Backlinks, also known as inbound links or incoming links, are links from another website to a page on your website.
For example, a local newspaper might link to your website when reporting on an event you have sponsored. A supplier might link to a case study about your work together, or an industry publication could reference a useful guide you have written.
Search engines use links to discover pages and understand how information across the web is connected. Relevant backlinks can also contribute to how search engines assess a page, but earning more links does not automatically guarantee better rankings.
The source, context and purpose of each link matter far more than simply collecting the highest possible number.
Why Are Backlinks Important?
Backlinks can support a website in several different ways.
Helping Search Engines Discover Pages
Search engines follow links between websites as they crawl the web. A link from an established page can help them discover new content and understand how it relates to a particular subject.
This does not guarantee that the linked page will be indexed or rank prominently, but links form an important part of how content is found and connected.
Providing Context and Authority
A relevant editorial link can act as a recommendation or reference. If a respected industry organisation links to one of your guides because it provides genuinely useful information, that link may help demonstrate the subject and value of the page.
However, backlinks should not be treated as simple votes where every link has equal value. Search engines consider many signals, and a link placed naturally within relevant content is different from one added to an unrelated directory or automated comment.
Sending Referral Traffic
A useful backlink can bring visitors directly to your website. Someone reading an article, supplier profile or local news story may follow the link because they are genuinely interested in your business.
This referral traffic can have value even if the link provides little or no direct ranking benefit. A smaller industry website with the right audience may send more relevant visitors than a much larger but unrelated publication.
Building Awareness and Relationships
Many worthwhile backlinks are a result of real business activity. Partnerships, community involvement, useful resources and media coverage can introduce your brand to new audiences while creating links naturally.
This is a healthier approach than treating every conversation as an opportunity to request a backlink.
What Makes a Backlink Valuable?
There is no single formula for identifying the perfect backlink. Search engines do not publish a score for each website, and links need to be considered within their wider context.
Useful factors to consider include:
Relevance
The linking page should have a sensible connection to your business or the page it references. A link from an industry publication, supplier, professional organisation or local news website may provide useful context.
A link from a completely unrelated website created only for SEO is less likely to help and may form part of a manipulative link scheme.
Editorial Choice
A strong backlink is usually placed because the website owner or writer believes the destination will help their readers. It has been earned through the quality of the resource, the relationship between the organisations or the relevance of the business being mentioned.
Links automatically generated across hundreds of websites do not carry the same meaning.
A Genuine Website and Audience
Look beyond a website’s headline metrics. Does it publish original content? Is the organisation real? Does the website appear to have a genuine audience and a clear purpose?
A modest but respected trade association or local publication may be more relevant than a website displaying an impressive third-party score but publishing unrelated or low-quality content.
Natural Placement
A contextual link within a useful article or resource can be more meaningful than one hidden in a footer or placed among hundreds of unrelated links.
The surrounding copy should explain why the linked page is relevant. The link should also make sense to a reader, not just a search engine.
Descriptive Anchor Text
Anchor text is the clickable wording used for a link. It should briefly describe what someone can expect to find after clicking.
Natural anchor text might include a business name, article title or relevant phrase. Repeatedly arranging backlinks that use the same commercial keyword can look manipulative, particularly when those links have been paid for or placed at scale.
What Are Domain Rating and Domain Authority?
SEO platforms use measurements such as Domain Rating, Domain Authority and Authority Score to estimate the relative strength of a website’s backlink profile.
These can be useful when comparing websites or monitoring broad changes, but they are not Google metrics. Google does not use a website’s Ahrefs Domain Rating or Moz Domain Authority as a direct ranking score.
A higher figure does not automatically make every link from that website valuable. Relevance, editorial context, placement and the quality of the linking page still need to be considered.
Backlinks, Internal Links and Social Media Links
These types of links are often grouped together, but they serve different purposes.
Backlinks
A backlink comes from a different website. These are the links normally discussed when referring to link building.
Internal Links
An internal link connects one page of your own website to another. For example, an article might link to a relevant service page, while that service page might direct visitors to a related case study.
Internal links are not backlinks, but they remain important. They help visitors navigate the website and give search engines additional context about the relationship between your pages.
Every important page should be accessible through relevant internal links rather than being left isolated.
Social Media Links
Links from social media profiles and posts can send visitors to your website and help content reach a wider audience. However, many platforms mark these links in ways that limit how search engines use them for ranking purposes.
They should be valued mainly for awareness, referral traffic and content distribution rather than as a quick way to increase backlink authority.
Followed, Nofollow, Sponsored and UGC Links
Website owners can add attributes to links that explain their relationship with the destination.
- Standard or followed links: Regular links that do not require a special relationship label.
- Nofollow links: Links where the publisher does not want to imply an endorsement or association.
- Sponsored links: Paid advertisements, sponsorships and other compensated placements should normally use the sponsored attribute.
- UGC links: Links within user-generated content, such as forum posts and comments, can be labelled as UGC.
A nofollow or sponsored link can still send valuable visitors to your website. It should not be dismissed simply because it may not contribute to rankings in the same way as a standard editorial link.
How to Earn Useful Backlinks
Good link building is usually based on creating something worth referencing or carrying out activity that deserves attention.
Create Genuinely Helpful Resources
Detailed guides, original research, useful tools, templates and clear explanations can attract links when they answer questions that other websites want to reference.
Before adding another short article to your business blog, consider whether you could create a more complete resource that offers something different from what is already available.
Useful content could include:
- Original industry data or survey results
- Practical checklists and downloadable templates
- Clear explanations of complicated processes
- Local information that is difficult to find elsewhere
- Detailed case studies with genuine results
- Calculators or interactive tools
Work With Suppliers and Business Partners
Genuine commercial relationships can create natural linking opportunities. A supplier may maintain an approved installer directory, publish customer case studies or list businesses using its products.
You could also contribute information to a joint project or case study. The link should exist because the relationship and content are useful, not because both businesses have agreed to exchange links purely for rankings.
Excessive link exchanges, where websites repeatedly link to each other to manipulate search results, can breach Google’s spam policies.
Join Relevant Professional Organisations
Trade associations, chambers of commerce and established local business groups may provide genuine member listings. These can help customers confirm your membership while sending relevant traffic.
Avoid submitting your business to hundreds of low-quality directories. Choose organisations that have a real purpose, maintain their information and are relevant to your industry or location.
Support Your Local Community
Sponsoring a community event, supporting a charity or contributing expertise to a local initiative can lead to mentions from organisers and local publications.
The community benefit should be the main reason for taking part. Any backlink is an additional outcome rather than the entire purpose of the activity.
Contribute Expert Knowledge
Industry publications and journalists may need informed comments, interviews or contributed articles. If you have genuine experience that will help their audience, a relevant mention and link may be appropriate.
Avoid sending generic guest-post pitches to hundreds of websites. Contributions should be original, accurate and written for the publication’s readers.
If an article or placement has been paid for, the commercial relationship should be disclosed and links should be labelled appropriately.
Publish Strong Case Studies
A detailed project can create opportunities for both parties. The customer, supplier or professional partner may choose to link to the case study if it represents their involvement accurately.
Review your existing project portfolio and consider whether completed work could be expanded with useful information about the challenge, process and outcome.
Develop Newsworthy Stories
Journalists are more likely to cover a genuine story than a routine promotional announcement. Business milestones, original research, community projects, unusual commissions and knowledgeable commentary on current issues may all provide a useful angle.
A press mention does not always include a followed backlink, but it can still build awareness, credibility and referral traffic.
Link-Building Methods to Avoid
Links intended primarily to manipulate rankings can result in them being ignored or, in more serious cases, action being taken against the website.
High-risk tactics include:
- Buying links that are intended to pass ranking credit
- Using private blog networks created to sell or exchange links
- Arranging excessive reciprocal links
- Submitting to large numbers of low-quality directories
- Posting automated links in comments and forums
- Publishing low-quality guest articles at scale
- Hiding links within templates, widgets or unrelated content
- Using the same keyword-heavy anchor text repeatedly
- Providing payment or free products for undisclosed editorial links
Be cautious of anyone promising a guaranteed number of high-authority backlinks each month without explaining where those links will appear or why the websites would want to publish them.
Can Poor-Quality Backlinks Harm Your Website?
Manipulative links created by a business or its SEO provider can cause problems, especially when they form part of an organised attempt to influence rankings.
However, most established websites eventually attract random links from scrapers, automated directories and other low-quality sources. Their existence alone is not usually a reason to panic.
Google says it can assess which links to trust in most cases. Its disavow tool is intended for situations involving a considerable number of artificial or low-quality links that have caused, or are likely to cause, a manual action.
Using the disavow tool incorrectly could cause Google to ignore legitimate links, so it should not be used simply because an SEO tool has labelled a few domains as toxic.
How to Monitor Your Backlinks
Google Search Console provides a links report showing examples of websites and pages linking to you. Third-party SEO platforms can provide additional data, although their backlink indexes and authority measurements will differ.
When reviewing new links, ask:
- Is the website genuine and relevant?
- Does the linking page have a clear purpose?
- Does the link make sense within its surrounding content?
- Could it send interested visitors to the website?
- Was money, a product or another benefit exchanged?
- Is the anchor text natural?
Focus on patterns and overall quality rather than worrying about every unfamiliar domain.
Build Links by Creating Something Worth Finding
A sustainable backlink strategy is not about collecting as many links as possible. It is about earning relevant mentions through useful content, strong relationships and worthwhile business activity.
Link building is only one part of search engine optimisation. The website also needs useful content, a clear structure, sound technical foundations and pages that satisfy what customers are searching for.
If you would like an honest review of your website’s backlinks and wider search visibility, contact Athena Media to discuss an appropriate SEO strategy.
