What is a backlink?

A backlink is a reference to your website from another website. Previously, collecting backlinks – also called link building – was one of the most important SEO techniques on the basis of which Google assessed the value of a website. Nowadays the relevance of backlinks is more important than the number. Relevant backlinks:

• From websites with related information
• are linked to the correct anchor texts
• lead to a web page with relevant information

Why is a backlink valuable?

Google uses a backlink to estimate the value and popularity of your web page. Google reasons as follows: the more relevant backlinks your web page has, the more valuable this content will be to people searching for the same content.

Relevance

Previously, a large number of backlinks were considered positive by Google. The idea was: Many backlinks to a web page means that many people find the web page interesting. This line of thinking was quickly abused. Many companies developed websites with the sole purpose of providing backlinks. This way of search engine optimization is now punished by Google. This falls under black hat seo.

Google still attaches great importance to relevant backlinks. Relevant backlinks come from a web page that has something to do with your topic. For example, if your web page is about ‘knitted socks’, Google will not value a link from a page about gardening, but it will value a link from a page about knitting techniques.

In addition, relevance is also determined by the term – also called anchor text – that contains the backlink.