If you’ve spent any time researching SEO, you’ve heard the term “backlinks.” But what exactly are they? A backlink also called an inbound link or incoming link is simply a hyperlink on one website that points to another. When a cooking blog links to your recipe site, or a news outlet cites your research, those are backlinks pointing to your domain.

Think of it like a citation in academic research. The more credible sources that reference your work, the more authoritative your research appears. Google operates on much the same logic. Every backlink is essentially a vote of confidence, a signal that another website considers your content valuable enough to reference.