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What backlinks are, why they matter, and how to get them
Executive overview
Backlinks are links from one website to another. Google uses them as votes of credibility to rank pages. Not all backlinks carry equal weight — two factors determine value: topical relevance and authority.
The highest-value backlinks come from topically relevant, authoritative pages — not just high-DR domains.
Why backlinks matter
- Help search engines determine which pages rank highest for a query
- Drive referral traffic directly to your site
- Help search engines discover and index your pages faster
What makes a backlink valuable
- Topical relevance: a link from a kids activity blog to a slime tutorial outweighs one from a tech blog
- Google's reasonable surfer model connects link-click likelihood to link importance
- Authority is measured by the quality and quantity of links pointing to the referring page or domain
- Ahrefs uses domain rating (DR) for site-level authority and URL rating for page-level authority
- A page on a low-DR domain can outperform a Huffington Post link if it has accumulated more quality inbound links
- Seek links that are both topically relevant and authoritative
How to check your backlinks for free
- Google Search Console: shows top linked pages, most frequent linking domains, and most-used anchor text
- Drill into any page to see the exact URLs linking to it
- Ahrefs free backlink checker: shows the top 100 backlinks for any URL or domain
- Ahrefs Site Explorer gives the full backlink profile with filters and export
- Run competitor domains through the same tools to understand how they earn links
Three ways to get backlinks
- Earn them — organic discovery via search, social, or word of mouth leads others to link naturally
- Create them — add your link to forums, directories, or blog comments
- Build them — reach out to site owners, editors, or webmasters and ask for a link
- Easier links are generally less valuable
- New sites should prioritise active link building over waiting to earn links organically
- Top-ranked pages attract more links because they rank first — reinforcing what Ahrefs calls the vicious circle of SEO
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