Digital marketing glossary

What is a backlink?

Written and reviewed by L.K. Monu Borkala · Updated 7 November 2026

Definition

A backlink is a link on another website that points to a page on your website. Search engines treat a link from a relevant, trusted site as a sign that your page is useful, so good backlinks can help your pages rank. They also send real visitors who click through from that other site.

How it works

Google discovers pages by following links, and it uses links as one of many signals of how important and trustworthy a page is. Not every link counts the same. A link from a well-known local newspaper or an industry association carries more weight than one from an unknown directory. The clickable words, called anchor text, give context about the page being linked. Links that are paid for or part of a sponsorship should carry rel='sponsored', and links a site does not vouch for can use rel='nofollow'. Buying links to manipulate rankings breaks Google's spam policies, so the safe route is to earn them.

Example

Think of a coworking space in Hyderabad that hosts a free monthly meetup for startup founders. A local tech news site covers the event and links to the space's events page, and the city's startup association lists it as a venue partner with a link. These two earned links send visitors directly and tell Google the site is part of the local startup scene. Compare that with paying ₹2,000 for fifty links from unrelated blogs, which can do more harm than good.

An illustration: the business and the rupee figures are made up to show how the idea works.

Common mistake

Buying bulk backlink packages or swapping links with any site that asks. Google's spam policies call these link schemes, and Google can ignore those links or take manual action against the site. Focus on earning a few links from relevant, real websites: local press, partners, suppliers, associations, and useful content that people want to cite.