How to get backlinks: what makes a link count, and how to earn the ones that do

Links are how the web was originally navigated and they’re still how search engines understand which pages are worth trusting. Every link is one site vouching, in public, for another.

The mechanism is simple. Almost everything written about it isn’t, mostly because, in my view, a large industry has an interest in making it sound harder than it is.

What are backlinks?

Backlinks are links from another website to yours. In SEO they work as public votes of confidence: Google uses them to find your pages and to judge how far to trust them, and the value of each one depends on where it sits, what it says and which rel value it carries.

A backlink is a link from someone else’s site to yours. That’s the whole definition. What varies — enormously — is how much any given one is worth.

Three parts of the link tag decide most of it:

• The destination. Which page receives the value. A link to your homepage helps your homepage; a link to the guide you actually want ranking helps the guide.
• The anchor text. The clickable words. This tells Google what the destination is about, which is why “read the full guide to technical SEO” is more useful than “click here” — and why a hundred links all reading “cheap seo services” looks obviously bought.
• The rel attribute. nofollow and sponsored tell Google to discount the link. A normal editorial link has no rel at all and passes value by default.

Google documents a third value, ugc, alongside those two. Its page on how to qualify your outbound links recommends sponsored for “advertisements or paid placements”, ugc for “user-generated content (UGC) links, such as comments and forum posts”, and nofollow “when other values don’t apply”.

Values can be combined, as in rel="ugc nofollow". If a link to you sits in a comment or a forum post, expect it to carry ugc and to be weighed accordingly.

What is the difference between internal links and backlinks?

Internal links point from one page on your own site to another, while backlinks come from other sites. You control internal links completely and have to earn backlinks. Google’s link guidance says every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site.

That line is from Google’s link best practices, and it’s the half of linking most small sites neglect. A backlink lands on one page.

Internal links are how you pass some of that attention on, so when a guide earns links, I’d link from it to the service page you want ranking. A page nothing links to (an orphan) gets none of it, and may not be found at all.

Finding orphans and weak internal linking is a standard part of an SEO audit, and it costs nothing to fix compared with earning a single new backlink.

Why the citation comparison is the right one

Google’s original insight was that academic papers rank each other by citation. A paper cited by many respected papers is probably important. A paper cited only by its own author is probably not.

Links work the same way, with the same failure modes. Which is why the two questions Google asks about a link are the two a journal editor would ask: is the source credible, and is it credible about this specific subject.

What makes a good backlink?

A good backlink comes from a real site on the same or an adjacent subject, sits in the body of a page people read, uses natural anchor text, and was given by choice rather than paid for. A link that fails those tests can count for nothing, however high the linking site’s authority score.

How do you get backlinks?

You get backlinks by giving other site owners a reason to link that serves them: something worth citing, a fix for a broken page, a quote for a story, or a listing on a site you already have a relationship with. These nine link building strategies all work that way.

None of these are secrets. They’re all just work, which I think is why they continue to function.

1. Build something worth citing first. Original data from your own work, a better guide than the one currently ranking, a free tool or a calculator. Outreach with nothing behind it’s just asking strangers for a favour. How to do it: pick one question your customers ask that nobody answers with real numbers, and answer it with yours. If you’d rather not build it yourself, that’s what my SEO content service is for.
2. Chase unlinked mentions. Search for your brand name in quotes while excluding your own site ("your brand" -site:yourdomain.com), and set a Google Alert for the name so new mentions come to you. Every page that names you without linking is a one-line email. It converts better than any other outreach, because the writer already decided you were worth naming.
3. Broken link building. Find a dead page in your subject that other sites still link to. A backlink tool’s broken-links report finds these at scale, and a browser extension that highlights 404s works page by page. Make sure you have a page that properly replaces it, then tell each linking site the link is broken and offer yours as the fix.
4. Digital PR. Give journalists something they can’t write without you: expert comment on a story they’re already covering, or a small dataset nobody else has. Pitch the story, not the link. If the piece names you without linking, it goes on your unlinked-mentions list.
5. Guest posts on real publications. Pitch a specific article to a site your customers already read, write it properly, and take one link where it helps the reader, usually the author bio. The test: would you be pleased to be published there if the link were nofollow? Paying for the post turns it into an advertorial, which Google’s link-spam policy treats as a violation when the link passes ranking credit.
6. Resource pages. Search for curated lists in your topic, for example intitle:resources or "useful links" alongside your subject. If your page belongs on the list, email the curator with the one sentence that says why. Slower and lower volume, but the relevance is usually perfect.
7. Suppliers and manufacturers. Many brands run “where to buy”, stockist or approved-installer pages. If you sell or fit their products, ask to be listed.
8. Partners, clients and associations. Businesses you work alongside, trade bodies you’re a member of, local business groups, events you sponsor. You often already qualify for a member directory or partner page and have never asked. Keep it to real relationships: Google’s spam policy names “partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking”.
9. Directories that matter. The ones your customers actually use to find a business like yours: your trade body’s find-a-member search, the review platforms in your industry, local chamber or council listings. Skip the “submit to hundreds of directories” packages, because “low-quality directory or bookmark site links” are on the same spam list.

The common structure is that each one gives the other person a reason to say yes that’s about them, not about you. Outreach that fails almost always fails because it only explains why the link helps the sender.

What should a link outreach email say?

A link outreach email should say who you are, point to the exact page you mean, and give one reason the link helps their reader. Send it to a named person, keep it short enough to read on a phone, and follow up once at most.

Here’s the kind I’d send for an unlinked mention:

It names the page, makes the ask once, and gives a reason that’s about their reader. “Either way” takes the pressure off.

It leaves out flattery about their blog, any offer of a link swap, and any offer of payment, because the last two turn a clean request into a link scheme. If there’s no reply after a week, I’d send one short follow-up, then leave it.

Should you buy backlinks?

No, not links that pass ranking credit. Google’s link-spam policy lists “exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links” as a violation, along with swapping goods or services for links and sending someone a product in exchange for a linked write-up. Paid links are allowed only when marked rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".

Paying for visibility is fine. Sponsoring a local event, paying for a directory listing or running an advertorial all send real visitors, as long as the link is qualified.

What you’re not allowed to buy is the ranking credit. A seller who promises “dofollow” links when you buy backlinks is selling exactly the thing the policy bans, and the risk sits with your site, not theirs.

Which link building tactics should you avoid?

Avoid any link whose main purpose is to move rankings rather than help a reader: paid links without rel="sponsored", private blog networks, bulk directory submissions, link exchanges at scale, and comment or forum spam. Google names these patterns in its spam policies, and a detected scheme can end in a manual action.

The unifying thread is manipulation. Google’s position is straightforward: if the main purpose of a link is to influence rankings rather than to help a reader, it doesn’t want to count it.

The policy defines link spam as “creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings”. Among its examples:

• “Using automated programs or services to create links to your site”
• “Requiring a link as part of a Terms of Service, contract, or similar arrangement without allowing a third-party content owner the choice of qualifying the outbound link”
• “Keyword-rich, hidden, or low-quality links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites”
• “Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites”
• “Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature”

The same page says it isn’t a violation to have such links “as long as they are qualified with a rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" attribute value”.

What makes this different from other SEO mistakes is the asymmetry. Thin content wastes your time.

A detected link scheme can cost you a manual action, and recovering from one takes months of disavowing and reconsideration requests to get back to where you started. The downside isn’t “it did not work” — it is “you are now behind where you began”.

Figure

Paid or user-added links are allowed, as long as they’re marked

1. Were you paid, or given something, for the link?rel="sponsored"
2. Was it added by a user (a comment, a forum post)?rel="ugc"
3. None of those, but you’d rather not vouch for the page?rel="nofollow"
4. None of the above: an editorial link you’d stand behindno rel needed

Free tool · Is this link worth getting?

Reset

Check a link before you chase it

Are you paying, swapping goods or services, or sending a free product for it?YesNo

Is it part of a “link to me and I’ll link to you” arrangement?YesNo

Is it a low-quality directory or bookmark site?YesNo

Is it in a widget, footer or template that appears across many sites?YesNo

Will the link carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow"?YesNo

Is the site on the same or a neighbouring subject to yours?YesNo

Is the link in the body of an article, not a sidebar, footer or comment?YesNo

Would you want this link even if search engines didn’t exist?YesNo

Answer what you can

You’ll get one of three verdicts: earn it, fine if it’s marked, or avoid.

Quotes are from Google’s spam policies and guidance on qualifying links.

How do you check your backlinks for free?

Google Search Console’s Links report is the free way to check your backlinks. It shows your top linked pages, top linking sites and top linking text. Google says it’s a sample rather than every link, and its tables stop at 1,000 rows.

Open Search Console and choose Links from the menu. Google’s Links report help page explains the rest: data is grouped by root domain, duplicate links are combined, and the landing page lets you export “latest links” or “more sample links”, up to 100,000 rows each, as CSV or Google Sheets.

For a second view, Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for sites you verify and shows up to 1,000 backlinks at a time.

I’d read the top linking text table first. If most of it’s your exact target keyword rather than your brand name, that’s the engineered pattern described above.

Paid link building tools earn their cost on the other side: they show your competitors’ backlinks, which is where broken-link and guest-post prospects come from.

How to tell whether any of it is working

Four numbers, in rough order of usefulness:

• Referring domains, not total links. Fifty links from one site is one vote, repeated. Growth here’s the honest measure.
• Rankings for the pages you linked to. Links are a means. If the target pages aren’t moving, the links aren’t doing their job regardless of how many arrived.
• Referral traffic. Real people clicking through. A link that sends visitors is doing two jobs and is almost certainly a good link.
• Lost links. Pages get rewritten and links vanish. A profile that gains twenty and loses eighteen a month isn’t growing, and only shows up if you track it.

Are backlinks still important in 2026?

Yes. Google’s own link documentation still opens by saying it uses links “as a signal when determining the relevancy of pages and to find new pages to crawl”. Backlinks come third, though, after a site Google can crawl and pages that deserve to rank.

Links matter, and they aren’t first. A site Google can’t crawl properly won’t benefit from them, and a page that doesn’t answer the query won’t hold a ranking that links won it.

The order I’d work in is: fix the technical foundations, build pages that deserve to rank using proper keyword research, then earn links to the pages worth pointing at. Doing it in the other order is how people spend a lot of money on links to a page that was never going to convert anyone.

Common questions

How many backlinks do I need to rank?

There's no number, and anyone quoting one is guessing. What matters is how many distinct sites link to you relative to whoever currently ranks for your target term — and how relevant and trusted those sites are. Ten links from real, relevant sites will beat a thousand from directories every time.

How long does link building take to work?

Individual links can move a page within weeks once Google recrawls the linking page. The compounding effect takes months. It's the slowest part of SEO and the hardest to shortcut, which is precisely why it still differentiates.

Do nofollow links have any value?

Not directly for ranking — Google treats rel=nofollow and rel=sponsored as hints to discount. They still send real visitors, still build brand awareness, and a natural link profile contains plenty of them. A profile made entirely of dofollow editorial links looks manufactured, because it is.

What is anchor text and how should I use it?

The clickable words in a link. It tells Google what the destination page is about, so descriptive beats 'click here'. But a profile where most anchors are your exact target keyword looks engineered — real links use your brand name, the page title, or a fragment of a sentence. Variety is the natural state.

What is the difference between a link and a mention?

A mention names you without linking. It carries some value as a brand signal, but it doesn't pass authority. Finding unlinked mentions and asking politely for a link is one of the highest-conversion outreach jobs there is — the person already thought you were worth naming.