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Backlinks Explained: What They Are, Why They Matter and Which Ones to Avoid
Digital Marketing

Backlinks Explained: What They Are, Why They Matter and Which Ones to Avoid

A backlink is a link from another website to yours. How Google uses links, why quality beats quantity, what counts as link spam and honest ways a small business can earn links.

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Backlinks are links on other websites that point to your website. Search engines treat a relevant backlink from a trusted site somewhat like a recommendation, and Google says it uses links as a signal for understanding which pages are relevant and for finding new pages to crawl. Quality and relevance matter far more than the number of links.

If a respected local news site writes about your bakery and links to your website, that link helps people discover you and tells search engines your site is worth noticing. A hundred links from unrelated, low-quality directories do not do the same job, and can even cause problems.

Google's link best practices state that Google uses links as a signal when determining the relevancy of pages and to find new pages to crawl. The visible clickable words of a link, called anchor text, also tell people and Google something about the page being linked to, which is why descriptive anchor text is better than "click here".

More helpfulLess helpful or risky
From a site related to your topic or areaFrom unrelated sites with no connection to your business
Placed naturally inside useful contentHidden in footers or stuffed into long link lists
Given because your page is genuinely usefulBought, swapped or demanded in exchange for something
From a site real people read and trustFrom networks of thin sites built only for links
Also readOrganic vs Paid Marketing: What Is the Difference and Which Should a Small Business Start With?

Google's spam policies describe link spam as creating links primarily to manipulate search rankings. Examples include buying or selling links that pass ranking credit, excessive link exchanges ("link to me and I'll link to you"), and large-scale article campaigns stuffed with keyword-rich links.

Paid placements and sponsorships are not banned. Google's guide to qualifying outbound links explains that links from ads or paid placements should carry rel="sponsored" (or rel="nofollow"), and links in user comments or forums can use rel="ugc". Those labels keep paid links within the rules.

  • Create something worth linking to: a clear local guide, a useful checklist, original photos or data from your work.
  • Get listed where customers actually look: your industry association, chamber of commerce, reputable local directories and supplier or partner pages.
  • Work with your community: sponsor a school event, run a workshop or partner with a local cause, which often leads to genuine mentions.
  • Talk to local journalists and bloggers when you have real news, such as a new service, a milestone or a helpful seasonal tip.
  • Ask happy partners and clients to mention you where it is natural, for example in a case study.

Internal links, which connect pages within your own site, matter too. Our guide to internal linking for SEO covers that side.

Her View

Think of backlinks as reputation, not a number. One mention from a source your customers respect can do more for trust than any amount of link building.

His Insight

Be wary of anyone selling "1,000 backlinks" for a small fee. Links that are easy to buy are usually the ones Google's systems are designed to ignore or penalise.

Frequently asked questions

There is no fixed number. Relevance, quality and the usefulness of your own page matter more than the count.

No. They can still bring visitors and visibility. Google treats nofollow, sponsored and ugc as hints about the nature of a link.

Google Search Console's Links report shows which sites link to you and your most linked pages, for free.

Sources

Harika Behara

Writes for H View, where every story follows our editorial policy and is reviewed before it is published.

All stories by Harika →

H View stories follow our editorial policy. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it.

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