What is Backlinks?
Backlinks (also called incoming links or inbound links) are hyperlinks from external websites pointing to your website. They are considered one of the most important ranking factors for Google, as they function like recommendations or votes for your website. Not all backlinks are equally valuable - links from thematically relevant, authoritative websites carry more weight than links from unknown or thematically unrelated sites. Building backlinks is called link building and is a central component of off-page SEO.
Key Points
- Quality over quantity: One strong backlink is worth more than many weak ones
- Natural link building is more important than artificial
- Backlinks should be thematically relevant
- Anchor texts influence what you rank for
- Google can detect and penalize unnatural link patterns