Backlinks are the reason the web is a web. Every time a page links to another site, it sends readers there, and it tells search engines that the destination is worth knowing about. For a new product, the first backlinks are often what turns an invisible website into one Google can find and rank.
What a backlink looks like
A backlink is an ordinary HTML link on someone else's page that points to your site:
<a href="https://example.com/">Example</a>Four parts of it matter for SEO:
- The page it's on: its topic, its quality, and whether search engines have it indexed.
- The anchor text: the clickable words. Google's link guidelines say good anchor text is "descriptive, reasonably concise, and relevant to the page that it's on and to the page it links to".
- The target URL: your homepage, a feature page or an article.
- The rel attribute: whether the link is marked
nofollow,ugcorsponsored. A link without any of them is what people call a dofollow link.
Why backlinks matter
Backlinks do two jobs in search. The first is discovery: Google says that "the vast majority of the new pages Google finds every day are through links", and that it "primarily finds pages through links from other pages it already crawled" (SEO Starter Guide).
The second is ranking. Google's PageRank algorithm uses links, though Google stresses that "PageRank is just one" of its many ranking signals. Ahrefs found a clear pattern in its study of search traffic: of about 20 million pages in its index with no referring domains, only 2,997 got more than 1,000 search visits a month. Ahrefs notes that this is a correlation, not proof, but it's consistent with what most site owners see.
Backlinks also do something no algorithm measures: they send people. A link in the right newsletter or directory can bring your first customers long before it moves a ranking.
What makes a good backlink
Not all backlinks are equal. The useful ones tend to share these traits:
- Relevance: the linking site covers your topic or serves your audience.
- Editorial choice: a person decided to link to you, or reviewed your listing, because it's useful.
- Real readers: the page gets visitors, so the link can send some.
- Indexed and followable: the page is in Google, and the link isn't marked nofollow or cancelled by a noindex tag.
- A new domain: links from many different sites usually count for more than many links from one. SEO tools call these referring domains.
Backlinks vs referring domains
A backlink is a single link; a referring domain is a website that links to you at least once. If one blog links to you from ten articles, that's ten backlinks from one referring domain. Most SEO metrics, including Ahrefs' Domain Rating, weigh referring domains more heavily. Ahrefs says that for DR, "only the first link from a domain will increase your DR" (How Domain Rating works).
Backlinks to avoid
Google treats links made "primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings" as link spam. Its spam policies list examples, including:
- buying or selling links for ranking purposes, including free products in exchange for a post with a link;
- "excessive link exchanges ('Link to me and I'll link to you')";
- "using automated programs or services to create links to your site";
- "low-quality directory or bookmark site links";
- links with optimized anchor text in guest posts or press releases spread across other sites.
Spam links can be ignored at best and lead to a manual action at worst. The safe rule: if the link only exists because you paid or swapped for it, and nobody would ever click it, it isn't worth having.
How to get your first backlinks
New products usually start with the places that already list products like theirs, then earn the rest:
- Curated directories in your category, through careful directory submission. Of the 197 directories where we checked a live listing, 70% gave a followed link.
- Launch platforms, for a day in front of early adopters. We compared 13 of them in Product Hunt alternatives.
- Integration and partner pages from tools you connect with.
- Something worth citing: a free tool, a template or original data that writers want to reference.
- Expert answers to journalists and podcast hosts looking for sources.
How to check your backlinks
- Google Search Console: the Links report lists the sites that link to you most, from Google's own data.
- Ahrefs Webmaster Tools: free for sites you verify, with up to 1,000 backlinks at once.
- A single link: paste the page into our dofollow link checker to see whether its link to you is followed, and whether noindex, robots.txt or a canonical cancels it.