Backlink
A backlink is a link on a page from another website that points to a page on your website. It links back to you, which is where the name comes from. Google's Search Console shows a sample of your backlinks in its Links report, with the sites that link to you most and the words they use in each link.
Source: Google Search Console Help, Links report, checked October 29, 2026
What Backlink means for your business
Links from other sites still count. Google says its systems look at how pages link to each other to work out what a page is about and which pages might help most, and that PageRank, one of those systems, is still part of how it ranks pages. People call the whole set of links pointing at your site your backlink profile.
We'd care more about who links to you than how many do. Google's own help page suggests a restaurant check whether food blogs and review sites link to it. A link from your chamber of commerce, a local news story or a supplier you really work with says something true about your business. Paying for links breaks Google's spam policies, and we won't do it.
We'd start with the Links report, then read the words other sites use when they link to you. Google suggests checking that those sites describe you accurately. If they describe a business that isn't quite yours, we'd make your own pages clearer and ask the worst offenders to update their wording.
If you're not sure whether links are what's holding your site back, we check them next to your pages and your listings.
Last reviewed October 29, 2026. All terms
How AI answers it today
On October 29, 2026, Google's AI Overview gave a definition close to Google's own and cited Moz, Semrush, Mailchimp, agency blogs and YouTube, but none of Google's help pages. ChatGPT gave a plain definition with an example and cited no sources.
Our run through ChatGPT and Google's AI Overview, October 29, 2026. A sample, not what every buyer sees.
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