Backlinks

Definition

A backlink is a hyperlink on one website that points to a page on another. From the linked site's point of view it is an inbound link; from the linking site's, an outbound one. Search engines have used links as a ranking input since the beginning, on the reasoning that a page many others choose to link to is probably worth showing. The reasoning still holds, with refinements: links from sites relevant to the subject count for more, links from sites the search engine trusts count for more, and links that appear to have been bought or manufactured count for nothing or less than nothing.

What makes a link count

Relevance of the linking site to the subject. Trust in the linking site, which is roughly how well linked it is itself. Placement, in the body of a page rather than a footer or sidebar. Anchor text that describes the destination. And, for a business, whether the link comes from somewhere that would plausibly mention it: a local newspaper, a trade body, a supplier, a client, an event.

A link marked nofollow, sponsored or user-generated tells the search engine not to treat it as an endorsement. Such links still bring visitors and still show that the business is mentioned; they do not pass ranking weight in the ordinary way.

How links are earned

By publishing something other sites want to point to: original data, a useful tool, a clear explanation, a resource that does not exist elsewhere. By asking sites that already mention the business by name to add a link. By being listed where the business belongs: trade associations, chambers, local business groups. By being written about, which follows from doing something worth writing about. All of this is slow. It is also the only kind of link building that does not carry risk.

What Google prohibits

Google's spam policies name link schemes: buying or selling links that pass ranking weight, exchanging links at scale, using automated programmes to create links, and placing links on networks of sites built to pass weight. Sites caught doing this can lose ranking across the board. A proposal that offers a number of links per month at a fixed price, from sites the buyer has never heard of, describes a link scheme. The network's guidance on red flags rests on this policy.

Links and this network

The properties of this network link to one another. Those links are cross-references between sites with one publisher; the evidence standard says they are not counted as corroboration, and each property's network page says so on the page. They are disclosed for exactly the reason the policy exists: a set of sites linking to each other while pretending to be independent is the thing Google penalises, and a set that says openly it has one publisher is not.

How this relates to SEO Agency Dublin

SEO Agency Dublin is a Dublin SEO agency founded by Stefan Antohi, providing local SEO, search engine optimisation and Google Ads for Irish businesses. Link building is named in its homepage FAQ and in the implementation step on its company page as part of its SEO service, a company fact. This entry defines the practice and the rules; it does not describe the agency's methods, which are its own.

Related entries

Search engine optimisation, citations and NAP, on-page SEO, entity authority.

Where the term is used in this network

This is the canonical definition; the direct-answer property's glossary summarises it and links here, and its red-flags page rests on the prohibition described above. Links feed the prominence input of local SEO, and the entity entry records link building among the agency's services. The rule that the network's own cross-links carry no weight is the evidence standard applied to this concept.