Backlinks
Links from other websites pointing to your site. A major ranking factor.
1 min readLast updated Apr 2026
Quick Reference
CategorySEO for Ecommerce
Related Terms1
Links from other websites pointing to your site. A major ranking factor.
Why It Matters
Backlinks remain the strongest ranking factor. They're Google's 'vote of confidence'—other sites linking to you signals authority and trustworthiness. The quality and quantity of your backlink profile often determines whether you rank page 1 or page 10.
Practical Example
Scenario
A home goods brand compares their backlink profile to the competitor ranking above them.
Calculation
Competitor: 450 referring domains, DR 65 average. Your site: 180 referring domains, DR 48 average. Gap: need ~270 more quality links.Result
After 12 months of digital PR and content marketing, they reach 420 referring domains—and overtake the competitor for their primary keywords.
Pro Tips
- 1Quality over quantity: 10 links from authoritative sites beat 1,000 from spam
- 2Create linkable assets: original research, tools, comprehensive guides
- 3Digital PR: get featured in industry publications, news sites, podcasts
- 4Monitor competitor backlinks—replicate their best links
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Buying cheap links from link farms (will get you penalized)
Ignoring internal linking (free link equity distribution)
Only tracking total links, not link quality and relevance