What is a backlink?

A backlink is a link from another website to your website. For example, when another organization mentions you in a blog or other webpage and includes a link to your website.

What Google reads from a backlink

A backlink is a reference to your website and is read by Google. Google extracts three things from the link:

1. The anchor text used by the website to link to your website.
2. The page to which the link refers—where the reader lands on your website.
3. The relevance of the information on the linking website to your website.

When these three aspects align and provide Google with additional information about your website, we refer to it as a high-quality backlink. Such references are increasingly valued by Google and are therefore becoming more important for SEO.