A backlink is a link created when one website links to another. Backlink are also called “links”, or "inbound links", or "incoming links." backlink are important lớn people moving around the internet and to tìm kiếm Engine Optimization (SEO).

Bạn đang xem: What are backlinks in seo? & why you need them

Tools: check your liên kết with links Explorer


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For example a trang web about British hedgehogs has a page about a hedgehog awareness drive and liên kết to a helpful and relevant resource that aids in documenting hedgehog sighting The hedgehog maps can then be said lớn have received a backlink from the British hedgehog site. The xanh underlined text is the backlinks pointing from the first site to the second.

Backlinks are made up of HTML, which is a language that can be used lớn mark up the text on your website pages. If you are working with the raw code of a website, a backlink looks lượt thích this within a page’s content:


hedgehog bản đồ
The “a” portion of the links stands for attribute, the “href” stands for hypertext reference, meaning you are about lớn enter the destination of the link, the URL portion beginning with “https” is the page you are pointing the links to, the word “hedgehog map” is the anchor text & is the clickable, visible part of the link, và the “ closes off the attribute.

Additionally, most CMS or website builder products will simply have fields that allow you to lớn highlight text, click a links icon, và paste in the URL of the page you want to link out to. This may include the text "insert link" a link icon or both. Your CMS may also allow you to view và edit your links so you can enter the link information without having khổng lồ enter the HTML code, including opening links in a new tab.


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The HTML or the code-free solution in your CMS or website builder would result in the words “hedgehog map” being linked to lớn the URL you have entered.

Traditionally backlink are blue and frequently underlined, but site owners can choose to lớn style them in other ways. When hovering over a linked word or phrase your cursor changes from an arrow icon lớn a pointer icon, if you want to know where the link will direct you we can see the destination URL appear in the bottom left corner of your browser window.


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Why are backlinks important?

There are two main reasons that trang web owners want lớn earn backlinks. The first is very practical: discovery by searchers. It’s easy to imagine an mạng internet searcher visiting a page about hedgehogs & encountering the backlink to the hedgehog mapping site. If they click on that link they could likely spend time there và become a fan, a subscriber, & a person who shares that links with their family, friends, & followers. Links are what enable searchers khổng lồ move from one place lớn another around the web, and the more liên kết a site has pointing to lớn it, the greater its chances of being discovered by people.

The second reason backlink are so important is a bit of a longer story, which we can break down into three easy-to-understand numbered points:

1. Backlinks for search engine crawling & indexing

It isn’t just people who use link to get around the web. Search engines (like Google) use programs called crawlers, bots, or spiders lớn crawl the website from link to link, discovering content by following the paths liên kết create and then putting that nội dung in their index. In order for a tìm kiếm engine khổng lồ display a page in their results, they first have to find it, & the simplest way that happens is via a link.

2. Links as a ranking signal

Search engines don’t merely use links to crawl the web, discover, và index nội dung - they also use links to evaluate where a web page deserves khổng lồ be ranked within their results. In this context, it can help to think of each link you earn as being like a “vote” for the value of the page being linked to. It stands khổng lồ reason for Google lớn believe that if your page on hedgehogs has earned 500 links from sites across the web, & a competitor’s similar page has only earned 3, your page might be the better resource.


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In Google’s explanation of how they generate search engine results, shown above, they state that backlinks are one of the factors they take into consideration to determine how prominent a given page should be.

This ties in most closely with the “A” (authority) portion of Google’s E-E-A-T signals that they train their quality rater workforce khổng lồ evaluate in their job of analyzing the chất lượng of the tìm kiếm engine results. This concept of authority largely hinges on whether third tiệc ngọt publications recognize your page as an authoritative source, & they signal this by either linking to lớn or mentioning your publication.

For example, a gardening site, or site about wildlife linking to lớn a hedgehog mapping website tells Google that it considers this lớn be an authoritative resource on the subject at hand. The more often relevant sites liên kết to your published content, the better your chances of being displayed as an authoritative resource in Google’s tìm kiếm engine results. The quest, then, lớn earn lots of high quality backlinks from trusted websites has become a cornerstone of SEO work.

3. Liên kết as a source of competitive intelligence

Because backlinks are believed lớn play such a big role in how pages and websites rank in the search engine results pages (SERPs), it stands to lớn reason that being able khổng lồ find out who is linking to lớn your competitors could give you a sense of the sources you’ll need khổng lồ earn link from to cấp độ up or surpass the competition.

In general, what you’re looking for is link from high-quality publications that are relevant to yours. Is it easy khổng lồ see the relationship between a site or page? In the example we"ve been using through out this article it"s easy khổng lồ understand the relationship between a site or page that focuses on eco-friendly gardening and a second site or page that is explaining how to ensure you’re making a place in your garden for an endangered species, like hedgehogs. It would be less understandable if the hedgehog site had earned liên kết from an online shoe store, or a site devoted khổng lồ fashion, or cooking. In evaluating your competitors’ liên kết you’ll want khổng lồ consider whether all the liên kết they’ve earned are truly high quality, or if some of them are not so good & possibly even represent liên kết spam.

But in order lớn assess the state of your own link or your competitors’, you’ll need to lớn be able to look at them all in one place, và this brings us to lớn the subject of SEO tools.


Previously, you could simply use a command called a search operator by typing the phrase link: along with a URL into a Google’s tìm kiếm box khổng lồ see a danh mục of sites linking to the URL in question, but Google deprecated this function in 2017. Today, you have multiple options for seeing your own backlinks, lượt thích adding your site as a property to lớn Google tìm kiếm Console and then running a backlinks report, but it’s important lớn know that this miễn phí report will only include a sample of your backlinks and may represent old data instead of updated information about all your current backlinks. It doesn’t represent all the links you’ve earned và it doesn’t give you information about your competitors’ backlink profiles.

Because most site owners và SEOs will want more intelligence than this lớn help them with the goal of earning maximum SERP visibility,, excellent tools have been developed to offer more insight into many aspects of links and link building. Sign up for a không tính tiền trial of Moz Pro & get access to lớn multiple link-related features.

kinh doanh researcher và educator at cachseo.com. Mateusz has over 10 years of experience in kinh doanh gained in agencies, Saa
S và hardware businesses. When not writing, he"s composing music or enjoying long walks.

Backlinks are links from a page on one website khổng lồ another. Tìm kiếm engines lượt thích Google use liên kết as votes of confidence in ranking pages. They also help Google lớn discover new pages.

The best backlink are:

From relevant pages,… on authoritative sites,… have relevant anchor text,… are "followed,"… are prominently placed,… and point at a page worth ranking

Here are the four ways you can get backlinks:

Add backlinks. Submit your business khổng lồ directories to build backlinks manually.Ask for backlinks. Reach out to lớn site owners & ask them to link to your content.Earn backlinks. Have people discover your nội dung naturally and liên kết to you.Buy backlinks. Pay trang web owners money to địa chỉ cửa hàng your link.

Buying link is not something we recommend. It"s against Google"s guidelines & can get your site penalized.


This summary is not a substitute for reading the article in full, as you may miss out on important nuances.
Backlinks (aka inbound links, incoming links) are link from a page on one website to another. Tìm kiếm engines lượt thích Google use link as votes of confidence in ranking pages.
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New to links building? kiểm tra outour
Beginner’s guide to link building
Contents

How to check backlinks


There are two ways to kiểm tra a website’s links.

The first method only works for sites that you own. Use the second one to kiểm tra backlinks to lớn another trang web or webpage.

Checking links to your website

A basic tool for checking your website links is the miễn phí Google tìm kiếm Console.

Once signed in, click “Links” on the sidebar. The number below “External links” shows the total number of unique links to the website.

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Google tìm kiếm Console shows limited data in the ứng dụng (top 1,000 links) & won’t show you some useful SEO metrics you could use lớn analyze your backlinks. To lớn get more data for free, you can use cachseo.com Webmaster Tools.

Once you mix up a project, click on Backlinks in the dashboard.

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This will take you to lớn the Backlinks report in the Site Explorer tool. This report will show all your backlinks and relevant links data.

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Checking backlink to another website

You can start with a tool lượt thích cachseo.com’ free backlink checker.

Just enter a domain or URL, và hit “Check backlinks.” Try itbelow.


You’ll see the total number of backlinks & referring domains (links from chất lượng websites), plus the vị trí cao nhất 100 backlinks.

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To see a full các mục of links to any page or website, use cachseo.com’ Site Explorer. Let’s see how that would look for a competitor liên kết analysis since replicating competitor’s link is one of the most common links building tactic.

First, it’d be a good idea to let the tool find your organic competitors (sites that compete with you for the same keywords). This will uncover a comprehensive danh mục of competitors, some of which you might not have been aware of previously.

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Now, click on the caret next lớn your competitor’s tên miền to view all of their backlinks in the Backlink report. You may want to use the Best links filter khổng lồ show you liên kết that likely have the biggest impact on your competitor’s performance right off thegate.

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There is another way you can find & analyze competitors’ backlinks called Link intersect.

Instead of analyzing domains one by one, it analyzes them in bulk, showing shared liên kết (which is great for finding listicles lớn build liên kết from) and domains that liên kết to them but not khổng lồ you (links from previously unliked domains are likely to have a bigger impact).

To enter the report, select a few competitors from the Organic competitors report & click Open in liên kết intersect.

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By default, the report will show you links shared by your competitors. To lớn see the liên kết gap between you và them, click on Target and địa chỉ your domain to the lastfield.

You can find more tips about competitive backlink analysis in these two guides:


What makes a good backlink?


Not all link are created equal. Here are some of the many attributes that contribute khổng lồ a backlink’s quality and utility. You can use them to lớn analyze your links and link building opportunities khổng lồ find high-quality backlinks:

Authority
Relevance
Anchor text
Placement
Follow (aka dofollow links) vs. Nofollowlinks
Destination
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Let’s look at them in more detail.

Authority

Backlinks from strong website pages usually transfer more “authority” than weakones.

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We’ve studied page-level authority a few times, & we’ve found a clear relationship between it and organic search engine traffic.

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Sidenote.
URL Rating (UR) is cachseo.com’ page-level authority metric. It’s scored on a scale from 0 to100.

That said, liên kết from high-authority websites don’t always transfer more authority.

The more link there are on the page that link to you, the less authority will be transferred to you because it’s shared between all of those pages (due lớn the Page
Rank algorithm).It’s a
Google algorithm that ranks website pages in search results by evaluating the number and unique of liên kết to apage.

To illustrate the idea behind Page Rank, if you had two pages A and B, where A liên kết to two other pages và B link to four other pages, the quảng cáo flow would look likethis:

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You can gauge a backlink’s authority by using the UR metric in the Backlinks report in cachseo.com’ Site Explorer. (You can also find it in other cachseo.com tools where relevant.) The higher the UR, the better.

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Page authority vs. Domain authority

Don’t confuse page-level authority (UR in cachseo.com) with domain name authority (DR in cachseo.com). DR measures the relative strength of a site’s backlink profile compared khổng lồ every other site in their index. It is expressed in on a logarithmic scale of 0 - 100 (i.e., harder lớn go from 69 - 70 than 1 -10).

They may seem similar but the fact that one takes into trương mục a page và the other the entire site that the site belongs lớn makes a huge difference in link building. Since you Google ranks pages và not websites, it’s more important lớn focus on boosting the pages that you want lớn rank rather than achieving a higher authority score for thesite.

You can see the difference between those two types of authority in their correlation with organic traffic.

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So is tên miền authority something you should ignore then? Definitely not. Increasing DR means that your links profile is getting stronger in general which allows you lớn compete with more authoritative pages for keywords. Find out more about tên miền authority aka tên miền rating in this guide.


Relevance

Links from websites on the same topic as yours are deemed to bring more value. Google states this in its “How tìm kiếm Works” guide:

If other prominent websites on the subject link to the page, that’s a good sign that the information is of high quality.

Say a plumber has backlinks from two pages: one about cats, and one about installing boilers. Relevance in this context means that chances are the latter link is most valuable.

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Anchor text

Anchor text refers lớn the clickable words that size a backlink.

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Google says that văn bản đặt trong liên kết influences rankings in its original patent.

Google employs a number of techniques lớn improve tìm kiếm quality, including page rank, anchor text, và proximity information.

You can see the anchortext of any liên kết using a backlink analysis tool like Site Explorer.

Xem thêm: Backlinks là gì - cách lấy backlinks chất lượng từ vnexpress

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You can also filter for certain words in the anchor text.

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Placement

Because people are more likely to lớn click prominently placed links, some links on website pages likely pass more authority than others.

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Bill Slawski talks about this in his analysis of Google’s updated “reasonable surfer” patent:

If a liên kết is in the main content area of a page, uses a fonts and màu sắc that might make it stand out, and uses text that may make it something likely that someone might click upon it, then it could pass along a fair amount of Page
Rank. On the other hand, if it combines features that make it less likely khổng lồ be clicked upon, such as being in the footer of a page, in the same màu sắc text as the rest of the text on that page, & the same fonts type, & uses văn bản đặt trong liên kết that doesn’t interest people, it may not pass along a lot of Page
Rank.

Consider this when pursuing links. If a website link to you along with 50 other sites through the sidebar or the footer, then put your energy into other opportunities.

Something that can help you find link placed in nội dung (as opposed to less prominently placed links) is the “Backlink type” filter in Site Explorer’s Backlinks report.

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Follow vs. Nofollowlinks

Nofollow backlinks is a link attribute that instructs Google not lớn follow the link and serves as a hint not lớn pass authority (as of 2019).

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A followed link is a links that doesn’t have that attribute nor the “sponsored” or “UGC” attributes.

Because nofollow link usually don’t influence rankings, it’s best lớn prioritize getting followed links.

However, since “nofollow” is only a hint now, pursuing a nofollow links from a relevant high-authority page may still be a goodidea.

You can find these types of link using filters in Site Explorer’s Backlinks report.

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Destination

Because Google ranks pages và not entire websites, it’s best khổng lồ build liên kết pointing directly to the page that you want torank.

However, getting links to some page types is harder. For example, getting links to commercial pages is often difficult because people prefer linking khổng lồ informative content.

To address this, you can use internal link to pass authority from pages that get a lot of link to your important but “boring” pages.


Going for a few high-quality, relevant backlinks works way better for your rankings than chasing heaps of low-quality ones. Google phối up its system lượt thích this on purpose. If all link were equal, gaming the system would be a piece of cake, messing up Google’s ability lớn show us legit, useful results.

On the flip side, if junky link could drag down a page’s rank, that’d be a headache for Google too. It’d mean anyone could easily tank your site’s reputation with loads of spammy links. This was actually a big problem until 2016, when Google rolled out its Penguin 4.0 update, which basically made those spammy links a non-issue instead of a toxicmess.

But, every now and then, Google might still spot some fishy liên kết pointing your way, hinting at spam. If that happens, it’s key to sort it out. Here’s a handy guide on fixing that.


Generally, there are four ways lớn build backlink to yoursite:

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Adding backlinks

Some websites allow you to add a link either by manually submitting it or requesting khổng lồ submit it. It’s easy to lớn get a links this way, but it’s not always worth it. They can be low in value in the eyes of Google or even deemed spammy if you overdo it.

One of the most common (and legit) tactics here is to showroom your website lớn relevant local directories. They can help you rank for queries with local intent và get your business discovered by customers too.

For example, you could bởi a links intersect analysis lớn find directories that rank khổng lồ your competitors but not to you. Here’s how the process would look lượt thích in cachseo.com.

Go lớn cachseo.com’ Competitive Analysis tool.Select the “referring domains” mode.Enter your site in the “Not linking to lớn target” field.Enter the sites of a few competing businesses in the “But linking to lớn these competitors” fields.Hit “Show link opportunities”.
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Eyeball this các mục for sites that look lượt thích relevant directories and add your site tothem.

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Asking for backlinks

This is when you reach out lớn other site owners, editors, or webmasters & ask them to liên kết to your page. For this lớn work, you need lớn have a clear value proposition. That’s where links building tactics comein.

Here are a few tried và tested ones:

For example, here’s the process of finding guest blogging prospects in a nutshell.

Enter a related topic & change the dropdown lớn “Intitle”.Filter for English results.Filter for results with 500+words.Go to the “Websites” tab.
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This shows you the websites getting the most tìm kiếm traffic to nội dung about your target topic. From here, look at the Authors & find sites with multiple authors, as this suggests that they may accept guestposts.

The final step is outreach — a message lớn the person in charge with a pitch of your article idea, typically sent via thư điện tử or Linked
In.

If you have only few prospects, invest some time in crafting a fully personalized message. But if you have a big danh sách of contacts, use a more scalable approach with a template and a few personalization touches (aka the scoped shotgun approach) .


Earning backlinks

This is when people discover your nội dung via Google (and other search engines), social media, or word of mouth & choose to links to your page. In other words, earned links are organic.

You can improve your chances of earning more links by creating truly useful content that people should want to linkto.

You should definitely promote your content too. The more people you reach, the more links you canget.

The type of content with the specific aim lớn earn liên kết is called link bait content. It’s something so valuable & interesting that bloggers and journalists want to links toit.

Practical tools like calculators or guides, opinionated takes on topics, emotionally charged stories, visually appealing content, news-relevant articles, và engaging narratives enhance the chances of being linked.

But honestly, there is no one type of effective liên kết bait — it all depends on your creativity. On the on side of spectrum, you have meticulous data studies with high educational value lượt thích our study of pages that get no traffic from Google.

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This study earned 5.7k liên kết from 2.9k referring domains.

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On the other side, you have liên kết bait created mostly for entertainment. Take a site lượt thích Bored Panda or Upworthy and run them through cachseo.com to lớn see the kind of topics that earns hundreds oflinks.

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Despite the breadth of various links bait forms, we were able khổng lồ distill some best practices for this type of content. Effective link bait is at least one of those things:

Practical: design nội dung that provides immediate utility, like tools, how-to guides, & templates, which are directly applicable và useful to lớn the audience.Opinionated: Develop content that presents a strong, chất lượng viewpoint or tackles a common issue in an unconventional way, thereby sparking discussion và engagement.Emotional: Craft content that resonates emotionally, whether through inspirational stories, humor, or controversy, to connect on a human level & encourage sharing.Visual: incorporate compelling visuals, infographics, or video content that not only catches the eye but also simplifies complex information, making the content more digestible & shareable.Newsworthy: leverage current events or trending topics by creating nội dung that adds value khổng lồ ongoing conversations, which can attract attention from news outlets và bloggers.Storied: utilize storytelling lớn make abstract or dry topics more relatable and engaging, using narratives to frame your message in a way that is memorable & impactful.Link-researched: analyze successful nội dung within your niche to understand why people liên kết to it & incorporate those elements into your own content to increase its linkability.
Basically, when pursuing backlinks, avoid anything that looks low-quality, spammy, or lượt thích an obvious liên kết scheme (links in exchange for something).

Bad liên kết will be a waste of time because tìm kiếm engine algorithms are quite sophisticated. In the best-case scenario, they won’t have any impact on your rankings. At worst, they may make your pages rank lower on Google or even not appear at all.

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Here are some types of bad liên kết you should definitely avoid:

PBNs – Multiple sites linking together in order lớn manipulate search engines.Paid links – Exchanging money, goods, or services in return for link for ranking purposes.Link exchanges – Linking lớn a site in exchange for that site also linking toyours.Automated links – Use of automated software or services to lớn generate large volumes of liên kết to asite.Forum and bình luận spam links – Adding spam liên kết in forums as part of signatures.
Let’s wrap this up with a quick cheat sheet of backlink types and their impact on SEO. Keep in mind, this is a generalization. Use it as a rule of thumb for identifying potentially good and bad backlink but always evaluate each one with the six traits of a good liên kết discussed earlier.

Editorial backlinks: achieved by being cited as an authoritative source within content. These links, if from high-authority sites, not only boost SEO but can also drive significant referral traffic.Guest blogging backlinks: common yet effective, especially when created through personal outreach rather than outsourcing. These link come from authoring nội dung on sites you don’t own, benefiting both parties with unique backlinks & content.Relationship-based backlinks: stem from nurturing connections with journalists or website administrators who’ve previously linked to lớn you. They’re built over time and can be highly rewarding.Backlinks in business profiles: creating profiles on reputable business listing sites can establish your site as a credible entity in yourfield.Backlinks from public speaking: speaking at events can earn liên kết from event organizers’ websites, showcasing your expertise & authority.Embedded asset links: these include tools, widgets, awards, và badges embedded on other sites, linking back lớn yours. It’s a creative way to lớn gain continuous link with minimal effort.Link schemes (avoid): any unnatural link designed to manipulate tìm kiếm rankings can lead to lớn penalties. This includes buying links, excessive link exchanges, and using private blog networks (PBNs).Automated links (avoid): link generated through automated software, often part of đen hat SEO tactics, should be avoided as they can harm your site’s credibility.Low-quality or irrelevant directory links (avoid): mass creation of business profiles on low-quality directories is seen as spammy by search engines.Low-quality diễn đàn backlinks (avoid): spamming forums with liên kết or participating in non-genuine discussions for the sake of link is ineffective and can damage your
SEO.