What it means
A backlink is a clickable link on someone else's website that points to a page on your website. The website hosting the link is the referring domain. The page being linked to is the destination.
Backlinks come in two flavours: dofollow (the default, passes ranking signals) and nofollow (carries a rel="nofollow" attribute, passes less). Modern Google treats nofollow as a hint, not a strict directive.
Why it matters
Backlinks remain one of the most important ranking signals two decades after PageRank was published. A single backlink from an authoritative, topically relevant site can move rankings in ways that hundreds of low-quality links cannot.
For AEO, the same logic applies in a slightly different form. AI engines weigh source credibility heavily, and one of their signals is how often a site is linked from other authoritative sources. A site cited 50 times in industry publications and university pages is a more attractive citation target than a site cited only on directory listings.
How it's used
To earn quality backlinks:
- Publish original research, data, or perspective worth referencing
- Get featured in industry publications, podcasts, and roundups
- Build relationships with other sites in your category
- Participate in PR and media outreach when relevant
- Avoid paid link schemes - they violate Google guidelines and rarely produce real value
Quality and relevance beat quantity. One good link is worth a hundred junk links.