How To Get Backlinks To Give Your Website Authority In 2026

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Backlinks matter because they act like trust signals, they tell search engines your page is worth ranking. On this Inspire to Thrive Post, you’ll learn how to earn quality links with clean outreach, smart content angles, and simple checks that keep your link profile safe.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Key Takeaways

  • Backlinks are links from other websites to your site. They help search engines find, crawl, and trust your pages.
  • You can’t control who links to you, but you can earn backlinks by publishing useful content and promoting it in the right places.
  • Practical ways to generate backlinks include guest posting, sharing original resources (guides, tools, templates), and using broken-link outreach on relevant sites.
  • Track your backlinks in Google Search Console (Links report), and use third-party tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Ubersuggest for deeper research.
  • Focus on quality over quantity; a few relevant links from trusted sites beat many low-quality links.
backlinks can give your website authority

Backlinks are links pointing to your website or blog from another website.  Another site is giving your site a reference on their website or blog.

  • Backlink: A backlink is a link from another website to your website.
  • Internal link: An internal link points from one page on your site to another page on your site.
  • Outbound link: An outbound link sends readers from your site to a page on a different website.
  • Anchor text: Anchor text is the clickable words in a link that describe where the link goes.
  • Link attribute (follow, nofollow, sponsored, ugc): Link attributes are HTML tags that tell search engines how to treat a link, follow passes ranking signals, nofollow doesn’t, sponsored marks paid links, and ugc marks user-generated links.

What Is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority is a third-party metric (Moz), Semrush has Authority Score, and Google does not use “DA” as a ranking factor.

  • Participation in Communities – If you visit other blogs, forums, etc., and participate, and they are interested in yours, they will link back to your website.
  • Blog Commenting – Some blogs will offer backlinks; some do provide backlinks when you leave a comment.
  • Teach – If you can teach something in a post that is valuable, others will link to your post and share it with their friends and colleagues.
  • Give away your own product – a product or service like an eBook, or a new plug-in or app.
  • Videos – Make your own video that provides valuable content or unique content. Some people prefer watching videos to reading posts.
  • Debate – Have a debate on your post; sometimes writing a bad review or debating it can generate a lot of back-and-forth.
  • Social Media – Sharing your content via social media is another way to generate links to your site. Creative headlines can help expedite this tactic.
  • Newsletters – If viewers have your newsletter in their email that links to your website, they may click the link in your newsletter to access that information.
  • Guest Posting – When you write for other blogs, you generate a backlink back to your own site.

Find Other Broken Links on Other Relevant Websites

Many SEO experts recommend that if you can find other broken links on relevant websites, you can contact the owner to replace them with your relevant webpage.

Where do you find other broken links?

Using tools like SEMRush or Ahrefs for broken links can help you find other backlinks and identify which are broken. (These tools do cost some money.) But you can try out Ubersuggest for FREE for 7 days as well.

ahrefs for broken backlinks

Many website owners do not want broken links as they can hurt their SEO efforts. They will gladly replace a broken link with another that makes sense for their readers.

However, this process can take some time – especially to find the correct person to email and ask to replace that link with yours.

  • Backlinks are one of the top ways to be found on Google.
  • They are the building blocks of SEO.
  • Spiders crawl the web via links – the more links to your site, the more authority your site has and will show up first in search.
  • These types of links give your website domain authority. This score can be used by advertisers of ads and sponsored posts on your website.

However, buying links can violate Google’s spam policies and lead to ranking drops of your website.

Do you know how you can check your backlinks? By using the Google search console, you can see how many links are going to your website.

top linking sites

Go to Links, then see your external links to your site. Of course, you may also use Bing Webmaster Tools as well.

There are many other tools you can use to further view backlinks and see backlinks that your competitors have. For example, Ubbersuggest, Ahrefs, DeadLinkChecker, and SEMrush are among the many tools you can use to check out backlinks of other websites.

You will notice changes from time to time, as some links become more relevant or are moved away from your site. It’s a great way to know who links to you.

Now, there is a newer feature that shows you your latest links as well.

To check for quality backlinks here is a list you can refer to:

  • Relevance
  • Real traffic
  • Editorial context
  • Not sitewide spam
  • Clean outbound link profile
  • Whether the page is indexe

I love using Link Whisper to find and fix both internal and external links on the blog. Read my review of the tool here. It’s a huge timesaver today to find internal and external links while working on blog posts in WordPress.

You can either unlink the link or replace it with another in a matter of seconds.

Link Whisper

Building backlinks is not just about quantity; it’s about quality. Focus on creating valuable content that others want to link to.

Network with bloggers and influencers in your niche for guest posts and collaborations. Implement these strategies, and watch your website authority climb as you build backlinks to your blog or website.

Your Tips For Us

What other ways do you get backlinks to your website or blog?

Looking to generate backlinks for a cryptocurrency-type website? Read the latest tips here.

What is a backlink, and why does it matter for SEO?

A backlink is a link from another website to your website. Backlinks matter because search engines use links to discover pages and understand which content other sites choose to reference, strong links can help improve visibility in search results.

What is the difference between backlinks, internal links, and outbound links?

Backlinks (inbound links) come from other websites to yours. Internal links connect one page on your site to another page on your site. Outbound links go from your site to another website, you control outbound and internal links, but you do not control backlinks.

Are nofollow backlinks useless?

Nofollow links (often marked with rel=”nofollow” or rel=”sponsored”) typically do not pass ranking signals the same way as followed links, but they can still drive traffic, increase visibility, and lead to followed links later. A natural backlink profile usually includes a mix of link types.

How do you find and earn links from broken-link opportunities?

Use a tool like Ahrefs or Semrush to find broken links on relevant websites in your niche. Then create or match a page on your site that fits the same topic, and email the site owner with the broken URL plus your suggested replacement link.

How can I see which sites link to me?

In Google Search Console, open the Links report and review “Top linking sites” and “Top linked pages.” You can also use tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Ubersuggest to see new links, lost links, and competitor backlinks.

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Lisa Sicard
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59 thoughts on “How To Get Backlinks To Give Your Website Authority In 2026”

  1. Kristine Watson

    I am here to find the best way to better search rank for my website. Thank you for this detailed post. I will definitely try hard to get backlinks with these methods.

  2. Gaurav Kumar

    Hi Lisa,

    Backlinks are more about relevance and authority. This is the reason why search engines want us to use natural and positive link building practices.

    So to gain authority, one needs authority and relevant backlinks in the most natural way possible.

    Thanks!

  3. Majharul Hossain

    Yes, no doubt that back links can improve site authority.

    It’s very important to get higher site authority (actually domain authority by name) to rank well in search engine. Here Back links playing an important role. Search algorithm counts each signal coming from another site to your site.

    Here the equation of site authority- If, Your site authority is-28 and if you got some back links from a few sites with site-authority-80, then your present authority will be shifted quickly.

    But, if you got most of the back links from lower site authority (than yours) then, your site authority will be shifted slowly.

    No negative marking!

    Back links are actually counted as the recommendation by the search engines. So, naturally, if a recommendation coming from an VIP then your reputation will definitely increase. Isn’t it?

    1. Lisa

      Hi Majharul, I usually spam old comments but I had updated old posts and shared them on Twitter so I know that’ how you found it. I like your comment – no negative marketing. You are correction and I’m still wondering is Page Rank or Domain Authority more important these days? SEO has been changing but some of the basics like this remain the same. Thanks for coming by Majharul and commenting on this one. Have a great day!

  4. faheen

    Hi!

    Your website is way too good. I enjoy the valuable data you deliver to your posts. I will save your blog page and look all over again in this article routinely.
    Also i hope your post will help me improve my website.

  5. Suprabhat

    You explained so easily that even i didn’t have to read it again it was set in my mind even i would to Save this page for Future use. By the way thanks for this awesome article

    1. Lisa

      Ni Nilesh, welcome to Inspire to Thrive, glad you could learn something new here. Learning about backlinks can be confusing so I tried to keep it simple here. Thanks for your input and have a wonderful day.

  7. Ellen M. Gregg

    See that? I’m such a good doobie, I clicked through to read this post of yours, Lisa, for additional information about how to improve my PageRank. I’m learning!

  8. Atish Ranjan

    Backlinks means trust. If you are getting backlinks from a relevant dofollow blogs then it benefits you more. As many quality backlinks you will get Google will trust you more hence more benefit in terms of better SERP positions and Page rank.

  9. Donna Spears

    I totally agree of this kind of post and it is very informative. Backlinks is truly very important because it will help your site rank in Google. I don’t understand why there are people who don’t believe in building backlinks.

    1. Lisa

      Hi Donna, I think because it takes a lot of time. Many people don’t take that time to work their websites and then wonder why they are not getting traffic or sales. Thanks for commenting.

  10. Paul Profitt

    Hi Lisa when you say Google, I’m assuming you mean Matt Cutts is not a big fan of article marketing. But things have changed a lot in article marketing since he made that statement. For a start the article directories that I use to submit my articles too. Have changed their rules.

    Most of them now want original content. and article spinning technology (which is something that I have never used by the way) has come on leaps and bounds over the years. That is the reason why I think its worth giving article marketing another try.. And No… starting another blog does not appeal to me, at this moment in time.

    1. Lisa

      Thanks Paul for the update on the articles. I cannot imagine doing any without writing original content with all the changes Google made on that and if you haven’t read it it by now one must be living under a rock.I guess it would be a little easier than maintaining another blog, right?

  11. Paul Profitt

    Hi Lisa

    When I first started out online. I used article marketing as my primary method of getting backlinks to my site. Then all of a sudden social media came along and everybody said that it was the way to go. So I stopped doing article marketing And went with the flow.

    But all things being equal. I am going to start doing article marketing again. Because in my opinion. It beats social media hands down. When it comes to getting backlinks.

    1. Lisa

      Hi Paul, I’ve read Google does not favor article marketing. You’ll have to come back and let me know how that goes. Wouldn’t another blog be another option?

  13. Jackie

    Hi Lisa

    I do tend to forget about webmaster tools, and the amount of information that it provides.

    I know there’s a lot of talk about social signals becoming more prominent than backlinking, and while that may prove to be the case as time moves on, I really don’t think you can ignore the natural backlinking strategies that you’ve outlined. They have been proven to work and until the landscape changes dramatically I’ll still be utilizing these methods.

  14. Jan Bierens

    Google Webmaster tools has some awesome info on ones site. I rechecked it just now. Guess what? It showed 1638 incoming links from your site. #1 in the list. Hmmm.

      1. Jan Bierens

        Hi, Lisa.
        Nope it’s no bad thin for my site. They are ale legit follow/no-follow links. (There is no difference in how Google sees them…) So, it’s a good thing!

  15. Lynn Brown

    Lisa:
    I like the fact that you not only explain what backlinks are & their importance, but also how to generate backlinks & check the statistics using Google webmaster tools. Three of my favorite ways to increase backlinks (from your list) are give-aways (everyone loves a contest, right?), including videos (short, informational videos are excellent ways to share knowledge & greatly decrease the learning curve for those unfamiliar with certain topics) & debate (sometimes, it’s just plain fun to play the role of “devil’s advocate” & get a really juicy exchange of ideas/opinions going!). The more you increase the interaction on your site, the better…right? Thanks for sharing such great info (always love great lists)!

  17. Kundan Bhardwaj

    It is very true Lisa and I totally agree with you about backlinks. They are actually the backbone of your website’s or blog’s seo. I personally have great faith in backlinking and so keep on blog commenting.

  19. Ileane

    HI Lisa, I’m glad you are talking about Google Webmaster tools because so many people forget to use it. These days I have more backlinks coming from Scoop.it than any other site. It’s amazing because I rarely scoop my own blog posts like I see so many other people doing. I get a lot of back links from other bloggers who really like my content as well so it’s important to build those relationships so that people will visit your blog and be aware of the great content your putting out.

    CommentLuv is a big help too!!

    Thanks Lisa.

    1. Lisa

      Hi Ileane and thank you for reminding me about Scoop.it. I lost my password and only works on one machine so I have spent less time with it. Is it mobile friendly now? I love CommentLuv and the premium version I just installed is wonderful. Do you check your webmaster tools daily Ileane?

  20. Lauren

    Thanks for posting this. Great information.

    I haven’t checked my backlinks in a while. I’ll have to swing by Google Webmaster Tools. I never understood how to use “link to this post” at the end of a blog entry. People do it a lot. Is it the blogging version of a RT?

    1. Lisa

      Hi Lauren, I will have to check on your question, that’s a good question and I’m not quite sure. Sounds more like a backlink to me and I would want to know if that is even effective anymore. Will let you know. Thanks for asking it.

  21. Lynn Brown

    Thanks Lisa for this very informative post about backlinks. I am learning more and more on the importance of good backlinks to be seen on the internet.

    I visited the Google Webmaster Tools and it is showing 15,000 links. But the information on the domains linking back to my pages is really interesting. I didn’t some of the folks that have been following me (like you ) were backlinking to my pages on my site. Nice to have this information.

    Always appreciate your good and helpful tips Lisa. Will see you over on Twitter!

    1. Lisa

      You are welcome Lynn – you are so informative on many topics yourself at your blog. yes, I found one site I left one comment and it had hundreds linking back. (More research as to the why) Thanks for coming by and checking it out Lynn. See you on Twitter later.

  22. Tim Bonner

    Hey Lisa

    Thanks for reminding me I should be checking Google Webmaster Tools much more often than I do!

    Great write up and I was always a little bit unclear whether there was a difference between backlinks and inbound links so it’s good to have that cleared up.

    I hope you have a great week.

    Tim

    1. Lisa

      Hi Tim, Me too for years I wondered that and did some research for this post and learned along the way myself. I try to check weekly on the blogs and daily on the retail sites. Sometimes life can get in the way though, right?

  23. Amit Shaw

    Hey Lisa Nice Post.
    BTW I am searching an option to remove unwanted link from GWT.
    Because some guys using my website links and placing that on spammy blogs….. Hope google will soon launch an option to remove unwanted Backlink.
    Thanks for this nice article.

  24. Barry Wells

    Hi Lisa, Happy Monday to you, I hope your week is starting well and continues that way.

    Thanks for writing this post, I’m pretty shocked by the results I found over at webmaster tools.

    I normally just take a look at the Alexa ranking, which tells me I have 364 sites linking to me but I’ve never checked my backlinks or who’s been kind enough to do so.

    Until now. Having just checked I have 14,759 and a list of who has linked as well as what they’ve linked to. Excellent news.

    Great post, that I know is going to help loads of people. Thanks Lisa.

    Have a great week, Barry

    1. Lisa

      Thank you Barry – hope you are doing well this week yourself. Oh yes, and do go back and check weekly or so because it does vary. Glad I was able to provide some good news to you

  25. Cynthia

    Lisa,

    This article is perfect and on time. I have been making some changes to my site so that it is more user friendly. The person who made the changes told me that I should purchase backlinks. Thank you so much for explaining that it is a waste of money. I will admit that I thought about and then decided it was not the best way to spend money on my site. When you are building a website it is hard to know when you are getting good advice or bad advice. Thank you so much for helping me to avoid this piece of bad advice. You are always a wealth of information and help make us better at our aspirations to be getting bloggers.

    Cynthia

    1. Lisa

      I’m glad Cynthia that you were searching for this kind of information today. Timing is everything right? Purchasing backlinks could even hurt you and more than just the pocketbook.

  26. Mayura

    Hi Lisa,

    Informative post about backlinks. I’m really glad you pointed out how to check ’em out on GWT.

    It’s the way how bloggers and webmaster create backlinks. But spammers are creating backlinks to our sites to improve standing of their sites too. So we need to aware of comments we getting on our sites and who are those who links to our website too.

    Social Bookmarking sites are helping on backlinks and we can’t forget about guest posting, right? What about personal email footers with links to websites? AGREE?

    Cheers…

    1. Lisa

      Glad you liked it Mayura. But is there really anything we can do about those spammy ones? (If they are comments we can delete.) Good points about emails and links to websites, yes I imagine they may help but don’t know if they would be long lasting links.

  28. Harleena Singh

    That’s once reason I get a lot of spiders on my blog too Lisa.

    But yes, backlinks are indeed very important for your site for all the reasons you mentioned, and you need to find the right ways to get these links to your site too. Some people tend to buy them or play around and try various ways to get such links, which can harm your site on the long run too.

    Thanks for sharing.

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