What is a backlink?

Definition

A backlink is a hyperlink from an external website pointing to your site. It is one of the main authority signals considered by Google: the more links a site receives from reliable sources, the more it is treated as a reference.

Backlinks are central to Google's original design, built on the idea that an inbound link is a vote of confidence. Today, the quality and relevance of a site's link profile remain a major ranking factor.

Quality vs. quantity

A single backlink from a high-authority site (national press, institutional site, specialized publication) is worth more than dozens of links from low-quality directories. Google penalizes artificial link-building practices.

How to earn natural backlinks

Effective strategies include creating high-value content (studies, original data, reference guides), digital PR, editorial partnerships, and guest posting on relevant publications in your sector.

No. The authority of the source site, topical relevance, the anchor text used, and the editorial context of the link are all determining factors. A contextual link from a topically related site is worth more than a footer link from a generic website.

A toxic backlink is a link from a low-quality, spammy, or topically unrelated site. In large numbers, they can trigger algorithmic or manual penalties from Google. Google's Disavow tool lets you flag these links so Google ignores them.

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Related terms

SEO

Link building

Link building refers to all actions aimed at obtaining hyperlinks (backlinks) from external websites pointing to your own site. It is the pillar of off-page SEO: the quality of a site's link profile is one of the most decisive authority signals for Google.

SEO

Link juice

Link juice (or link equity) refers to the SEO value transmitted from one page to another via a hyperlink. It is the founding mechanism of PageRank: every link redistributes a fraction of the authority accumulated by the source page to its destinations.

SEO

Domain Authority

Domain Authority (DA) is a metric developed by Moz that estimates a website’s ranking potential on a scale from 0 to 100. Along with Domain Rating (Ahrefs) and similar scores, it is widely used as a proxy for a site’s overall link profile strength and organic visibility potential.