Internet Marketing Glossary

Definition: Backlink

A backlink is simply a link from one website to another. For example, if website X links to your website, your site would be said to have a backlink from site X. Backlinks are also known as incoming links or inbound links.

Backlinks are the major foundation of all modern search engine algorithms. The more you have, the better off you will be, as long as they come from good link neighborhoods. Conversely, lots of backlinks from websites in undesdirable link neighborhoods will not help your website at all, and will cause your site to be viewed as a resident of those bad link neighborhoods, lowering its rankings.

If you want the search engines to think well of you, do not submit your website to linking schemes that simply promise large numbers of links. Instead, do your research and only seek backlinks from qualified (i.e., content-rich, authoritative) websites.

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