Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. To Google each one is something like a vote of trust: the more authoritative sites link to you, the more weight you appear to carry.
Links have long been one of the main ranking factors. The logic is simple: if respected resources link to you, your content is worth trusting. But it is quality, not quantity, that decides - one link from an authoritative industry site outweighs a hundred random ones.
Good links come from relevant, authoritative, living sites with a natural anchor. Bad ones come from bought, spammy, off-topic pages. Mass-buying cheap links no longer works and can trigger a Google penalty.
In AI search the role of plain links is shifting: brand mentions - in articles, on YouTube, in discussions - correlate with AI citability more strongly than classic backlinks. So it matters not only who links to you but who simply talks about you.
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