Backlink

A backlink (or inbound link) is a link another website places pointing to a page on yours. Search engines treat them as recommendations: when relevant, trustworthy sites link to you, they infer your content is worth trusting, which helps it rank. It is one of the pillars of off-page SEO ✕ SEO (search engine optimization) covers all the measures that get a website to appear higher in Google's unpaid results and thereby attract more visitors. More in the glossary → . Quality matters far more than quantity — a single link from a respected outlet in your field is worth more than dozens from dubious sites. Buying links or piling them up artificially can trigger penalties, so the healthy route is to earn them through good content, mentions and relationships. A natural, varied link profile signals a site with real authority.