Local search. Reviewed October 29, 2026

    Backlink

    Also called: Inbound link, Referring domain

    A backlink is a link from another website to yours, and Google treats each one from a real, relevant site as a vote of confidence in the page it points at.

    In practice

    For a contractor the links worth having come from suppliers, manufacturers' dealer locators, trade associations, the chamber, local news, sponsorships and the sites of businesses you work with. Ten of those outweigh a thousand from link farms.

    A referring domain is one website that links to you, however many links it holds. Tools count both.

    Related terms

    • Domain RatingDomain Rating is Ahrefs' 0 to 100 score of how strong a website's backlink profile is, and Domain Authority is Moz's version of the same idea; Google uses neither.
    • Keyword difficultyKeyword difficulty is a tool's estimate, usually from 0 to 100, of how hard it is to rank on the first page for a search term, based mostly on the links pointing at the pages already there.

    More local search terms

    Canonical URLCitationsE-E-A-TGeo grid rank trackingGoogle Business ProfileGoogle PostsAll 100 terms

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