What Does a Backlink Look Like? (2024)

Relationships have always been valuable and still are valuable in the digital age.

The feature image below is one example of what a backlink looks like. Here, we have a page from BaliStreetPhotographer.com that has three links to a site called MissionPawsible.org. Can you spot them? These three links are called backlinks in the SEO (search engine optimisation) world.

[TL;DNR] Scroll down to the bottom of this article to see where the backlinks are.

One of my new SEO clients asked me,

“Mark, what does a backlink look like?”

This is an excellent question because it made me pause, backup, and remember the bigger picture.

Definition of a backlink

A backlink is a link (e.g., starts with something like this https://) from one page on a website to another page on a different website.

Backlinking is the art of successfully asking a website owner to link to your site. A backlink fosters your relationship with that other site and boosts your credibility (i.e., authority on a subject, product, or offering).

Improving your website’s ranking in Google

When your website’s credibility grows, your site’s ability to be found improves. In other words, your website’s ranking in Google gets better. Your site’s credibility or authority can improve when the number of high quality backlinks to your site increases.

In English please (a real life example)

Suppose your friend named Mick meets someone new named Keith.

Later on, Keith becomes a famous guitarist. When Keith’s new rock band starts looking for a singer, Keith says, “Hey, I met this bloke name Mick. His vocals are out of control. We should scope him out.” When this happened, Keith gave a referral (backlink) from his new band to Mick.

Moral of the story, when someone reputable gives you a backlink to your site, you should give them a hug.

What a backlink looks like deconstructed

In the image above there are three backlinks where the orange arrows are pointing. Let’s break them down.

Referring website: A website for a non-profit street photography tour in Bali called BaliStreetPhotographer.com.

Referring webpage: https://balistreetphotographer.com/donation-partners/

External website: A website for a non-profit dog rescue, adoption, and rehome organisation based in Bali called MissionPawsible.org.

The three backlinks:

1. MissionPawsible.org links to Mission Pawsible’s home page.
2. Donate to Mission Pawsible today links to Mission Pawsible’s donation page.
3. MissionPawsible on Facebook links to (you guessed it) Mission Pawsible’s Facebook page.

Parting notes

1. As mentioned earlier, the art of manifesting backlinks is called backlinking.
2. Backlinking is also known as link building.
3. Backlinks are also known as inbound links.
4. All these terms are in the context of search engine optimisation or SEO.
5. Please hug your backlinkers ❤️.

All images by mark l chaves unless otherwise stated.