8 min read
A backlink is a pretty straightforward concept. It is a link from another website that directs users to your website.
As you, however, delve deeper into the topic of SEO, you begin to realize and understand that the Creator did not create all backlinks equal, nor do search engines view them as equal.
You will hear all sorts of arguments on which ones are better than which. This post hopes to rank them in terms of the traffic that can be acquired.
Light up the jets, boys!
Backlinks are the missiles of any ranking in the Internet war.
If you want your website to rank at the top of search engines, you need to understand what armament is available in the backlinks arsenal.
Understand what types of backlinks you can acquire, and their worth, and you can dominate the rankings in no time.
It is a link that you do not ask for directly but instead earn because your content is valuable, relevant, and worth citing.
These links typically appear when a journalist, blogger, or website owner finds your content useful enough to reference it in their own article.
Example:
You publish an in-depth research study about SEO trends, and a well-known marketing blog writes an article summarizing the latest strategies, and they link to your study as a source.
That link would be considered an editorial backlink because it is given voluntarily as a reference, not as part of a paid or negotiated arrangement.
[Rank 1]
Strongest, natural, highly authoritative
It is a link you earn when your site is included on a curated page that lists helpful tools, articles, or references.
These pages are often created to guide users toward the best resources in a particular niche, which makes the backlinks more powerful since they come from pages specifically designed to point people toward valuable content.
Example:
If a university library creates a “Top Resources for Small Business Marketing” page and adds your SEO guide to the list with a link, that would be a resource page backlink.
[Rank 2]
Powerful if from trusted niche resources
They are links you earn by writing and publishing articles on someone else’s website or blog, usually within your industry or niche.
The host site benefits from fresh, relevant content, while you gain exposure to a new audience and a backlink to your own site.
Example:
You write a detailed post about “10 SEO Trends for 2025” on a well-known digital marketing blog and include a link back to your agency’s website in the content; that link is considered a guest blogging backlink.
[Rank 3]
Powerful, especially if from strong domains.
Free tool backlinks refer to an SEO technique where website owners create and offer free online tools. These include calculators, long tail keywords generators, quizzes, analyzers… the list goes on.
The tool aims to provide genuine value to users, encouraging other websites to link back to its page.
Example:
Shuttle SEO built a free long tail keywords generator.
[Rank 4]
Can earn very strong links naturally
A private blog network (PBN) is a network of websites owned by a single entity, often used to create backlinks to a website.
These networks can consist of numerous blogs or websites, which are then used to boost the ranking of a site by one or several links to a website.
There is a YouTube channel called The Grumpy SEO Guy, which extensively discusses this topic.
Example:
Say you have a fitness website and want to rank for “best abs machine” using a PBN. You control 5 niche blogs about fitness and home workouts. Each blog publishes a unique article, like “Top Abs Training Machines”, with a contextual backlink to the site’s abs machine product page using anchor text like “abs machine”.
[Rank 5]
Very powerful in terms of raw link juice, especially from high DA expired domains.
They are links from blog posts. Blogs are typically content-rich, frequently updated, and attract loyal readers, making backlinks a powerful tool for SEO and driving traffic.
Ways to Get Them:
Example:
Writing a guest post on a popular marketing blog titled “Top 10 SEO Tips for Small Businesses” and including a link back to your own SEO agency website.
[Rank 6]
Contextually rich and authority-passing from content-heavy blogs.
These backlinks give credit to a source, tool, or creator for their contribution, often in blog posts or resource pages. They attempt to promote transparency and trust.
Examples:
Blog: “Inspired by Website Squadron“
Resource: “Built with WordPress”
Research: “Per Research Company A, 10% of backlinks are bought”
Collaboration: “Graphic Design Designer Needed“
[Rank 7]
Solid authority depending on context.
They are links to your website shared through webinars, such as in descriptions, chats, or follow-up emails.
To an extent, they boost credibility and rankings due to their association with authoritative sources.
These backlinks can be obtained by hosting webinars with engaging content, promoting them widely, and including website links, or by participating as a guest speaker in industry-related webinars and sharing links in your bio or during discussions.
Example:
If you host a webinar on digital marketing strategies and include a link to your website in the webinar description, a participant might share that link on their blog, creating a high-quality backlink.
[Rank 8]
Medium-high if the hosting domain is authoritative.
Links to your website from individuals with large, engaged audiences in a specific niche, often shared on their social media platforms, blogs, or other online channels.
They are acquired through outreach and partnerships (offering value, such as products or content), guest posting on influencers’ blogs, collaborating on content like webinars or interviews, or engaging on social media to encourage shares.
Example:
An influencer in the fitness niche with a popular blog writes a guest post you provided, including a link to your fitness equipment website in the article.
[Rank 9]
Depends heavily on the influencer’s domain authority.
When other websites display a logo you provide, which includes a link back to your site.
They are acquired by designing an attractive, niche-relevant logo that is easy to embed, reaching out to relevant websites to offer the logo for display, and promoting it through digital PR or targeted outreach.
Example:
You create a grey logo for your brand and offer it to a customer you served, to post on their website.
[Rank 10]
Not as strong unless the sites linking are high DA.
It is the link from other business profiles’ websites to your website. That link pointing back to your site is a business profile backlink.
The outward linking sites typically allow you to add your website URL, creating a backlink to your site.
Example:
Adding your company to Google Business Profile or Yelp with your website link.
[Rank 11]
Lower power, mostly for legitimacy.
They come from publishing a press release on media distribution sites. Your press release mentions your website and includes a clickable link.
They do sometimes fall behind a paywall, which dramatically reduces the number of Internet searchers clicking on that link.
Example:
You publish a press release about your new product on Rolling Stone, and within the article, your website URL is linked.
[Rank 12]
Medium-low, often diluted by syndication.
It is a link in a website’s comment section that points to the commenter’s site, often for SEO or traffic purposes.
Example:
On a blog post, you comment, “I am a huge fan of Madrix products, one cannot go wrong buying this brand.” where the URL links back to your site.
[Rank 13]
Very low link equity, often nofollow.
From social platforms, one can link to your website. These links can come from different parts of a social media platform, such as:
Profiles: link from a social media profile.
Posts: link from a social media post.
Comments: link from the comments section of a post.
Examples:
Profile Link: A link to a website in a X bio.
Post Link: A company shares a blog post on Facebook with a link back to their website.
Comment Link: A user responds to a question on Quora and includes a link to their website for more information.
[Rank 14]
Almost no link equity (nofollow), more for visibility.
Directory websites are websites that list businesses and their websites, often categorized by industry, location, or niche.
These links help to improve a website’s visibility and referral traffic by leveraging the directory’s authority and relevance, rather than your own.
Example:
A mechanic submits his website to a directory like Yelp.
[Rank 15]
Weak unless niche/authoritative.
Links that are placed within online forums, often in user profiles, signatures, or posts (e.g., comments, threads). These links are created when a user contributes to a forum discussion and includes a link to their website, with the idea of driving traffic.
Their effectiveness depends on the forum’s authority, relevance, and the quality of the contribution.
In contracts, spammy or low-quality links can be penalized by search engines.
Example:
A user with a gardening website joins GardenWeb, and in the thread about organic pest control, he shares a detailed post with helpful tips and includes a link to a relevant article on his blog.
[Rank 16]
Low, but slightly better than social media if dofollow.
They are links to a website placed within answers or discussions on Q&A platforms, where users ask questions and others provide answers. The responder then creates a link to their website, aiming to drive traffic to their website.
Examples:
A user asks a question on Quora, and someone answers, including a link to their blog post.
[Rank 16]
Medium, contextual authority boosts value.
Links to your website generated when other websites, blogs, or platforms embed or share an infographic you created and include a link back to your site as the source. Infographics are visually appealing, data-rich graphics that present information in an engaging, easy-to-understand format.
When shared, they often include a link to the original source for credit or additional details, which boosts traffic and SEO.
Example:
A fitness website creates an infographic titled “10 Science-Backed Benefits of Daily Exercise,” packed with stats and colorful visuals. They publish it on their blog and share it on social media. A health blogger finds the infographic valuable and embeds it in their article, including a link back to the blog as the source.
[Rank 17]
It can earn high authority links when widely used.
Link Insertion, also known as Niche Edits or Link Placements, is a backlink strategy in which you place a contextual hyperlink to website that is your site directly within an already-published, indexed post.
Typically as a helpful resource, reference, or related example.
This method delivers SEO impact because the linking page is pre-indexed, is organic and editorial, and often comes from trusted domains with real traffic and authority, making it one of our most effective contextual link-building approaches.
Example:
A home renovation company from Secunda speaks about how they once needed house plans from an architectural draughtsman in Secunda to prepare an online quotation.
[Rank 18]
The 5-minute backlink
Cross-page reciprocal backlinks involve two websites linking to each other, but not directly between the same pages.
Instead, one page on Website A links to a page on Website B, and a different page on Website B links back to a different page on Website A.
This indirect linking strategy aims to appear more natural to search engines compared to traditional reciprocal links, where two sites directly link to each other’s homepage or same pages.
It can help drive traffic, improve SEO, and build relationships, but it must be done carefully to avoid appearing manipulative to search engines, which may penalize unnatural link schemes.
Example
[Rank 19]
Its greatest value is in the anchor texts.
Sweet begeebus, what a mouthful.
Knowing the types of backlinks available and which ones you can acquire should put you in a position of power, or knowledge power.
The plan is simple: get backlinks, and you will dominate rankings.
What some of our customers had to say:
Getting a 1 way backlink from website development companies, where we help them with their SEO, tracking, and reporting, and they give us a link on their website, or websites they manage.
ABC backlinks.
We do not mention them here as they are not a backlink type, as they are technically a backlink exchange strategy, but they have the 2nd highest value.
Cross-page reciprocal backlinks.
What makes them great is that one can control the anchor text on the link. If you therefore want to rank for “architectural draftsman“, you can control the anchor text used in link.
This page was written by u/WebsiteCatalyst on 31 August 2025.
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