Link building: earn backlinks that Google trusts

A backlink is a link on someone else's website that points to a page on yours. If a local newspaper writes about your bakery and links to your site, you have earned a backlink. People also call it an inbound link.

Link building is the work of earning those links on purpose. You create something worth linking to, you make sure the right people see it, and you ask where asking is appropriate.

Two more terms help. An internal link connects two pages on your own site. An external or outbound link points from your site to another site. A backlink is simply an external link seen from the receiving end.

Links matter for two reasons. People click them, which brings visitors who already trust the source. And search engines follow them, both to discover new pages and to judge how much trust a page has earned.

Google started with an idea called PageRank. A link from page A to page B counts as a vote for page B. Votes from pages that hold many votes themselves count for more. Trust flows through the web along links.

That idea still runs inside Google, next to hundreds of other signals. Google's documentation on how Search works names links among the ways it understands which pages are helpful and trusted.

The weight has shifted over time. Google representatives have said in public talks that links matter less than they did years ago, because the systems now read content and user needs far better. Links support strong content. They are one part of the picture.

For a business owner the practical meaning is this. In a market where every competitor has decent pages, links are often the difference between position eight and position two. In a quiet local market, a handful of good links can be enough.

Links also feed AI search. Assistants such as ChatGPT and Gemini lean on sources that the wider web already cites. A company that respected sites mention and link to is easier for those systems to trust.

One link can outweigh a hundred others. Before you chase any link, score it on the six points below. A link that scores well on relevance and editorial choice is almost always worth having.

1. RelevanceA link from a site about your trade or your region tells search engines what you are known for. A roofing blog linking to a roofer makes sense.
2. Trust of the sourceSites with real readers, real authors and their own good links pass more credit. Local news, trade associations and universities are classic examples.
3. Editorial choiceThe best links exist because a writer decided your page helps their readers. Nobody paid, and the link sits there by merit.
4. PlacementA link inside the main text of an article counts for more than one in a footer or a sidebar list of fifty other links.
5. Anchor textThe clickable words tell readers and search engines what to expect behind the link. Natural, descriptive wording works best.
6. A page that can pass creditThe linking page should be indexed and the link should be a normal HTML link. Links marked nofollow or sponsored are treated as hints with little ranking credit.

Count referring domains, the number of different websites that link to you, before you count total backlinks. Fifty links from one site are closer to one vote than to fifty.

Website owners can add a small label to a link that tells Google how to treat it. Google introduced two extra labels in 2019. The table shows what each one means for you.

A healthy link profile contains a mix. Links from Wikipedia, most social networks and many news sites carry nofollow. They still bring readers, brand awareness and sometimes follow-up links from people who discovered you there.

So welcome every relevant mention. A nofollow link from a national news site is worth more to your business than a standard link from an abandoned blog.

Google's spam policies describe link spam as links created mainly to manipulate rankings. Sites that cross the line risk a manual action, a penalty applied by a human reviewer, or see their links quietly ignored by Google's SpamBrain system.

1. Buying or selling links for rankingPaying money, sending free products or trading services for a link that passes credit. Paid placements are allowed when the link carries rel=sponsored or nofollow.
2. Excessive link exchangesLarge-scale deals of the kind: you link to me and I link to you, set up only for rankings.
3. Automated link creationSoftware or services that drop links on thousands of pages, comments or profiles.
4. Keyword-stuffed links in guest posts and press releasesArticles spread across many sites with exact keyword anchors pointing home.
5. Low-quality directories and bookmark sitesLists that accept anyone and exist only to hold links.
6. Links hidden in widgets, footers and templatesCredits or badges that plant keyword-rich links on other people's sites at scale.

Two newer policies touch link sellers too. Expired domain abuse covers buying old domains to exploit their link history. Site reputation abuse covers third-party pages published on a trusted site to borrow its ranking power.

A simple test keeps you safe. Would you still want this link if search engines did zero counting, purely for the readers it sends? If yes, go ahead.

People link to things that help them make a point, answer a question or save time. A homepage that says we are the best rarely earns a link. A page with useful numbers or a free tool does.

Such a page is called a linkable asset. You need one or two good ones, and you can build them from knowledge you already have. The table gives ideas that fit a small business.

Check what already attracts links in your field. Enter a competitor in a backlink tool, sort their pages by linking sites and study the top five. Then make something more complete, more current or more local.

The fastest links come from people who already know and like you. Most businesses leave these on the table. Spend your first week here, before you write a single outreach email to a stranger.

1. Suppliers and brands you sellMany manufacturers list their dealers or installers. Ask to be added, with a link to your site.
2. Customers and partnersOffer a short testimonial for a tool or service you use. Vendors often publish it with your name and a link.
3. Trade associations and chambersMembership usually includes a profile page. Fill it in completely and check that the link works.
4. Unlinked brand mentionsSearch for your company name in quotes. Where a site names you and leaves out the link, send a friendly request.
5. Schools, clubs and charities you supportSponsorship pages and alumni pages often link to supporters. Sponsor because you care, and accept the link as a thank-you.
6. Lost and broken linksA backlink tool shows links that point to deleted pages on your site. Redirect those old URLs to the best current page.

Work through all six before you move on. For a local company in a quiet market, this base layer of trusted, relevant links often closes much of the gap with the companies on page one.

After the quick wins, pick one or two strategies and repeat them steadily. A method you run every month beats five methods you try once. The table compares the options.

Guest articles deserve a note. One strong piece for a site your customers read is fine. Mass-produced posts with keyword links fall under the spam policies. Write for the readers of that site and link where it helps them.

Digital PR is public relations with a link as a welcome result. You give a journalist something they can use, such as fresh numbers, a local angle on a national story or a sharp expert quote. They mention you as the source.

Small businesses have an edge here: you know your trade and your town. A local reporter rarely has an electrician who can explain new safety rules in three clear sentences before the deadline.

1. 1. Find your angleCombine what you know with what is in the news: a price rise, a new law, a seasonal problem, a local record.
2. 2. Back it with a numberCount something from your own records, or run a short survey. One clear figure carries a whole story.
3. 3. Build a short listNote ten journalists and editors who covered the topic recently. Local and trade media first.
4. 4. Write a five-line pitchSubject line with the news, the key number, one quote, a link to the full page and your phone number.
5. 5. Be reachableAnswer within the hour. Reporters come back to sources who make their work easy.

Platforms that connect reporters with expert sources, such as HARO and Qwoted, offer a second route. Reply only to requests that match your real expertise, and keep each answer short and quotable.

Outreach means contacting a site owner or writer with a specific suggestion. Most outreach fails because it is mass mail about the sender. Good outreach is short, personal and useful to the receiver.

Send it to a named person. Mention the exact page you mean. Explain in one sentence why your resource helps their readers. Then stop. Three to five sentences are enough.

A workable structure: one line on why you are writing to them, one line on the gap or the dead link you found, one line that presents your page, and a thank-you. Leave out flattery and long introductions.

Follow up once, after about a week. If the answer stays silent, move on. Keep a simple sheet with site, contact, date, status and result, so you can see which type of request works for you.

Expect modest reply rates. Most emails stay unanswered, and a few links from a well-chosen list is a good outcome. The relationships often pay back later, when the same writer needs a source.

A local citation is a mention of your business name, address and phone number on another site, such as a directory, a map service or a review platform. Many citations include a link, and some are only a text mention.

Are backlinks and citations the same? They overlap. A citation confirms that your business exists at an address. A backlink passes trust to a page. A directory profile with a link is both at once.

Start with the platforms customers use: Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Maps, Facebook, Yelp where it matters in your country, and the main directories of your trade. Write your details the same way everywhere.

Then earn links only a local company can get: the neighborhood association, the sports club you sponsor, the local news site, the event calendar of your town. Chapter 9 on local SEO explains the full system.

Anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a link. Google's documentation on links asks for anchor text that is descriptive, reasonably concise and relevant to the page it points to.

You control anchor text fully on your own site, in your internal links. On other sites the writer chooses. That is healthy. A natural link profile shows many different wordings, and most of them contain your brand name.

When someone asks which text to use, suggest your brand name or a plain description. A profile where half of all links use the same money keyword is the classic footprint of manipulation.

A fixed number is absent, because ranking is relative. You need enough trust to stand beside the pages that rank now for your keyword. So measure them first.

Search your main keyword. Enter the top five results in a backlink tool and note the number of referring domains for each ranking page and for each whole site. That range is your target zone.

Can you rank with zero backlinks? For specific questions and quiet local searches, yes. A precise, helpful page on a healthy site can rank on content alone. For competitive commercial keywords, links remain a deciding factor.

Scores such as Domain Rating from Ahrefs, Domain Authority from Moz and Authority Score from Semrush are estimates made by tool companies. Google uses its own systems. Use those scores to compare sites, and treat them as a rough guide.

You will receive emails that offer hundreds of backlinks for a small fee. Those packages come from networks of sites built to sell links. Google's systems are trained to spot exactly that pattern, so the money buys risk and little else.

If you hire help, ask what the agency will actually do each month. Good answers name content, research, journalist contact and relationship work. Weak answers name a fixed number of links per month from sites they keep secret.

Ask to see example placements, and judge them as a reader. Is it a real publication with an audience? Does the article make sense? Would you be proud to show it to a customer?

Can ChatGPT or Claude create backlinks? An AI assistant can help you find prospects, analyze a competitor's link profile and draft a pitch. The link itself still comes from a human editor who decides your page deserves it.

The Links report in Google Search Console is free and shows which sites link to you, which of your pages receive the most links and which anchor texts appear. Check it every month.

A backlink tool adds dates, lost links and competitor data. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools gives verified site owners free backlink data for their own site. Chapter 10 compares the tools.

Watch three numbers: new referring domains per month, visits that arrive through links in Google Analytics, and the positions of the pages you promote. Rising referral visits prove that real people click.

You will also find odd links from spammy sites. Google says its systems ignore most of these automatically. The disavow tool exists for sites with a manual action or a history of paid links, so most owners can leave it alone.

Link building rewards steady work. The plan below fits an owner with one free hour a week. After three months you have a base layer, one asset and a habit.

1. Weeks 1 and 2: measureNote your referring domains and those of five competitors. List the sites that link to several of them and skip you.
2. Weeks 3 and 4: collect the easy linksSuppliers, associations, partners, testimonials and unlinked mentions. Fix broken inbound links with redirects.
3. Weeks 5 and 6: complete your listingsCreate or correct your profiles on the main map services and trade directories with identical details.
4. Weeks 7 to 9: build one linkable assetPublish data, a calculator or a definitive local guide. Make it the best page on that question.
5. Weeks 10 to 12: tell peoplePitch ten journalists and twenty relevant site owners. Offer yourself as an expert source.
6. Every month afterOne pitch round, one partnership and one check of the Links report.

Links work together with the rest of this guide. A fast, clear website with helpful pages earns links more easily, and that is the kind of website Delta Six builds, with monthly SEO included.

• Open the Links report in Search Console and note your number of linking sites.
• Check the referring domains of the five pages that outrank you for your main keyword.
• Ask every supplier and brand you work with for a place on their dealer or partner page.
• Claim the profile page that comes with each membership or association.
• Search your company name in quotes and request a link where a mention lacks one.
• Redirect deleted pages that still receive backlinks to the best current page.
• Write two testimonials for tools or services you use and send them to the vendors.
• Complete your listings on the main map and directory platforms with identical name, address and phone.
• Publish one linkable asset: original numbers, a calculator or a definitive local guide.
• Build a list of ten journalists and twenty relevant site owners for that asset.
• Send short, personal pitches and follow up once after a week.
• Label every paid or sponsored link on your own site with rel=sponsored.
• Decline offers for link packages and exchanges set up only for rankings.
• Log new referring domains and referral visits every month.