What Are Backlinks and How to Earn Them

Written by Zach West

September 17, 2026

What are backlinks? A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Inbound links like these matter because they drive rankings. Put simply, they are votes of confidence from other sites. If a business blog links to your article, that is a backlink. If a directory lists your business with a link to your site, that is one too. Links from other sites are one of the most important ranking factors for search engines, and they are also one of the most misunderstood. Many businesses have no strategy for earning them and wonder why they do not rank. Others chase links desperately, sometimes with tactics that harm their site. Knowing what these links are, why they matter, and how to earn good ones helps you build authority and visibility. This guide covers the strategy.

Why do search engines trust backlinks?

Search engines use backlinks as a signal of authority. Each one works as a vote from one site to another. If many reputable sites link to you, the search engine assumes you are reputable too. A link from the New York Times to your article is much more valuable than a link from a random blog. The algorithm reasons that sites would not link to you unless you had something worth linking to. This is why inbound links remain one of the top ranking factors decades after they were introduced. The better the linking site, the more valuable the link.

What makes a backlink valuable?

A backlink from a relevant, authoritative site in your industry is far more valuable than one from an unrelated, low-authority site. A link from a site with 100,000 visitors is worth more than a link from a site with 100 visitors. A link in the main content of an article is worth more than a link buried in the footer. Descriptive link text (the anchor text) helps more than a generic “click here” because it tells readers and Google what your page is about, as Google’s link guidance explains. But let the linking site write it in its own words. Asking for your exact target keyword in every link can backfire: Google’s spam policies list links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases as link spam. A good backlink strategy focuses on quality over quantity.

How do you earn backlinks naturally?

The best links come naturally when you create something worth linking to. Write an original study or research that no one has done before. Create a comprehensive guide that becomes the definitive resource in your field. Publish data or insights that other people want to reference and link to. Create tools that are useful and people link to for reference. These approaches take time but produce high-quality links that stick around and do not trigger spam filters.

How can you build backlinks actively?

Reach out to relevant sites and suggest your content as a resource, rather than only waiting for natural links. Comment on industry blogs and link to your relevant content when appropriate. Get mentioned in podcasts and interviews, and ask for links. Build relationships with journalists and bloggers in your space; they might link to you when writing relevant articles. Create original content on other platforms and link back to your site. These tactics require effort but work.

Which backlink tactics should you avoid?

Some tactics harm more than they help, starting with buying links, which violates search engine guidelines and can get your site penalized. Trading links with unrelated sites looks suspicious. Submitting your site to directories with poor reputations adds low-quality links. Commenting on blogs just to leave a link without contributing feels spammy. Using automated tools to blast links across the web triggers spam detection. These tactics might temporarily boost rankings but eventually harm your site.

How do you monitor your backlinks?

Use tools like Moz or similar services to track your inbound links. See which sites link to you, where traffic comes from, and which links have the most authority. This monitoring helps you understand which link sources are valuable and which are dragging down your profile. Most sites do not need Google’s disavow tool, because Google can usually tell which links to trust. Google advises disavowing links only when many spammy or artificial links have caused a manual action (a penalty applied after human review) against your site, or likely will, and you cannot get them removed.

Do backlinks keep their value over time?

Yes: a quality backlink keeps passing authority for as long as it stays live, which makes link building one of the more durable investments in SEO.

Frequently asked questions