{"id":16458,"date":"2020-02-24T13:27:52","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T19:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/?p=16458"},"modified":"2020-09-04T15:52:03","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T20:52:03","slug":"backlinks-inbound-links-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/backlinks-inbound-links-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"Backlinks: Inbound Links Are the Lifeblood of SEO, and Here&#8217;s Why"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0\">\r\n<article class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0\">\r\n<section class=\"wp-block-group alignfull is-style-beige has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-772205c6 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained is-style-beige--1\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\">\r\n<header class=\"wp-block-group c-breadcrumbs aligngrid has-global-padding is-content-justification-left is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-61973aa6 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0\">\r\n<header class=\"wp-block-group aligngrid is-content-justification-left is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d68226ec wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30)\">\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\" style=\"margin-bottom:5px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mediavine-dev.d1.moderntribe.qa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/chevron-left2.svg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-542\" style=\"aspect-ratio:9\/16;object-fit:contain;width:auto;height:20px\"\/><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"is-style-small is-style-small--2\"><a href=\"\/blog\/\">Back to Blog<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/header>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity aligngrid\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0\"\/>\r\n<\/header>\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"wp-block-group alignfull is-style-default has-neutral-20-background-color has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--70);padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60)\"><div class=\"aligncenter aligncenter wp-block-tribe-terms\"><ul class=\"wp-block-tribe-terms__list\"><li class=\"wp-block-tribe-terms__term\"><span class=\"wp-block-tribe-terms__link t-category\">SEO Like A CEO<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h1 style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10);\" class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-post-title\">Backlinks: Inbound Links Are the Lifeblood of SEO, and Here&#8217;s Why<\/h1>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-content-justification-center is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-9b38c6d9 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);margin-bottom:0;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0\"><div style=\"margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;margin-left:0;margin-right:0;\" class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-post-author-name\">Eric Hochberger<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>\u2022<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0;padding-right:0;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;margin-left:0;margin-right:0;\" class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-post-date has-10-font-size\"><time datetime=\"2020-02-24T13:27:52-06:00\">February 24, 2020<\/time><\/div><\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0\">In the previous edition of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/what-is-seo-introducing-the-mediavine-search-engine-optimization-series\/\">Mediavine&#8217;s SEO series<\/a>, we discussed the importance of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/external-links\/\">external links<\/a>, or links you send out to other websites.\n\nOn the other side of the SEO coin, and perhaps even more fundamental to your longterm website health, are inbound links or backlinks.\n\nThe terminology can be confusing.\n<div class=\"video-responsive\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WW0ER6Er1gQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<!--more-->\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/the-art-of-giving-and-receiving-backlinks\/\">Backlinks<\/a> are often called inbound links or one-way links in the world of SEO. By any name, they are <strong>links to you from third parties<\/strong>.\n\nObviously, the more backlinks you receive, the better, but there are a surprising number of additional factors and nuances involved.\n\nWhich backlinks help the most? How do you determine quality? Where should they point to? Below, we&#8217;ll break down all of this and more.\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-16531 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Backlinks.jpg\" alt=\"What are backlinks?: Why they are so important, and how inbound links are essential for SEO success. - Mediavine Pinterest Image\" width=\"735\" height=\"1102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Backlinks.jpg 735w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Backlinks-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Backlinks-307x460.jpg 307w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/>\n<h2>Backlinks: Essential For SEO Success<\/h2>\nWhile we always stress to publishers that producing high-quality content is the single most important factor in long-term ranking success, that&#8217;s ultimately an inexact science, and not to mention subjective.\n\nWhat <em>is<\/em> quality content? What makes content the best, not just good? That is what Google is trying to determine every second, using many variables.\n\nEnter the famous backlink.\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/pagerank-why-links-are-so-important\/\">PageRank<\/a>, the original foundation of the Google search engine, was built upon the simple concept of a backlink being a &#8220;vote&#8221; for a site.\n\nWhile there&#8217;s more to the ranking algorithm than PageRank, backlinks are often cited as the most important facet by SEO analysts.\n<h3>Quality, Not Just Quantity, Moves the Needle<\/h3>\nThe sheer number of backlinks pointed at your site isn&#8217;t what matters, although by consistently producing good content over time, you&#8217;ll likely accumulate a fair amount.\n\nQuality matters more than most people realize, though. Think back to my PageRank post. The higher a website&#8217;s PageRank, the more their link to you is ultimately worth.\n\n<em>No matter what linking model Google is using this month or what tweaks they made to the ranking algorithm, this is fundamentally true.<\/em>\n\nYou need backlinks from sites that are authorities, and they become authorities by others linking to them. In essence, it&#8217;s still PageRank.\n\nIn real-world terms, if a blog is just starting out, its links to you won&#8217;t mean as much as those from a long-established blogger that consistently ranks well in the search engines.\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-11093 size-mv_create_no_ratio\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/designer-desk-735x490.jpg\" alt=\"Desk with coffee, computer, smart phone and office supply organizer on top.\" width=\"735\" height=\"490\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/designer-desk-735x490.jpg 735w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/designer-desk-441x294.jpg 441w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/designer-desk-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/designer-desk-690x460.jpg 690w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/designer-desk.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/>\n<h3>A Diverse, Unique Link Profile is Important, Too<\/h3>\nWhile backlinks from the same few sources can be easier and will certainly help boost PageRank, receiving links from a variety of web pages is even more impactful.\n\nThink of it like this: Would you trust a single critic&#8217;s review of a film? Even a famous one? Maybe, but a Rotten Tomatoes score better summarizes how <em>all<\/em> critics feel.\n\nMultiple authorities telling Google that your website is, itself, an expert on a particular subject makes a significant difference \u2014 as does the range of pages they link to.\n\nJust as a studio wants critics to review every movie they release, you want the authorities in your niche to link to as many of your blog posts as possible.\n<h3>Relevant Authorities Drive the Most Value<\/h3>\nJust as you&#8217;re not an expert in every field, no website is either.\n\nYou&#8217;ll often see me say this throughout the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/category\/seo-like-a-ceo\/\">Mediavine SEO series<\/a>: Google is constantly parsing websites to establish what you \u2014 and the rest of the web \u2014 are authorities in.\n\nAgain we return to the theme of increased value from higher-quality, relevant backlinks \u2014 in this case, links from authorities on the same topic you&#8217;re writing about.\n\nIf <em>The New York Times<\/em> links to you, that&#8217;s terrific and its high PageRank will help, but it doesn&#8217;t necessarily make them the most valuable authority on every subject.\n\nA well-established site in your niche, even with a lower PageRank than the <em>Times<\/em>, is likely to be even more useful if Google has established it as an authority in your space.\n\nDon&#8217;t focus too much on how &#8220;big&#8221; a site is relative to the overall web. A variety of niche-specific backlinks from quality sites will deliver the SEO results you need.\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9715 size-mv_create_no_ratio\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/blogging-735x490.png\" alt=\"Woman blogging on laptop computer.\" width=\"735\" height=\"490\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/blogging-735x490.png 735w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/blogging-441x294.png 441w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/blogging-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/blogging-690x460.png 690w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/blogging.png 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/>\n<h2>Homepage Links Are Fine, But Deep Links Are the Key<\/h2>\nSome of the most common links you&#8217;re likely to get are homepage links \u2014 people will mention your site by name and link to it. But what you&#8217;re really after are &#8220;deep links.&#8221;\n\nDeep links, or links directly to the content, not only provide a much better user experience, but do a better job of telling Google specifically what&#8217;s great about your content.&nbsp;\n\nWhen I refer to Google on a SEO topic, I try to link directly to the blog post or video; I don&#8217;t link to Google or YouTube generally and tell you to search for it there.\n\nThat would be a terrible user experience and sounds ridiculous when phrased that way, but surprisingly, a lot of people don&#8217;t follow simple SEO or UX best practices.\n\nPeople quoting a source with links to their homepage is a common practice. If you have the relationship with the linker, reach out and ask them if they&#8217;ll go deeper.\n\nUX aside, Google&#8217;s algorithm is going to love this. You&#8217;ll get much more mileage from backlinks pointed directly to a page that&#8217;s the most relevant authority on a subject.\n<h2>What Anchor Text is Ideal For Backlinks?<\/h2>\nIf you remember my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/what-is-anchor-text-seo-best-practices-for-links\/\">anchor text<\/a> blog post (I forgive you if you didn&#8217;t), I discussed how exact or partial keyword matching offer the best user experience.\n\nIt sounds obvious, but again, often times publishers don&#8217;t choose anchor text that matches what the content is about and should really be the keyphrase.\n\nOf course, absent a close relationship with the publisher linking to you, the choice of anchor text on backlinks is ultimately beyond your control.\n\nTry not to stress out about this and instead focus on the anchor text you select when using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/internal-links-pagerank-and-simple-seo-you-can-control\/\">internal links<\/a> \u2014 the SEO you <em>can<\/em> control.\n<h2>How Do You Get Backlinks?<\/h2>\nAsk nicely? We kid, but this important SEO question is also one of the hardest to answer. How do you get people to link to you, anyway?\n\nJoshua Unseth did a great guest blog post on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/the-art-of-giving-and-receiving-backlinks\/\">how to get backlinks<\/a> \u2014 and how giving and receiving them is something of an art form.\n\nWe kid again, but not entirely. It&#8217;s a great place to start, and we&#8217;ll be writing a complete guide on these backlink strategies in the future.\n<h2>Backlink Tags 101: nofollow, ugc, sponsor&nbsp;<\/h2>\nWhile some SEO analysts think <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/how-to-use-nofollow\/\">nofollow links<\/a> do carry some weight in Google&#8217;s algorithm, the company says that links with the <code>rel<\/code> tags of&nbsp; <code>nofollow<\/code>, <code>ugc<\/code> or <code>sponsor<\/code> &#8220;will generally not be followed.&#8221;&nbsp;\n\nWhen we refer to backlinks, we&#8217;re only considering backlinks <strong>without<\/strong> one of the aforementioned <code>rel<\/code> tags. In other words, the default behavior of links \u2014<em> do follow<\/em>.\n\nWhile Google may make exceptions \u2014 it&#8217;s easy to see a scenario in which a nofollow link from a source like Wikipedia might be followed \u2014 it&#8217;s much simpler to assume not.\n\nThinking in binary terms where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/when-to-use-no-follow\/\">nofollow links<\/a> are not followed, as the name implies, is generally more helpful to publishers trying to focus their link hunting efforts.\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-mv_create_no_ratio wp-image-7848\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/hands-computer-735x489.jpg\" alt=\"using a computer\" width=\"735\" height=\"489\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/hands-computer-735x489.jpg 735w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/hands-computer-441x293.jpg 441w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/hands-computer-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/hands-computer-692x460.jpg 692w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/hands-computer.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/>\n<h2>Can Bad Links Hurt You?<\/h2>\nIn our post on external links, we discussed Google bombing, the infamous prank of a bygone era in which a deluge of external links were able to drive up rankings to a post.\n\nThe point was that it&#8217;s possible for external links to be used in a way to manipulate Google. There&#8217;s also a chance they can harm you, but likely not how you think.\n\nLinks from non-authorities or spammy sites aren&#8217;t necessarily going to hurt you. As with Google bombing, Google has done its best to get smarter with bad links.\n\nGoogle knows inbound links are not something you can control, and therefore, they&#8217;re not going to ding you for a few links from sources that are less than ideal.\n\nThe only concern is if Google believes you are buying bad links or spamming, in which case you&#8217;ll get an &#8220;unnatural links to your site&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/9044175?hl=en&amp;visit_id=637177262510514932-1877178515&amp;rd=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">manual action<\/a>.\n\nIf you&#8217;re registered for Google Search Console and did not receive one of these notifications, then your bad links aren&#8217;t hurting you. Just ignore them.\n\nIf you receive one of these warnings, then you&#8217;ll know Google has noticed and it&#8217;s impacting your SEO. Otherwise, this isn&#8217;t worth losing sleep over.\n\nWe repeat, <strong>DO NOT BUY LINKS<\/strong> and you&#8217;re fine. You also don&#8217;t need to <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/2648487?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">disavow bad links<\/a>, unless you received a penalty or a manual action.\n\n<em>NOTE: Link disavowal is a controversial topic with a lot of differing views, and one we will revisit with more detailed blog post in the future.<\/em>\n<h2>TL;DR? Quality, Depth and Understanding<\/h2>\nBacklinks are the internet voting for your website.\n\nThey establish you as an authority. The more diverse your link profile is, the deeper within your site the links go and the most relevant sources you have, the better.\n\nHowever, it&#8217;s important to understand the limitations of backlinks, and what you can and can&#8217;t control. Focus your efforts accordingly. Trust in yourself, and Google.\n\n<em>Are you keeping up with our SEO series? Our next posts are centered around <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/what-is-a-keyword\/\">keywords<\/a>, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/long-tail-keywords\/\">longtail keywords<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/keyword-prominence\/\">keyword prominence<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/keyword-density\/\">keyword density<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/keyword-proximity\/\">keyword proximity<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/keyword-research\/\">keyword research<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/em><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:0\">\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-09aec4f2 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-right:0;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60)\">\r\n<p class=\"is-style-small is-style-small--3\">About the author<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);\" class=\"wp-block-post-author\"><div class=\"wp-block-post-author__avatar\"><img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/152dc08941c75895b80ffc4d0f79236a870658434ec66e25f227ffe962e70114?s=96&#038;d=blank&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/152dc08941c75895b80ffc4d0f79236a870658434ec66e25f227ffe962e70114?s=192&#038;d=blank&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo' height='96' width='96' \/><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-author__name\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/author\/eric\/\" target=\"_self\">Eric Hochberger<\/a><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-post-author__bio\"><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-7c04bf6b wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:0\">\r\n<p class=\"is-style-small is-style-small--4\">Share this page<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing has-normal-icon-size has-icon-color is-style-logos-only is-content-justification-left is-layout-flex wp-container-outermost-social-sharing-is-layout-9d3a6402 wp-block-social-sharing-is-layout-flex\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10)\"><li style=\"color: #000000; \" class=\"outermost-social-sharing-link outermost-social-sharing-link-linkedin has-base-black-color wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link\">\n\t<a 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class=\"c-post-card__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-post-card__image aspect-ratio-cover aspect-ratio-3-2\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"582\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-1024x582.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"woman concentrating on her laptop in a workspace\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-1024x582.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-320x182.jpeg 320w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-768x436.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-1536x872.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-2048x1163.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-1170x664.jpeg 1170w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-375x213.jpeg 375w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-800x454.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-569x323.jpeg 569w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-353x200.jpeg 353w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-288x164.jpeg 288w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-335x190.jpeg 335w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-347x197.jpeg 347w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-520x295.jpeg 520w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-640x363.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-960x545.jpeg 960w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-1080x613.jpeg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-post-card__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__primary-category t-category\">SEO<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"c-post-card__title t-display-xx-small t-transparent-underline\">Should I Republish Content? There&#8217;s a Better Way<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__metadata\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-author t-body-small\">Eric Hochberger<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-separator t-body-small\">\u2022<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-date t-body-small\">Oct 21, 2021<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__excerpt\">Back to Blog \u2022 Whether it&#8217;s for SEO or monetization purposes, we always encourage publishers to update old content. We&#8217;ve discussed at length how specifically to update content to improve RPM and optimize for SEO, but today we\u2019re focusing on a specific and surprisingly controversial aspect. How to handle the modified and published date may&#8230;<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/should-i-republish-content-theres-a-better-way\/\" class=\"c-post-card__link-overlay\" aria-label=\"Read more about Should I Republish Content? There&#8217;s a Better Way\"><\/a>\n<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"c-post-card c-post-card__layout-vertical\">\n\t<div class=\"c-post-card__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-post-card__image aspect-ratio-cover aspect-ratio-3-2\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-1024x682.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"man standing up using a desktop computer\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-320x213.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-1170x779.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-375x250.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-555x370.jpg 555w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-344x229.jpg 344w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-281x187.jpg 281w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-335x223.jpg 335w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-347x231.jpg 347w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-520x346.jpg 520w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-640x426.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-960x640.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-1080x719.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-post-card__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__primary-category t-category\">Mediavine<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"c-post-card__title t-display-xx-small t-transparent-underline\">SEO is a Garden a.k.a. The Parboil Strikes Back<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__metadata\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-author t-body-small\">Eric Hochberger<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-separator t-body-small\">\u2022<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-date t-body-small\">Oct 11, 2021<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__excerpt\">Back to Blog \u2022 Today on the Mediavine blog, we&#8217;re throwing it back to 2017, famously known to SEO experts across the web as the Year of the Parboil. It was never actually known as such, of course, but an experiment from back then remains instructive and shapes our SEO strategies today. A blog post&#8230;<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/seo-is-a-garden\/\" class=\"c-post-card__link-overlay\" aria-label=\"Read more about SEO is a Garden a.k.a. The Parboil Strikes Back\"><\/a>\n<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"c-post-card c-post-card__layout-vertical\">\n\t<div class=\"c-post-card__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-post-card__image aspect-ratio-cover aspect-ratio-3-2\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"woman looking at her laptop sitting on the couch\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-320x213.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-375x250.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-555x370.jpg 555w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-344x229.jpg 344w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-281x187.jpg 281w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-335x223.jpg 335w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-347x231.jpg 347w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-520x346.jpg 520w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-640x426.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-post-card__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__primary-category t-category\">SEO<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"c-post-card__title t-display-xx-small t-transparent-underline\">Should You Delete Content or Just Stop Linking? An SEO Dilemma<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__metadata-readtime\">8 minutes<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__metadata\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-author t-body-small\">Eric Hochberger<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-separator t-body-small\">\u2022<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-date t-body-small\">Jul 13, 2021<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__excerpt\">Back to Blog \u2022 If you&#8217;re a new blogger, bookmark this and come back in a few years. But if you&#8217;ve been blogging for awhile, you may have already asked yourself this SEO question: Should you delete content that&#8217;s old and\/or not doing a lot for you? Looking for a quick answer? Sorry. We&#8217;re going&#8230;<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/should-you-delete-content-or-just-stop-linking\/\" class=\"c-post-card__link-overlay\" aria-label=\"Read more about Should You Delete Content or Just Stop Linking? An SEO Dilemma\"><\/a>\n<\/article>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/aside>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back to Blog \u2022 In the previous edition of Mediavine&#8217;s SEO series, we discussed the importance of external links, or links you send out to other websites. On the other side of the SEO coin, and perhaps even more fundamental to your longterm website health, are inbound links or backlinks. The terminology can be confusing&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10413,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,93],"tags":[],"audience_post":[],"class_list":["post-16458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo","category-seo-like-a-ceo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Backlinks: Inbound Links Are the Lifeblood of SEO, and Here&#039;s Why - Mediavine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The number of backlinks pointing to your website, or inbound links, are important for SEO. But quality matters more than quantity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/backlinks-inbound-links-seo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Backlinks: Inbound Links Are the Lifeblood of SEO, and Here&#039;s Why\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The number of backlinks pointing to your website, or inbound links, are important for SEO. But quality matters more than quantity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/backlinks-inbound-links-seo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mediavine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mediavinepublishernetwork\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-24T19:27:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-04T20:52:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/blog-design.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"735\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"519\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eric Hochberger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mediavine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mediavine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eric Hochberger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/backlinks-inbound-links-seo\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/backlinks-inbound-links-seo\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Eric Hochberger\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ebd6f771035eb5c34fc588d95c5322bb\"},\"headline\":\"Backlinks: Inbound Links Are the Lifeblood of SEO, and Here&#8217;s Why\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-24T19:27:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-04T20:52:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/backlinks-inbound-links-seo\/\"},\"wordCount\":1585,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/backlinks-inbound-links-seo\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/blog-design.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"SEO\",\"SEO Like A CEO\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/backlinks-inbound-links-seo\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/backlinks-inbound-links-seo\/\",\"name\":\"Backlinks: Inbound Links Are the Lifeblood of SEO, and Here's Why - Mediavine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/backlinks-inbound-links-seo\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/backlinks-inbound-links-seo\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/blog-design.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-24T19:27:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-04T20:52:03+00:00\",\"description\":\"The number of backlinks pointing to your website, or inbound links, are important for SEO. 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