Backlinks.

A backlink is a link on another website that leads to a page on your website. For example, if your trade association, a manufacturer for whom you are an authorized service provider, or the local newspaper links to you, you have a backlink. According to Google, the search engine uses links as a signal to assess the relevance of pages and to discover new pages in the first place. For your business, this means: Links from genuine, relevant websites help you. Purchased or exchanged links, on the other hand, can be harmful.

How Backlinks Work

For Google, a link serves both as a guide and an indicator of relevance. Googlebot follows links from already known pages to new addresses, as we described in the section on crawlers. According to Google, a link can only be crawled if it is set as a standard HTML link element with a target address. The visible link text also matters: Google recommends descriptive, concise text instead of phrases like “click here.”

Not every link is intended to be a recommendation. There are tags in the code to indicate this: “sponsored” for paid links, “ugc” for links from user-generated content such as forums, and “nofollow” for links whose source you do not wish to endorse. According to Google, a paid advertising link is not a violation as long as it is marked with “nofollow” or “sponsored.”

What Your Business Should Keep in Mind

Don't buy links that are supposed to improve your ranking. In its spam guidelines, Google classifies the following, among other things, as link spam: the buying and selling of such links; excessive link exchanges based on the "you link to me, I'll link to you" model; automatically generated links; and listings in low-quality directories. Bundled offers that promise you a certain number of backlinks usually fall into this very category.

Get links from places where you have genuine relationships. Trade associations, chambers of crafts, manufacturer and partner directories, suppliers, organizations you support, and regional media are obvious sources. In our projects, we often find that a business has long been mentioned there, but without a link or with an outdated address. A quick message to the site administrators is usually all it takes.

Make sure that linked pages remain accessible even after a relaunch. If URLs change, old backlinks will quickly result in a 404 error. Therefore, permanently redirect old URLs to the corresponding new pages so that visitors and links reach their destination.

Frequently Asked Questions About Backlinks

How can I see who links to my website? Google Search Console includes a "Links" report that shows, among other things, links from other websites to your pages. Our article " How to Use Google Search Console Effectively" explains how to navigate the console.

Does having a lot of backlinks automatically mean they’re good? No. Google considers links that were created primarily to influence rankings to be spam. In our view, a link from your trade association or a partner business says more about you than many listings in random directories.

Do "nofollow" links hurt me? No. According to Google, this tag is intended for advertising, user-generated content, or unverified sources. Visitors can still find their way to your site through these links.

If you want your website to rank higher in search results in your region, take a look at our approach to SEO management.