What is a backlink
Also known as: inbound link, incoming link, link building
A backlink is a link on another site that points to yours. Google uses links as a signal to assess the relevance of pages and as a path to find new pages. But it treats as spam links created mainly to manipulate rankings, such as bought links, excessive exchanges and automatically generated links, and asks for paid links to be marked.
An agricultural equipment maker runs its own survey of 300 farmers on machine maintenance costs and publishes the results on its site. Industry portals and associations cite the numbers with a link to the source.
A competitor, in the same period, buys a package of 50 links on generic blogs. The first gains links from sites its audience reads; the second gains a risk, because buying links to rank is exactly what Google's policies describe as spam.
Why links matter
According to Google, links are used as a signal to determine the relevance of pages and to find new pages to crawl. A new page with no links pointing to it may take a while to be discovered.
The link text matters too. Google recommends descriptive anchor text that helps people and search engines understand what the target page is about, instead of click here.
What Google considers link spam
- Buying or selling links for ranking purposes, with money, goods or services.
- Sending someone a product in exchange for a post with a link.
- Excessive link exchanges and partner pages made only for cross linking.
- Using automated programs or services to create links.
- Requiring links in contracts without letting the other side qualify them.
- Text ads and advertorials with links that pass ranking credit.
Link attributes
Nofollow used to be recommended for paid links and is still accepted, but Google prefers sponsored for those cases.
| When to use | |
|---|---|
| rel=sponsored | Paid links, ads and sponsored placements |
| rel=ugc | Links in user generated content, such as comments and forums |
| rel=nofollow | When the others do not apply and the site does not want to be associated with the target |
How to earn good links
- Publish your own data: surveys, studies, industry numbers only you have.
- Build tools and reference guides other sites want to point to.
- Take part in your industry's associations, events and press.
- Turn unlinked mentions into links by asking politely.
- Keep profiles in legitimate industry directories and bodies.
Quality over quantity
A link from a site your audience reads and trusts is worth more than dozens of links from pages nobody visits. And earned links do not carry the risk of a manual action for spam, which can wipe out the effect of all the work.
Frequently asked questions
What is a backlink?
A link on another site that points to yours. Google uses links as a relevance signal and as a path to discover pages.
Does buying backlinks work?
It is risky. Google classifies buying links to rank as spam, which can lead to lost rankings or a manual action.
What is the difference between nofollow, sponsored and ugc?
Sponsored marks paid links; ugc marks links in user content, such as comments; nofollow is for when the others do not apply.
How can I get backlinks without buying them?
By publishing something worth citing, such as original data and reference guides, and by building relationships with press, associations and industry partners.
How many backlinks do I need?
There is no minimum. A few links from sites relevant to your audience usually count for more than many links from sites unrelated to your subject.
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Rodrigo Fávaro
Founder of ROO3, a marketing and technology agency in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil. Builds AI products running in production (Tobia, gerar.app, Pense Mercado) and maintains the AI Benchmark, a public ranking of AI models.
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