What are backlinks and why do you need them?

What is a backlink?

A backlink is a link from one website to another. However, backlinks are not just simple links. When one site provides a backlink to another, it shares some of its authority with that site.

Google uses backlinks to evaluate a site's reliability and usefulness to users. Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors for Google. Therefore, they play a crucial role in improving a site's position in search engine results and its overall SEO performance.

How are backlinks useful for your site?

To fully grasp the importance of backlinks, it's essential to understand the benefits they offer.

Reputation

When determining if a site can rank highly in Google search results, its reputation is evaluated first. The increase in a site's reputation is closely tied to backlinks. A backlink from site A to site B signals to the search engine that site B is valuable and trustworthy.

Popularity

Backlinks are a primary method of indicating to search engines which sites are useful and important for users. Nowadays, when you search for any topic on Google, you’ll notice that sites ranking in the top 10 positions tend to have more backlinks than those ranking lower.

Types of backlinks

Backlinks are extremely valuable, but not all backlinks are created equal. There are different types of backlinks, each with varying importance.

Nofollow backlinks

When you provide a backlink to another site, you are signaling to search engines that the site is valuable to users. However, by default, you share some of your site’s authority. If you don’t want to pass this authority on, you can create a nofollow backlink. Nofollow backlinks are displayed in a site’s code as rel="nofollow". They allow you to link to another site without passing on your site’s authority.

Dofollow backlinks

Unlike nofollow, dofollow backlinks pass authority from your site to the linked site. When you provide a dofollow backlink to another site, you signal to the search engine that you trust that site and are willing to share some of your authority with it.

Sponsored backlinks

Sponsored links are used for links placed on your site due to sponsorship. You might use this type of backlink in content that promotes products or services. These links are marked as rel="sponsored" in the site’s code.

High-authority backlinks

High-authority backlinks are the key backlinks necessary for ranking your site higher in Google’s search results. These backlinks come from sites with a strong backlink profile (sites that receive links from other powerful sites), are relevant to your site's topic, and rank highly in Google.

To check if a site is high-authority, you can use tools like Semrush or Ahrefs. While these metrics aren’t officially recognized by Google, they can help assess the value of a site.

Spammy backlinks

Spammy or toxic backlinks are links from sites that violate Google’s guidelines. Backlinks from such sites can seriously damage your website’s performance in Google search results.

Although Google claims to protect your site from spammy backlinks, having too many of them can negatively impact your overall SEO. If your site has accumulated many spammy backlinks, use tools like Semrush to identify them and create a disavow file to clean up your backlink profile.

How to conduct a backlink analysis

To analyze backlinks, you can use a tool like Semrush. This tool allows you to audit your site’s backlinks and view the links pointing to your site.

When analyzing backlinks, pay attention to the number of backlinks coming from each domain.

Another critical aspect of backlink analysis is focusing on the anchor texts. Anchor texts show the clickable text in a content piece from which the backlink originates.

For a natural-looking backlink profile in Google's eyes, vary your anchor texts. For example, if you plan to obtain 10 backlinks for a page about water filters, use anchor texts such as "water filter prices," "best water filters," or "water filters in Baku."