A web page's backlinks are all the links pointing to it from other external sites.
Backlinks are particularly important for SEO. The more backlinks a web page has, the higher its popularity.
However, it's not just the number of backlinks that counts, but also their quality. In other words, aim as much as possible to obtain backlinks from sites with a good reputation.
Backlinks have the advantage of taking users from one website to another, allowing them to explore new content in a logical and intuitive way.
At the same time, just like with an optimized site structure they meet the expectations of search engine algorithms and improve SEO. Google tends to favor the listing of sites with many quality backlinks.
Several factors determine whether a backlink is qualitative or not. Quality external links must do the following:
- come from a site with a good reputation;
- deal with a related topic;
- come from a page that contains few other external links;
- be positioned in the body of the text and not in a secondary element; and
- be unilateral, i.e., it's best to avoid reciprocal link exchanges between two pages.
Note also that backlinks can be on images. However, they’re less powerful than when they are placed on relevant keywords, linked to the brand, the company's main sector, and the theme of its site.
You should also be aware that Google may penalize link exchanges and the creation of artificial links. According to the search engine, this is an unethical practice that approaches black hat SEO (as opposed to white hat SEO) and seeks to manipulate algorithms.
When Google identifies this kind of practice, it invalidates the positive effects usually generated by backlinks.
