What makes a good backlink?
- Relevant: from a site in your industry or area.
- Trusted: from a real site with real visitors, not a link farm.
- Editorial: given because your content deserves it, not bought.
- Natural anchor text: the clickable words describe your page without being stuffed with keywords.
- From a page Google indexes, ideally in the main content.
One link from a respected South African industry association or news site is worth more than hundreds of links from spammy directories.
Safe link building ideas for South African businesses
- Supplier and partner links: ask brands you stock or work with to list you as a stockist or partner.
- Industry associations and chambers of commerce membership directories.
- Local media and PR: share data, launches, community projects or expert comment with local publications.
- Quality business directories relevant to your industry and area (useful for local SEO citations too).
- Create linkable assets: free tools, calculators, original research, templates or guides others want to reference.
- Guest articles on genuinely relevant sites, written to help their readers.
- Unlinked mentions: ask sites that mention your brand to add a link.
- Broken link building: find broken links on relevant sites and suggest your page as a replacement.
Link building to avoid
Google's spam policies prohibit link schemes. Avoid buying links for ranking, private blog networks (PBNs), large-scale link exchanges, automated link tools and cheap "1,000 backlinks" packages. They can lead to manual actions or simply be ignored by Google, wasting your money.
Domain Authority, Domain Rating and other metrics
Domain Authority (DA) is a Moz score and Domain Rating (DR) is an Ahrefs score, both estimating the strength of a site's backlink profile on a 0 to 100 scale. Google does not use them, but they are handy for comparing sites. Treat them as rough guides, not goals.
Questions answered
What are backlinks in SEO?
Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. Relevant links from trusted sites help Google see your pages as credible and improve rankings.
What is off-page SEO?
Off-page SEO covers actions outside your website that build trust and authority, mainly backlinks, but also reviews, brand mentions and citations.
What is link building?
Link building is the process of earning links from other websites to your own, through content, PR, partnerships and outreach.
How many backlinks do I need to rank?
There is no fixed number. Look at how many linking sites the pages already ranking have; you need a comparable or stronger, more relevant profile.
Are backlinks still important in 2026?
Yes. Content quality matters most, but links remain a key way Google measures trust and authority, especially in competitive markets.
What is a dofollow vs nofollow link?
A normal ("dofollow") link can pass ranking value. A nofollow link has rel="nofollow" and tells Google not to pass value, though Google may still use it as a hint.
Should I buy backlinks?
No. Buying links to manipulate rankings breaks Google's spam policies and can lead to penalties. Paid placements must be marked sponsored or nofollow.
What is domain authority?
Domain Authority is a Moz metric from 1 to 100 estimating how likely a site is to rank, based mainly on backlinks. It is not a Google metric.
What is a good domain authority?
It is relative: aim to be comparable with the sites ranking for your keywords. A local business might compete well with DA 15 to 30.
What is anchor text?
Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. Descriptive, natural anchor text helps Google understand the linked page.
What is black hat SEO?
Black hat SEO uses tactics that break search engine guidelines, such as buying links, cloaking, hidden text or keyword stuffing.
What is a toxic backlink?
A toxic backlink is a spammy or manipulative link pointing to your site. Google ignores most of them; disavow only if you have a manual action or a history of link schemes.
What is disavow in SEO?
Disavowing asks Google to ignore specific backlinks using the Disavow Links tool. It is rarely needed and should be used carefully.
What is a citation in local SEO?
A citation is an online mention of your business name, address and phone number, for example in directories. Consistent citations support local rankings.