using a tool such as Google Search Console, Ahrefs or Semrush. The disavow tool is the way to ask Google to ignore specific links, and Google describes it as an advanced feature to be used with caution. Its guidance is to disavow only if you have a considerable number of spammy, artificial or low-quality links and they have caused, or are likely to cause, a manual action against your site.
Top Tip: Before you chase a link, open the site and look at what it publishes. If you would not be comfortable with your customers landing there from your link, or the site would only link to you in return for money, goods or a link back, skip it as a way to build rankings, however good its metrics look.
How to Build a Backlink Profile
A common approach is to give other websites a real reason to link to you. Common routes are:
- Useful content. Original research, data or an unusually thorough guide that others want to reference.
- Digital PR and journalist outreach. Pitching expert comment or data-led stories to journalists, which can earn links from established news and industry sites.
- Guest posts, used carefully. Only on relevant sites where your article is useful to their readers. Google lists links with optimised anchor text in guest posts or press releases distributed on other sites as link spam, so write for the reader, not for the link.
- Unlinked mentions. Where your brand is already named online without a link, a polite request to add one is often a quick, low-friction win.
Whatever the route, the same test applies: would this site link to you anyway, because your content is useful to its readers? If the honest answer is no, skip it. Be careful with anything where you give something in return for a link. Google’s spam policies list exchanging money, goods or services for links as link spam, unless the links are qualified with rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow”.
For more on how many links are realistically useful, see our guides on how many backlinks you need to rank and how many links to include for SEO.
FAQs
Do backlinks still matter if my content is good?
Yes, but they are not the only thing that decides rankings. Strong content is usually what earns links in the first place, and Google’s Gary Illyes has said people overestimate how important links are. Treat backlinks as one useful signal, not a substitute for a good page.
Can buying backlinks get my site penalised?
It can. Google’s spam policies list buying or selling links for ranking purposes as link spam, and say sites that violate its policies “may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all”. A manual action is one way that can happen. Advertising and sponsorship links are different when they are qualified with rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow”, so a genuine sponsorship is not the same as a link bought purely for SEO value. If you are unsure which side of that line something falls on, ask an SEO specialist before it goes live.
How Wildcat Handles Backlinks
With one of our campaigns, we’ve had good results from responding to relevant journalist requests with the client’s expertise. One of these led to coverage in Sage, including an editorial backlink. You don’t always need a big PR campaign to earn quality links. Often it’s about spotting the right opportunity and having something useful to say. – Fiorela Imerai, SEO Account Director
At Wildcat, we build links through digital PR and outreach. Our digital PR service covers planning and ideation, research, content writing, outreach, pitching and reporting, and we work with you from the planning stage. The aim is content and campaigns that give journalists and relevant sites a reason to cover you and link to you.
In our view, involving a team early helps because the story and the content decide whether anyone has a reason to link, and that is much easier to shape before outreach starts than after.
Before I look at domain authority, I check how relevant a publication is to the client. A link from a small, industry-specific site can be worth far more than one from a major website with no real connection to the business. What matters is where the link comes from, who will see it and whether it makes sense for the brand. – Fiorela Imerai, SEO Account Director
To talk through whether link building makes sense for your business, you can book a free 30-minute consultation with our growth team. You tell us what you need, and we go from there.
Jon Herdman
SEO Executive
