Last Updated on 03/04/2026
A backlink is a link to one web resource from another web resource. A website or a web page can be a web resource. They are also known by the names ‘inbound links’,’ incoming links’, or ‘one-way links.
For example, the screenshot below shows a link from LeadGen to our website.
Are Backlinks Really Important?
Backlinks are one of the top three search ranking factors for Google. As per Google’s original PageRank algorithm, PageRank is used to rank web pages in Google’s search engine results and is a method of measuring the importance of website pages.
According to Google,
PageRank works by summing the number and quality of links to a page to estimate how important the website is. The assumption is that more important websites are likely to receive more links from other websites.
Although Google has made thousands of changes to its original algorithm, backlinks still remain one of the most important ranking factors for Google.
Case Studies on the Importance of Backlinks:
Ahrefs case study:
In 2020, Ahrefs conducted a case study of over a billion pages to examine how many pages receive organic search traffic and the reasons they do. In their study, they found that 90.63% of pages get no organic search traffic from Google and 5.29% of them get ten visits per month or less. And the number one reason for these results was that the pages lacked backlinks. If you want to outrank your competitors, start link-building right away!
Actual Case Studies:
I started Marketing Lad in 2020 and we reached from DR 0 in 2020 to DR 53 in 2022.
Another example where link building works relates to a client of mine, leadgenapp.io I started building links for them in 2020 and their DR was 22 at that time but since then, I worked with them to increase their referring domains (backlinks).
When you look at the starting point for building links for them in 2020, their organic search has increased dramatically and is still going up! If we look at their DR today, it’s 64 and that just shows you the power of backlinks.
Avoid Black Hat Link Building Tactics:
Even though link building is mighty for increasing the DR for your website, improving keyword ranking on SERPs and increasing traffic towards your website, getting black hat backlinks doesn’t always work. They can harm your website and even lead to the permanent deletion of your website if you are buying links, using low-quality backlinks from forums, spammy blog comments, etc. If you want to maintain your website’s ranking, avoid using black-hat link-building techniques.
Here are a few things you should consider:
Keyword Research:
As per a study done by Ahrefs, there are pages with tons of backlinks but zero traffic from Google as the page’s topic has no long-term traffic potential.
These pages aren’t targeting a topic people are searching for on Google. Keyword research is very important as we should create content as on the topics that are searched by people. Also, the keywords with zero keyword difficulty are likely to drive less traffic. You should focus on high-volume, low-competition keywords.
However, implementing various conversion rate optimization techniques will improve your conversion rate and search engine rankings. For example, Google Trends is an effective tool for analyzing people’s search interest for particular keywords across geographical locations, and you can automate this process with the Google Trends API.
Meaningful Content:
As per Google, content is among the top three ranking factors. Creating the right content for low-competition, high-volume keywords is essential if you want your website’s backlinks to work.
Conclusion
We have explained the importance of backlinks for driving traffic to your website. We have given some case studies with examples, however, backlinks will not work overnight, it’s a gradual process and needs patience.
Check out how we improved these brands’ SEO KPIs. Click here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Backlinks are useful as they represent a ‘vote of confidence from one site to another. High-quality backlinks improve your chances of ranking.
As per Google, backlinks significantly affect your website’s search visibility and ranking position. High-quality links are one of the top three search ranking factors.
Around 99.2% of websites had at least one external link, while you can actually rank for low and medium-volume keywords without any backlinks.
According to Google’s John Mueller, the total number of backlinks a website has doesn’t matter to the search algorithm. A good link from a relevant website is far better than millions of low-quality links
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