What is Backlinks?
Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website, serving as votes of confidence that improve search engine rankings. When a reputable site links to yours, search engines treat it as an endorsement, passing along some of that site's authority.
Not all backlinks are equal. A link from a high-authority, topically relevant site is worth far more than dozens of links from low-quality or unrelated pages. The anchor text, the linking page's own authority, and whether the link is dofollow or nofollow all affect how much value it passes.
Backlinks are one of the strongest ranking signals in search, which is why building a healthy, natural-looking link profile is a core part of any SEO strategy.
Why it matters
For competitive keywords, great content is rarely enough on its own — backlinks are often what tips the balance. Without them, even excellent pages get stuck on page two.
Backlinks also drive direct referral traffic and lend credibility. A link from a respected site sends visitors and signals to both Google and humans that you are worth taking seriously.
How Distro helps
Distro's backlink builder gives you a curated list of 450+ directories and link opportunities, turning link building into a series of completable daily missions. Get your free growth report to start building authority.
Related terms
Domain Rating (DR)
Domain rating is a metric developed by Ahrefs that scores a website's backlink strength on a scale of 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating stronger authority.
Referring Domains
Referring domains are the number of unique websites that link to your site, which is a stronger ranking signal than total backlink count.
Dofollow Link
A dofollow link is a hyperlink that passes ranking authority from the linking page to the destination page, helping improve search engine rankings.