SEO glossary · Updated
What are backlinks, and do they still matter for SEO?
A backlink is a link from another website to a page on yours. Google uses links to discover pages and as one signal of their importance.
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Builds SEO·AEO·GEO and writes the crawler, schema, and citation research published here.
A backlink is a link on another website that points to a page on yours. If a local newspaper links to your bakery's website, that's a backlink. Search engines use backlinks in two ways: to discover pages they haven't seen yet, and as one of many signals of which pages are useful and trustworthy.
Google describes its link analysis systems, including PageRank, as using how pages link to each other to understand what pages are about and which ones might be most helpful. PageRank was one of Google's core ranking systems when it launched, and links are still one signal among many, not the whole story.
What makes a good backlink
| Signal | Better | Worse |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | A site in your industry or area | An unrelated site in another language |
| Editorial | Placed by an editor because your page is useful | Bought, swapped or added by you |
| Placement | In the main content, with descriptive text | In a footer, sidebar or comment |
| Attributes | A normal link | rel="sponsored", "nofollow" or "ugc", which tell Google not to count it the same way |
How to see your backlinks
- Google Search Console's Links report shows the sites that link to you most and your most-linked pages. It's free.
- Bing Webmaster Tools has a similar backlinks report.
- Third-party indexes such as Ahrefs, Semrush and Majestic crawl the web and show more links, with their own metrics. See backlink checkers compared.
How to get backlinks the safe way
- Publish something worth citing: original data, a free tool, a definitive guide, local news.
- Get listed where your business genuinely belongs: industry associations, suppliers' partner pages, local directories.
- Tell people who'd find your work useful, such as journalists, bloggers and community sites in your field.
- Turn unlinked mentions of your brand into links by asking the site politely.
- Fix broken links to your site by redirecting old URLs to their replacements.
Check it on your own site
What the free audit tests for this
- External links
- Internal links
One URL, about 20 seconds, no login. You get the result of every check and the exact fix for the top three issues.
Audit your website freeFAQ
Do backlinks still matter in 2026?+
Yes, as one signal among many. Google lists link analysis and PageRank among its ranking systems. Content quality, relevance and technical access matter at least as much.
How many backlinks do I need?+
There's no target number. A few relevant, editorial links usually matter more than many low-quality ones, and some pages rank with very few links because they answer the query best.
Are backlinks from any website good?+
No. Links from irrelevant or spammy sites help little, and links you've paid for or arranged to manipulate rankings break Google's policies.
Sources
- A guide to Google Search ranking systems — Google Search Central
- Spam policies for Google web search — Google Search Central (2026-08-28)
- Links report — Search Console Help
- Qualify your outbound links to Google — Google Search Central