What Are Backlinks?

Backlinks are when other websites have a link that brings people to your website. Think of them like gold stars in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) world. They tell everyone that your site is cool and trustworthy. If you get lots of good backlinks, your website can show up higher when people search for stuff online.



Why Do Backlinks Matter?

Think of backlinks as the internet’s way of giving your website a thumbs up. When other websites link to yours, it’s like they’re saying, “Hey, this site is cool and trustworthy!”

These thumbs ups are super important because they help search engines like Google decide who’s the best. The more thumbs ups (or backlinks) you get, the higher your website can climb in search results. It’s like having a bunch of friends vouching for you, making you more popular in the big online school of websites.



Putting links into a search engine’s secret formula isn’t a fresh idea. Actually, the whole concept of backlinks was a big deal in Google’s first-ever recipe for figuring out which pages are the best (they called it “PageRank”).




Despite Google tweaking its secret recipe thousands of times over the years, backlinks still play a major role in deciding who gets to the top of the search results.

Take it from an industry study- links are still the big boss when it comes to what Google looks for the most in ranking websites.



Plus, Google itself has given the nod, saying that backlinks are among the top three things it looks at when ranking websites in search results.



Backlinks do more than just help your standing in search engines; they’re crucial for bringing people directly to your site.
When someone clicks on a link from another website that leads to yours, you get a visitor. This not only increases the number of people visiting your site but also raises awareness about your brand, naturally attracting a wider audience.

What Kinds of Backlinks Matter Most?

Not every backlink has the same impact.
To put it simply, to climb up in the search engine results, you need backlinks that matter.

In clearer terms:

One high-quality backlink could be worth more than a thousand low-quality ones.
Interestingly, the most valuable backlinks all have a few important things in common.
First off, they’re from websites that are trustworthy and respected.

Would you prefer a backlink from a top university like Harvard, or a random blog? Well, Google values links from authoritative sources much more.
This idea is called “Domain Authority.” Basically, the bigger the reputation of the site linking to you, the more boost your site gets in the eyes of Google.



The second key feature: These valuable links have your main keyword in the text you can see and click on in the link, known as the anchor text.




Usually, it’s best if the clickable text part of your links (that’s the anchor text) contains the main keyword you’re aiming for.
Actually, a recent study in our field showed that there’s a link between having your keyword in the anchor text and your site ranking better for that keyword.



A little caution here:

Overdoing it with anchor text packed with your keywords can backfire because of something called “Google Penguin.” This part of Google’s algorithm targets websites that try sneaky link building tricks, especially those stuffing their backlinks with matching anchor text on purpose.
The third essential trait: The website (and its specific page) that links back to yours should be about a topic related to what you do.

Think of it this way:

Let’s say you’ve just put up a new article about running marathons. Google is going to value links from websites about marathons, running, or fitness way more than links from sites talking about fishing, unicycles, or digital marketing. It’s all about relevance.



The fourth important quality: The link should be a “Dofollow” link. That’s because Google and other search engines don’t pay attention to links marked as “nofollow.”



That means nofollow links don’t help your website move up in search rankings.
But don’t worry, most links out there are “dofollow,” which is good news.

And usually, the places that use nofollow tags, like comments on blogs, press releases, and paid ads, don’t give you much SEO juice anyway. So, it’s not a big loss that they’re nofollow.

The fifth trait to look for: Getting a link from a website that hasn’t linked to you before is key.
Imagine getting a link from Website A. That’s awesome, right? But if Website A keeps linking to you over and over, those 2nd, 3rd, and 4th links won’t pack the same punch as the first one did.

It turns out, getting multiple links from the same site doesn’t help as much after the first one.



In simpler terms:
It’s generally more beneficial to have 100 links from 100 different sites than to have 1,000 links all from the same site.
Actually, in a study we did on what affects search engine rankings, we discovered that the variety of sites linking to you (meaning the number of different sites, not the total number of links) had a bigger impact on your Google rankings than anything else.