I can’t believe I have to say this, but I’ve seen enough chatter recently that I feel it’s necessary: Backlinks are still important for SEO. In fact, they’re one of the most important ranking factors, if not the most important.
It’s been this way since the beginning. Backlinks were one of the very first ranking factors, outlined in one of the first patents that would lead to the formation of Google. So forgive me if my eyes roll a little when I hear SEO folks going on about backlinks being dead. They’re not.
And if you’re here to learn about backlinks for SEO, you’re in the right place. Here’s how backlinks actually work and how to think about them the right way in 2026.
What Is a Backlink?
When any site other than yours contains a link that points to your website, that’s a backlink. It’s just a link pointing back to your website.
So, if you run Chewy.com, and a Detroit veterinarian’s website includes a link to Chewy.com on their “Resources” page, you’ve got a backlink from that veterinarian’s office.
Why would that matter for SEO, though? It’s pretty simple: It’s a way for Google to guess that the site linking to yours is vouching for you. The thinking being that they wouldn’t link to your website if it was low-quality. So each backlink is a trust signal Google can easily measure.
And as you acquire more and more backlinks, you build that trust signal up (in Google’s eyes). Over time, that boosts Google’s confidence in your website, which usually amounts to better rankings in search results.
Why Backlinks Matter for SEO
Backlinks even the SEO playing field. Think about it: So many other parts of SEO, like the keywords you target and the content you create, are easy for you to directly control. But not backlinks.
You can’t force another website to link to yours. And that is why backlinks are — and will remain — one of Google’s most important trust signals.
This, of course, makes SEO more difficult for you. But it also protects you from competitors swooping in and taking away all your hard-earned rankings. A competitor could launch a website pretty easily. They could write service pages and blog posts. They could do all that in a day or two. But they won’t overtake your well-established website with a strong backlink profile. Because they haven’t built up their authority yet. They haven’t got any backlinks.
They can’t shortcut backlinks, and neither can you. Do not listen to the SEO bros. There are no shortcuts with backlinks. If you try to take a shortcut, you will pretty much inevitably get into trouble with Google.
There was a time when shortcuts worked. But that was pre-2012 — before the Penguin update that Google released. With that update, Google cracked down on spammy link-building tactics (shortcuts, basically). Webmasters were buying bulk backlinks of the very lowest quality and getting results. That stopped in explosive fashion basically overnight.
You just can’t trick Google forever. And even though Google has said they ignore most spammy backlinks (instead of issuing penalties for them), you need to be careful here. I’ve seen plenty of people get burned by penalties — even recently — because they played with SEO hot water.
Earning quality, relevant links should be your main concern. Slow and steady.
Understanding Authority Score
There are lots of metrics within link building that you can look at to gauge the quality of a backlink and a holistic backlink profile. But if you dig in on referring domains, anchor text, proximal text, tier two and three links, and so on, you’re going to get into the weeds fast.
And there’s no need for that because we have third-party metrics that approximate all that into one easy-to-understand number. One of the best examples is Semrush’s Authority Score. It goes from 1 to 100 and is based mostly on the backlinks the site has.
Keep in mind that Google didn’t invent and does not measure metrics like this. But they serve as a convenient and useful indicator of your direction. And they allow you to compare your backlink profile to those of your competitors.
I want to drill down more on Authority Score because there’s more confusion here than you might expect. The score can go all the way up to 100, so people fall back into their school mindsets and think a 90 to 100 is an A, 80 to 89 is a B, and so on.
Then they see a score like 34 and think they’re failing at Authority Score. But they aren’t! Our marketing agency has a 34 and we rank for countless keywords. This is a really high score you have to build over years — any local business with a 34 is going to have an easy time ranking for all kinds of relevant local keywords.
Let’s get out of the school grading scale mindset. Here’s a good framework for understanding Authority Score ranges:
- 0 – 10: Poor. Either a brand-new site or one with few to no backlinks.
- 11 – 20: Decent. Enough to compete in smaller or less competitive local markets.
- 21 – 30: Solid. Strong potential to rank locally across most industries.
- 31 – 40: Very strong. You should be competing at the top of your local market, with some national potential.
- 40+: Typically media publications or well-known national brands.
It’s pretty much impossible to get a perfect score of 100. The biggest and best-known websites in the world might come close, but you don’t need to compete with them. You just need to compete within your market.
How to Research Backlinks (Yours and Competitors’)
There are lots of SEO tools, but we like to use Semrush. So I’m going to walk you through backlink research using that tool.
First step is to pop your website into Semrush. You’ll see the Referring Domains report. This tells you which websites are linking to you or your competitors. You can filter the referring pages and domains by Authority Score to see your most valuable backlinks.
You can do this for your website and for your competitors. You’ll want to spend some time in both areas to get a feel for where you’re at, where your competitors are at, and the opportunities you might have in front of you.
If I do this for The Media Captain, I see we’ve gotten some pretty nice ones — sites like American Express (Authority Score: 88), The UPS Store (79), and Bing.
Of course, we didn’t get those links by accident. We worked hard to earn them over more than 15 years. And that’s why we have a super strong Authority Score of 34 as you’re reading this.
How to Acquire Backlinks Naturally
There are lots of ways to get backlinks. But some work better, are more scalable, and are more sustainable than others.
In general, if a link-building method amounts to you earning the link, it’s a good, safe approach. These kinds of approaches help you build a strong, sturdy backlink profile that will give you great SEO results over time.
These are some examples of those kinds of link-building approaches:
Blogging (Link-Worthy Content)
For years one of the best ways to earn backlinks, blogging should be one of your go-tos. Hear me on this, though: I’m not telling you to just go write whatever. You have to do blogging the right way if you expect it to get you links.
Put another way, don’t blog for the sake of fresh content. I promise this will hurt more than it helps. Instead, think about how you can create blog posts that other people want to link to.
A great example is our post on “Google Business Profile stats and facts.” We’ve gotten more than 200 links from that one article. The reason why is deceptively simple: Other writers needed stats they could reference in their own content. We provided them, and those writers linked to us when they cited our numbers.
Look for an unmet content need in your industry. Then fill it — usually with statistics, examples, case studies, or unique insights.
Traditional PR
Don’t forget about PR as you go deeper into the world of SEO. PR is a powerful link-building vehicle.
When you create relationships with journalists and news publications, you turn into a source they can use for their articles. That means they’ll quote you and, often, link back to your website as part of the attribution or as a thank you.
My favorite part about this strategy is that news sites, almost as a rule, have really high SEO authority. So when you get one of these links, you get a great backlink.
Partners and Connections
You likely have more backlink opportunities than you realize. You have business partners, vendors, and other connections. And it’s perfectly normal (and legitimate) to be listed as a partner/vendor on their websites.
Your vendors, software providers, nearby businesses, and friends who own businesses could all also be sources of backlinks for you. You don’t need to force this. You just ask them to list you on their websites as a partner.
That mention usually comes with a backlink. It doesn’t really get any easier than that.
Local Sponsorships
You should be involved in your local community if you run a local business for a lot of reasons. And one of those reasons has to do with backlinks.
When you sponsor a kids’ soccer team, a local 10K, or some kind of community event, you’re likely to be listed as a sponsor on the website for that team, race, or event. When you get listed, you usually get linked.
This one’s a double-whammy (in a good way). You get links and you get more involved in your community — both great for local businesses like yours.
Feazel Roofing has done a great job of this in the Columbus market. They sponsor many youth sports leagues, including youth Blue Jackets hockey players. This helps them build trust and awareness among parents, who are ultimately the decision-makers for a new roof.
Examples of Backlinks in Action
It’s often helpful to see these backlink strategies in the real world. So I’ll share a few below:
A Media Mention
Entrepreneur.com linked to a Media Captain blog post about adding negative keywords in Google Ads.
We created a relevant resource, and a high-powered website linked to us as a result.
A Single Post
Our “Google Business Profile stats and facts” post has earned over 200 backlinks from marketing websites.
This is what we call link-worthy content. We knew going in that other writers needed that data for their own content. We were right in guessing that they’d link to us when they used the data, too.
Earned High-Quality Links Over Time
We’ve been at this for more than 16 years. And in that time, we’ve used our PR skills to snag links from American Express, The UPS Store, 10TV, The Columbus Dispatch, Search Engine Land, and Bing.
Those are top-tier backlinks and the result of a slow, steady — unrelenting — effort.
Day-to-Day Link Opportunities
Keep your eyes open, always, for those smaller link building opportunities that are truly all around us.
For instance, you might use a reporting tool like DashThis and send a quick email asking for a partner backlink. Or maybe there’s a business directory for Downtown Columbus, and you can get in it (with a link) for free or a small fee.
The Long Game: What to Expect
Backlinks are an exponential game. It feels like a slow, unending grind at first, and then it picks up. Authority builds on authority, links build on links. And you start to see the SEO results really take off.
I’ve seen this in action for our website and for countless clients we’ve worked with.
It’s the snowball effect, really. You have to get the ball rolling, so to speak, and then momentum does its thing. Don’t try to take shortcuts; that won’t work. Keep your focus on natural, ethical link building. The results will compound over time.
