What Is a Backlink?
A backlink is a hyperlink on a website that points to a web page on another site and is a key ranking factor for off-site search engine optimization. Backlinks are also known as inbound links or incoming links.
Backlinks are considered to be an endorsement of the content that’s being linked to on a website from other domains. This vote of confidence means other site owners are vouching for the expertise, authority, and trust of the target URL as long as the backlink is a dofollow link.
Dofollow backlinks transfer PageRank authority (i.e., link equity) from the origin page to the linked URL. Nofollow links tagged with the rel=”nofollow” attribute, on the other hand, may not pass any link equity to the target web page. That’s because the nofollow tag informs search engine spiders not to crawl the hyperlink or pass any link equity to the target page. However, in 2019, Google changed its algorithm system so that nofollow attributes are now considered to be a hint and not a directive.
Learn More About Backlinks
The links below explain more about backlinks and how to use them correctly for better search engine optimization. Use these resources to expand your knowledge beyond the basic backlink definition.
- Why Are Backlinks Important for SEO?
- How Do Backlinks Work for SEO?
- Types of Backlinks In SEO
- How to Get Backlinks for SEO
- Best Backlink Checker Tools for SEO
- Backlinks vs Referring Domains
- Backlinks In SEO (Complete Guide)
Visit the SEO Glossary
Go to the SEO Glossary to find more terms and definitions that relate to the field of search engine optimization.
The Editorial Staff at SEO Chatter is a team of search engine optimization and digital marketing experts led by Stephen Hockman with more than 15 years of experience in search engine marketing. We publish guides on the fundamentals of SEO for beginner marketers.
