A link from one website to a page on another website — in SEO terms, a link pointing to your site from an external domain.
Why it matters
Search engines treat backlinks, especially from reputable, relevant sites, as a signal of trust and authority. A page with many high-quality backlinks tends to rank better than an equivalent page with few or none, all else being equal.
In a sentence
"The guide earned a lot of backlinks after an industry newsletter linked to it, which noticeably helped its ranking."
Related terms
- Antonyms: Outbound link (a link going out from your site to another, the reverse direction of a backlink).
- Often confused with: Internal link (a backlink comes from an external site; an internal link connects two pages within the same site).
- Synonyms: Inbound link.