Backlink
A link from one website pointing to another, used by search engines as a vote of authority and relevance.
Full definition
Backlinks are one of the most important ranking signals in Google's algorithm. A backlink from a high-authority, relevant domain signals to search engines that your content is trustworthy. Not all backlinks are equal — links from topically relevant, high-domain-authority sites carry far more weight than links from low-quality or unrelated pages. Tactics to earn backlinks include digital PR, guest posting, broken link building, and creating link-worthy assets (studies, tools, original data). Google's Penguin algorithm penalises manipulative link schemes, so the quality and natural acquisition of links matters more than quantity.
Real-world example
A fintech startup earns a backlink from Forbes after being quoted in an article about cryptocurrency trends, causing their target keyword to jump from position 14 to position 4.
Related terms
A third-party metric (developed by Moz) that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search results, scored 1–100.
Read definitionThe page displayed by a search engine in response to a query, containing organic results, ads, and features like Local Pack and Knowledge Graph.
Read definitionExperience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — Google's quality framework for evaluating content.
Read definitionAn HTML tag that tells search engines which version of a duplicate or similar page is the preferred one to index.
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