Backlinks (also known as “inbound links,” “incoming links,” or “one-way links”) are links from one website to a page on another website. Google and other major search engines treat backlinks as “votes” for a specific page. Pages with a large number of backlinks tend to have higher organic search engine rankings. What else is there? Let’s take a closer look together.
Why Are Backlinks Important?
Backlinks are essentially votes from other websites. Each of these votes tells search engines, “This content is valuable, trustworthy, and useful.”
Therefore, the more of these “votes” you have, the higher your site will rank in Google and other search engines.
Using links in a search engine algorithm is not new. In fact, backlinks formed the foundation of Google’s original algorithm, known as “PageRank.”
Although Google has made thousands of changes to its algorithm since then, backlinks remain an important ranking signal.
For example, our industry research found that links continue to be a core ranking signal for Google.
And Google has confirmed that backlinks remain one of the top three search engine ranking factors.
What Types of Backlinks Are Valuable?
Not all backlinks hold equal value.
In other words, if you want to rank higher in SERPs, focus on high-quality backlinks.
Important notes:
A single high-quality backlink can be more powerful than 1,000 low-quality backlinks.
It seems that high-quality backlinks tend to share certain key characteristics.
Feature #1: They come from trustworthy, authoritative websites
Feature #2: The link’s anchor text contains your target keyword
Feature #3: The site (and page) linking to you is topically relevant to your site
Feature #4: The link is a “dofollow” link
Feature #5: The link comes from a domain that hasn’t linked to you before
Harmful Backlinks, Negative SEO, Spam Backlinks
When backlinks are used in a meaningless or suspicious way, Google notices and may penalize your site by lowering its ranking.
However, a quality and meaningful backlink strategy can push you all the way to the top of the SERPs.
Essentially, all natural, relevant, and strong backlinks matter to Google.
Don’t forget to deal with malicious and harmful backlinks that come from spammy sites intended to attack your site.