Ask ten business owners what they know about SEO and most will mention keywords and content. Backlinks come up far less often. That is a shame, because they are one of the strongest signals Google uses to decide which website belongs at the top. In this article you will learn what a backlink is, why Google takes them so seriously, how to get backlinks yourself and how many you need.
What are backlinks exactly?
A backlink is simply a link on another website that points to a page on your website. If a trade magazine writes an article about roof boxes and links to the rental page of Rij Ruimer, then Rij Ruimer has a backlink from that magazine.
You will come across several terms that mean the same thing: backlink, inbound link, incoming link or external link. The opposite is an outbound link: a link from your site to another website.
A backlink has three parts, and all three matter:
- The linking website. Who is linking to you? A national news outlet or a personal blog with no visitors?
- The anchor text. The words you click on. “Click here” tells Google very little; “hire a roof box in Noordwijk” says exactly what the page is about.
- The destination. Which page does the site link to? Your homepage, or precisely the page you want to rank higher?
Why are backlinks important to Google?
Google wants to put the best, most trustworthy pages at the top. But how does a search engine know which page is trustworthy? One of the oldest and still most important methods: looking at who refers to it.
Compare it with a job application. You can say you are good at your job, but a reference from a previous employer carries more weight. The more good references, the more credible your story. Backlinks are the references of your website.
And Google does not only count them. A reference from someone with a good reputation of their own weighs more. A reference from someone who knows your field says more than a general compliment. Translated to backlinks: a link from an authoritative site in your industry is gold, a link from a random site with no relation to your subject does little.
That is also why backlinks are hard to manipulate. You can write your own content, but a link from another site has to be earned, requested or bought. That makes the signal reliable for Google and valuable for you.
What makes a backlink good or bad?
Not every backlink is equal. This is what we at Stijgt look at before we call a link valuable.
| Characteristic | Good backlink | Bad backlink |
|---|---|---|
| Traffic on the linking site | Real visitors | Hardly anyone visits |
| Relevance | Same industry or a related subject | No connection to your field at all |
| Domain Rating (DR) | Reasonable to high | Very low |
| Spam score | Low | High, the site is full of sold links |
| Placement | In the body text of an article | In a footer or sidebar among dozens of other links |
| Anchor text | Natural and fitting | Exactly the same keyword everywhere |
A bad backlink is not just useless, it can also hurt. Google recognises patterns of bought links on empty websites and can penalise you for them. That is why we never place links on sites without traffic, with a high spam score or with a very low DR, even when they are cheap.
How do I get backlinks?
The question “how do you get backlinks” has several answers. The best strategy combines them.
1. Start with your own network. Suppliers, partners, trade associations, customers with a website. Many businesses are happy to link to you if you ask politely. These are often the most relevant links, and they cost nothing.
2. List your business in industry and business directories. Not the strongest links, but a tidy foundation that belongs in a normal link profile. Choose directories that fit your sector or region.
3. Write guest articles. A good article for a trade publication, an industry site or a partner blog, with a link to a relevant page on your site. This takes time, but delivers strong, natural links.
4. Create content people want to link to. A handy calculator, a study with your own data, a comprehensive guide that is more complete than anything else out there. This is also known as digital PR: you create something newsworthy and bring it to the attention of journalists and bloggers.
5. Buy links through link platforms. On link platforms you can purchase sponsored articles on websites that are open to them. This is the fastest route, but also the one where you need to select most carefully. Read more about what that costs in link building cost.
6. Fix broken links. Find pages on other sites in your field that link to a page that no longer exists, and offer your page as a replacement. Labour-intensive, but effective.
What you should not do: buy link packages with hundreds of links for a few tens of euros, swap links on a large scale, or fill blog comment sections with your URL. Those are exactly the methods Google hunts for.
How many backlinks do I need?
This is the question everyone asks, and there is no fixed number. The answer depends on your competition.
Here is how to work it out yourself:
- Search Google for your most important keyword and note the top 5.
- Use a tool such as Semrush to check how many referring domains those pages and websites have, and how strong they are.
- Compare that with your own website.
The gap between you and the top 5 is roughly what you need to close. In a local niche market that can be a handful of good links. In a national market with big players it is a lot more. The number of unique websites linking to you (referring domains) says more than the total number of links: ten links from ten different sites are stronger than a hundred links from one site.
And even then, backlinks are one factor. A page with a few strong links and excellent content often beats a page with many links and mediocre text. So always work on both. A good starting point is our technical SEO checklist.
From our own experience: at our own company Djunes, organic traffic grew by 187% in 12 months. That was not the result of a single link building campaign, but of the combination of good pages, a technical foundation that works and targeted link building from relevant sites. That is exactly the order we recommend to clients too.
How do you measure the effect of backlinks?
A backlink that does nothing is money or time wasted. That is why we always measure three things: whether Google has picked up the link (visible in Google Search Console), whether the page’s rankings move, and whether organic traffic to that page rises in GA4. Give it time. Google first has to find the link and weigh it, so expect weeks to months before you see the effect. For a realistic timeline, read how long does SEO take.
Let Stijgt build your backlinks
At Stijgt we start with an analysis of your link profile and that of your competitors. Then we draw up a plan and acquire links through link platforms, our own network, digital PR and guest articles. Everything is measurable, and we will tell you if link building is not yet the best first step for your situation. See our link building approach or read how link building fits into SEO.