What are backlinks, and do they still matter for Google?

Backlinks: what Google reads in a link, and what it treats as spam

Backlinks are links on other sites that point to your pages, and they still matter. Google says it uses links as a signal when determining the relevancy of pages and to find new pages to crawl. Only links Google can crawl count, which generally means an a element with an href attribute. Links made mainly to manipulate rankings break Google's link spam policy and can cost a site its rankings.

Heddle doesn't buy, sell or trade links for clients, because Google's spam policies count that as link spam. Our part is what Google documents. We build links as plain crawlable anchors with descriptive anchor text, and every important page gets a link from at least one other page on the site. How an engagement works.

Sources read October 11, 2026 · by Heddle

What a backlink is to Google

A backlink is a link on someone else's site that points to a page on yours. Google's link guide says it uses links for two jobs: as a signal of how relevant a page is, and as a way to discover new pages to crawl.

A page with no links pointing to it is harder for Google to find at all.

The guide doesn't publish a weight for links or a number to aim for, and its advice on internal links is that there is no magical ideal number, which is a fair way to think about backlinks too.

Which links Google can read

Google can generally only follow a link written as an a element with an href attribute that resolves to a real web address. Links built from other tags, or that only work through a JavaScript click handler, may be skipped.

Links inserted with JavaScript are fine as long as the final markup is a normal a element with an href.

The visible anchor text matters as well, since Google reads it to understand the page being linked to. If the text is empty it can use the title attribute, and for an image link it uses the image's alt text. Generic text such as click here or read more tells it little.

Links Google treats as spam

Google's spam policies define link spam as creating links to or from a site mainly to manipulate rankings. The examples include paying money, goods or services for links, sending a product in exchange for a review with a link, and excessive link swaps.

They also cover partner pages made only for cross linking, automated link building, and low quality directory and bookmark links. Links in widgets or site footers spread across many sites, and optimized links in forum comments or signatures, count too.

Related tactics fall under other policies. Hidden links, such as linking a single hyphen in a paragraph, count as hidden link abuse, and buying an expired domain and repurposing it mainly to manipulate rankings counts as expired domain abuse.

Sites that break the policies may rank lower or drop out of results, and human review can lead to a manual action.

Paid links done properly

Google says buying and selling links is a normal part of the web for advertising and sponsorship. Those links are allowed as long as they carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", which tells Google not to pass ranking credit.

Links that users can add to your site, in a forum or Q&A section, should carry ugc or nofollow.

For links you place yourself, Google's advice is to use nofollow only when you don't trust the source, not on every outbound link. Linking out to cite sources can help establish trust.

Sources

Each was read on October 11, 2026.

What the sources say

Google uses links as a signal when determining the relevancy of pages and to find new pages to crawl (developers.google.com, Link best practices, updated 2025-12-10)
Google can generally only crawl a link if it is an a element with an href attribute; links that work only through script events cannot be reliably extracted (developers.google.com, Link best practices)
Anchor text tells people and Google about the linked page; Google can fall back to the title attribute when a link is empty, and uses an image's alt text as anchor text for image links (developers.google.com, Link best practices)
Google defines link spam as creating links to or from a site primarily to manipulate search rankings, including buying or selling links, excessive link exchanges, and automated link building (developers.google.com, Spam policies)
Paid and sponsored links do not break Google's policies if they carry rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" (developers.google.com, Spam policies)
Google says links users can add, such as in forums or Q&A sections, should carry ugc or nofollow (developers.google.com, Link best practices)
Sites that violate the spam policies may rank lower or not appear in results at all, detected by automated systems and, as needed, human review that can lead to a manual action (developers.google.com, Spam policies)

Questions

Is it against Google's rules to buy backlinks?

Buying links for ranking purposes is link spam under Google's policies. Paid links for advertising or sponsorship are allowed if they are marked with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".

Do link exchanges hurt rankings?

Excessive link exchanges, the link to me and I'll link to you kind, and partner pages made only for cross linking are listed as link spam. Sites that break the spam policies may rank lower or not appear in results.

Does anchor text matter for backlinks?

Yes. Google reads anchor text to understand the linked page and asks for text that is descriptive and concise. Stuffing keywords into anchor text is keyword stuffing, which also breaks its spam policies.

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