Confused about how referring domains differ from backlinks? You’re in the right place.
While the concepts can seem a little tricky, knowing the distinction between referring domains and backlinks is essential for building stronger SEO strategies and boosting your website’s visibility on Google. In this guide, I’ll:
- Define what backlinks are
- Define what referring domains are
- Break down the key differences between the two
- Explain how each affects your SEO performance
- Share best practices for gaining more backlinks and referring domains
If you want a clear understanding of referring domains vs backlinks, let’s dive in.
Why Do People Think Referring Domains and Backlinks Are the Same?
It’s quite common for people to confuse referring domains with backlinks, often assuming they are identical. The difference between the two lies in their definitions, and recognizing it requires some understanding of SEO and how the internet works.
Let’s break it down with clear definitions.
What Is a Backlink?
A backlink is essentially a hyperlink that connects one website to another. These are also referred to as inbound links.
Backlinks can appear in multiple formats. Most often, they are placed within text, where the clickable words are known as anchor text. However, backlinks can also be included in images, buttons, infographics, and other elements. Search engine crawlers, such as Googlebot, rely heavily on backlinks to navigate the web. They follow these links from one page to another and interpret the anchor text to understand the content of the linked page. This is why anchor text plays a key role in SEO.
There’s no restriction on how many backlinks a website can receive, and it’s possible to gain multiple backlinks from the same source. For example, if one webpage links to a single page on your site, that counts as one backlink. If that same site links to ten of your pages, you now have ten backlinks.
What Is a Referring Domain?
A referring domain is any website that links to your site. While backlinks focus on the connection between individual pages, referring domains highlight the connection between entire websites.
For example, if a single page on a site links to one of your pages, that specific link is a backlink, and the site itself becomes a referring domain. Unlike backlinks, which can be unlimited from the same source, referring domains are counted only once per site. This explains why some websites may have millions of backlinks but only a few thousand referring domains.
Why Do These Differences Matter?
To build a successful SEO strategy, it’s crucial to distinguish between backlinks and referring domains — knowing about backlinks alone isn’t enough.
Here’s the issue: gaining more backlinks won’t move the needle much if they all come from the same site. One website linking to you 100 times carries far less weight than 100 different websites linking to you once.
That’s why your main focus should be on increasing the number of referring domains, not just the total number of backlinks.
Understanding this relationship is also key when conducting a backlink audit. A profile with thousands of backlinks but very few referring domains signals weakness. In some cases, Google may even penalize such a profile because it can point to manipulative tactics like paid links or private blog networks.
Referring Domains vs Backlinks: How Do They Impact SEO?
Both backlinks and referring domains play a vital role in strengthening your website’s SEO.
Backlinks work like endorsements for your site. The more quality backlinks you receive from trusted sources, the more credibility Google assigns to your website.
However, not every backlink holds the same weight. Some are far more authoritative than others.
Several factors influence the value of a backlink:
- Relevance of the linking page: A backlink from a page covering the same subject as your website is more impactful than one from an unrelated topic.
- Anchor text: Since search engines use anchor text to understand the content of a page, links with descriptive or keyword-rich text are stronger than generic phrases like “click here.” Overuse of keywords, though, can lead to penalties.
- Authority of the linking site: A backlink from a highly reputable website, such as a major publication, carries significantly more influence than one from a newly created site.
That said, backlinks from lower authority sites aren’t useless — while they may not be as strong, they can still contribute positively to your ranking.
Referring domains function in a similar way, as they represent the overall authority of the sites linking to you. Just like backlinks, the best referring domains are relevant to your niche and recognized by search engines as trustworthy.
If you want to check the strength of a referring domain, tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Ubersuggest can help you analyze its domain rating.
How to Check Backlinks and Referring Domains
Checking your website’s backlinks and referring domains is simple with a backlink analysis tool such as Ubersuggest. All you need to do is head over to the “Backlinks” section, enter the domain URL you want to review, and run a search. The tool will then display the total number of backlinks and referring domains associated with that site, along with a rating for each metric.
Scroll down the page to view the number of referring domains your site has gained and lost.
And the distribution of domain authority scores across your referring domains.
At the bottom of the page, you’ll find a detailed list of all your backlinks.
As you browse through, you might come across suspicious or spam-like backlinks that you’d prefer not to be associated with your site. In such cases, you can use Google’s Disavow Tool to exclude those links.
Best Practices for Building Referring Domains and Backlinks
Looking to increase your backlinks and referring domains? Here are three effective strategies:
1. Create High-Quality Content
Publishing valuable content is one of the most reliable ways to earn strong backlinks and referring domains over time. Websites are more likely to link to your content if it provides meaningful insights, simplifies complex topics, or includes useful data that supports their content.
Types of content that typically attract backlinks include:
- Research studies and surveys with original data
- Comprehensive guides and tutorials
- Thought leadership articles offering unique perspectives
- Expert round-up posts
- Infographics
Whatever format you choose, quality is non-negotiable. To attract links, your content needs to be noticeably better than what’s already ranking on Google.
2. Guest Posting on Other Websites
You don’t have to wait for backlinks to appear naturally. Guest posting gives you the chance to build both backlinks and referring domains proactively.
When you contribute a guest article, you often get the opportunity to include links to your website within the content itself. At the very least, you’ll be able to add a link in your author bio.
Finding guest posting opportunities starts with identifying reputable sites in your niche that accept guest contributions. Two effective methods are:
- Analyzing your competitors’ backlink profiles to see where they’ve guest posted.
- Using Google search operators to locate sites that welcome guest articles. For instance, if you run a digital marketing blog, you could search:
intitle:"guest post" digital marketing
This will bring up websites in your field that feature guest posts.
Manually Reach Out to Other Websites
Another effective approach is directly contacting websites to request backlinks. This method is most successful when paired with strong, valuable content.
For instance, you can apply the skyscraper technique: create a superior version of an existing article and then reach out to websites currently linking to the weaker version. If your content delivers greater value, many site owners will be willing to replace or add their link to your piece.
To make this strategy work, it’s important to study your competitors’ backlink profiles. Doing so helps you understand the link-building landscape in your industry and identify opportunities where your content can stand out.
Conclusion
By now, you should have a clear understanding of the difference between referring domains and backlinks. To recap: backlinks are the individual links your site receives from other pages, while referring domains are the websites providing those links. A single website can send you multiple backlinks, but it will still count as just one referring domain.
To boost your search rankings, it’s important to grow both the number of backlinks and the number of referring domains. The next step is to explore how to acquire backlinks for a new website and focus on building high-quality links in a sustainable way.
FAQs on Referring Domains vs Backlinks
1. Are backlinks and referring domains the same thing?
No. A backlink is an individual hyperlink from another website to your site, while a referring domain is the website that provides those backlinks.
2. Can one referring domain give multiple backlinks?
Yes. A single referring domain can create several backlinks by linking to different pages on your site, or by linking multiple times on the same page.
3. Which is more important for SEO: backlinks or referring domains?
Both are important, but referring domains generally carry more weight. Multiple links from one site are useful, but links from many different websites show greater authority and trust to search engines.
4. Why does my site have more backlinks than referring domains?
Because one referring domain can create multiple backlinks. For example, if one website links to ten different pages on your site, that counts as ten backlinks but still only one referring domain.
5. How do I check my backlinks and referring domains?
You can use SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Ubersuggest. These tools show the number of backlinks and referring domains, along with their quality scores.
6. Can too many backlinks from one site hurt my SEO?
Yes, if the ratio of backlinks to referring domains is unnaturally high, it may look manipulative to Google. It’s better to build backlinks from a variety of trusted, relevant sites.
7. How do I get more referring domains?
You can grow your referring domains through strategies like creating high-quality content, guest posting, digital PR, and outreach campaigns.
