What Are Backlinks? How They Work and Why They Matter

What are backlinks? A backlink is a link on another website that points to yours. When a local newspaper, a supplier or an industry association links to your site, that’s a backlink. Google treats good backlinks as a sign that other people trust and value your content, so they help your pages rank, and they can send visitors your way directly.

If you’ve searched “what is backlinks” and found a wall of jargon, this guide keeps it plain: how they work, what makes a good one, and how to earn and check them.

What is a backlink in SEO?

In SEO, a backlink is any link from an outside website to a page on your site. Links between your own pages are internal links; links from your site to others are outbound links. So what are backlinks in SEO terms? They’re a large part of how Google judges which pages are well known and trusted on a topic, which Google calls prominence in local search and treats as one signal among many in regular search.

How do backlinks work?

Google finds pages by following links, and it uses links to understand how pages relate to each other. A link from a relevant, trusted site works like a recommendation. Understanding how backlinks work comes down to three things:

• Relevance. A link from a site about your industry or your town means more than a link from an unrelated site.
• Trust. A link from a well-known organisation (a council, a newspaper, an association) carries more weight than one from a brand new blog.
• Context. A link placed naturally in useful content, with descriptive text, is worth more than a link buried in a footer or a long list.

Backlinks for SEO are about quality, not volume. One link from your regional newspaper can do more than dozens from low-quality directories.

What makes a good backlink?

• It comes from a real website with real readers.
• The site is relevant to your business, industry or area.
• The link sits in genuine content and uses clear, natural link text (your business name or a short description, not “click here”).
• It was earned, not bought. Google’s spam policies treat buying links, large-scale link swaps and links made only to manipulate rankings as link spam.

How do you get backlinks?

The best backlinks come from real relationships and useful content:

• Local organisations: clubs and events you sponsor, your chamber of commerce or business association.
• Suppliers and partners: many list their stockists, installers or partners with a link.
• Industry bodies and directories that genuinely serve your industry.
• Local and trade media, when you have real news to share.
• Guest articles for relevant websites, written to help their readers.
• Useful content on your own site, such as guides and tools, that people want to reference.

Our link building service focuses on earned links like these. We don’t buy or sell links.

What are nofollow backlinks?

Not every link passes the same value. Site owners can add a “rel” attribute to a link to tell Google how to treat it. Since Google expanded its link attributes in 2019, there are three:

• rel=“sponsored” for paid links, advertising and sponsorships
• rel=“ugc” for links in user-generated content, such as comments and forum posts
• rel=“nofollow” for other links a site doesn’t want to vouch for

Google treats all three as hints about which links to count, rather than strict rules. On your own site, mark any paid or sponsored link as sponsored. You don’t need to go back and change old nofollow links: Google’s announcement says existing nofollows are fine. And a nofollow backlink from a relevant site can still send you visitors, even if it passes little ranking value.

How do you check how many backlinks a site has?

For your own site, the free Links report in Google Search Console shows your top linking sites and most-linked pages. To find out how many backlinks another site has, use a third-party tool such as Semrush, Ahrefs or Moz Link Explorer. Their counts are estimates and won’t match each other exactly, so compare trends rather than single numbers.

How do you remove bad backlinks?

Most low-quality links do no harm, because Google simply ignores them. If you find genuinely spammy links you’re worried about, start by asking the site owner to remove them. If that fails and the links are a real problem, you can disavow them.

How to disavow backlinks

Google’s disavow links tool lets you ask Google to ignore specific links or whole domains. Google says most sites will not need it, and that you should only disavow if you have a considerable number of spammy, artificial or low-quality links and they have caused, or are likely to cause, a manual action. Disavowing good links by mistake can hurt you, so get advice if you’re unsure.

Frequently asked questions

How many backlinks is good for a small business?

There is no magic number. A local business can rank well with a few dozen relevant, trustworthy links, while a national site in a competitive industry may need far more. Compare yourself with the businesses ranking above you for your main searches, and focus on earning a steady flow of quality links rather than a target count.

How long do backlinks take to work?

Usually weeks to months. Google has to find the linking page, crawl it and take the link into account, and one link rarely moves rankings on its own. Think of backlinks as building up over time alongside good content and on-page SEO. Our article on how long SEO takes explains the wider timeline.

Should you disavow toxic backlinks?

Usually not. Some SEO tools label links “toxic” automatically, but Google already ignores most spammy links. Disavow only when you have a large number of artificial links, for example from an old paid link scheme, and they have led or could lead to a manual action in Search Console.

Do backlinks still matter in 2026?

Yes. Links remain one of the ways Google discovers pages and judges which are trusted, and they help AI-driven search features find credible sources too. What has changed is that quality matters far more than quantity, and manipulative link building is more likely to be ignored or penalised.

The short version

Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. Good ones are relevant, trusted and earned, and they help you rank and bring visitors. Check yours in Search Console, earn new ones through real relationships, and leave disavowing for genuine problems. If you’d like help, our link building and SEO teams can take it from here.