Backlink
A backlink is a link from another website to yours.
Google treats them partly as votes, so a link from a site people trust carries more weight than one from a site nobody reads.
Relevance counts alongside authority: a link from an Adelaide builders association does more for a builder than a link from a general directory.
Links you earn are the ones that hold up, meaning coverage, association memberships, supplier pages, local press and genuine partnerships.
Bought links and link networks work until they're found, and the correction comes as a ranking drop you then have to undo.
Pace matters too, because a site that averages 2 new linking domains a month and suddenly gains 200 is describing what it did.
Unlinked mentions of your business name now carry weight of their own, because AI answer engines appear to weigh being talked about as well as being linked to.
What this means for you
Links are the slowest part of SEO and the hardest to fake convincingly. I'd rather build 10 real ones over a year than buy 500 in a week.
This one sits under SEO.
Related terms
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