What is a backlink?
What does a backlink look like?
Say a trade magazine writes a review of your product and adds a link to your product page. For your website, that is a backlink. For the magazine, it is an outbound link.
You may also hear "inbound link" or "incoming link". They mean the same thing.
Why do SEO people talk about links so much?
Because links are one of the signals search engines read. The same vendor's guide says some search engines, including Google, consider sites with more backlinks more relevant1. That is a vendor's description, and a general one. It tells you nothing about how much any single link is worth.
Our view: nobody can honestly promise what a given link will do to rankings. SEO is the wider job of helping search engines understand your content and helping people find it. Links are one input to that, and they are the part that is hardest to control, because other people own the sites.
This is also where offers get vague. "Link building" can mean earning a mention from a source readers actually trust. It can also mean buying space on sites that nobody reads. The first is slow. The second is easy to sell.
How do links relate to trust?
A link from a source people rely on is a kind of reference. That overlaps with how Google talks about content quality: see E-E-A-T. GEO asks a related question about visibility in AI answers. For the fact-versus-marketing view across all three, read AEO vs GEO vs SEO.
Easily confused with
Backlink vs Outbound link
The same link, seen from the site that carries it.
Backlink vs Internal link
A link between two pages on your own site. Not a backlink.
Backlink vs Mention
A reference to your brand with no link. It can still bring readers, but it is not a link.
FAQ
Are all backlinks good?
No. A link from a page that readers trust and that fits your subject is one thing. A link from a page that exists only to hold links is another. Ask where each comes from.
What is link building?
Work aimed at getting other sites to link to yours. It ranges from earning a mention in a source readers trust to buying space on sites nobody reads. Be wary of guaranteed link counts: other people place links, on sites you do not control.
Is an inbound link the same as a backlink?
Yes. "Inbound link" and "incoming link" are other names for a backlink: a link from someone else's site to yours.
Sources
Let’s find what’s actually working.
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