Backlinks vs. Referring Domain Guide to Using Both Effectively for SEO
I'm Vipin Chandrapal
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October 8, 2024
What is Digital Marketing?
October 8, 2024
What is Digital Marketing?
October 8, 2024
What is Digital Marketing?
October 8, 2024
What is Digital Marketing?
October 8, 2024
What is Digital Marketing?
October 8, 2024
What is Digital Marketing?
October 8, 2024
What is Digital Marketing?
October 8, 2024
Anybody who dreams of a strong online presence cannot ignore the importance of referring domains. This is a crucial aspect of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Referring domains are similar to backlinks, yet quite different.
To be as clear as a crystal, referring domains are actually external websites that direct your users to your website. At times, they are also called linking domains. Each referring domain may feature one or multiple links.
So, aren’t backlinks enough, you may ask.
Well, they are essential too, but once you know the difference between backlinks vs. referring domain, you would realize you are missing a lot in SEO if you have no referring domain or fewer of them.
Table of Contents
Backlinks vs. Referring Domains
Understanding Backlink
A backlink is a hyperlink that links two different websites. They are of different types. You can insert them in text content (words in the link are called anchor text), images, infographics, and other content.
You can get any number of backlinks. You can also get multiple backlinks from a single website. It’s interesting to note that when one webpage links to another, you receive one backlink. On the other hand, when that very website links to 20 webpages of your site, you receive 20 backlinks!
Talking of Backlinks vs. Referring Domains:
A backlink symbolizes linking of one webpage to another webpage. On the other hand, referring domains symbolize the linking of the whole website to another website.
Backlinks represent the total number of links, while referring domains represent the number of sites that are linking to your site.
The beautiful thing is that you can receive different backlinks from the same referring domain.
As we talk about backlinks vs. referring domains, it does not mean you must choose one from the other. Both are important for effective SEO and both are linked to each other; yet both impact your SEO and your website ranking differently.
Understanding Referring Domains
As mentioned earlier, a referring domain is a site that links to another site. Backlinks represent links between pages, whereas referring domains represent links between websites.
Talking of backlinks vs. referring domains from the point of view of SEO expert, backlinks are different from referring domains in the sense that even if you have hundreds of backlinks, but if they are from a single website, it will be considered only a single referring domain. That’s the reason you may find sites with tens of thousands of backlinks, but only a few hundred referring domains.
Let’s see an example:
Your website receives a backlink from Forbes website. This is a high authority website. You get two backlinks from this site; however, your referring domain, i.e., Forbes, is single. Now suppose you receive a link from another high authority website like Google Sites. Now you have two referring domains and three backlinks (two from Forbes and one from Google Sites).
How Referring Domains Impact Your SEO
A referring domain, also known as a linking domain, is an external website that links to your site through backlinks. From an SEO perspective, having more referring domains can enhance your website’s overall rankings, boost organic traffic, and provide greater brand exposure.
- Referring domains render authority and authenticity to your website.
- They help your website rank higher in search engine results.
- Links from high quality, authoritative websites can have a tremendous impact on your SEO
Things to Remember in Case of Referring Domains
- It is better to have a few links from high quality websites than have a bunch of links from any “Tom, Dick, and Harry” website.
- Relevance is a key factor when choosing referring domains. You must choose links from domains that are relevant to your industry.
- In the same line, you must also have diversity in referring domains to add value to your content.
Remember:
Referring domains and web traffic are directly proportional to each other. The more you have referring domains, the more you have web traffic.
What is More Important Referring Domains Or Backlinks?
Both referring domains and backlinks play a role in effective SEO. They are a part of a bigger link-building strategy, which is essential for high rankings of a website. Simply designing a beautiful website is not enough; you ought to build its authority so that you get more organic traffic and your website enters the good books of major search engines like Google.
SEO majorly begins by creating optimized content. Once you have that, you must make sure that you also have good referring domains that link your content properly.
Remember, when it comes to referring domains and backlinks, quality wins over quantity. You must get backlinks from sites with high DA PA. This means your referring domains must be sites of authority. Only then is your SEO strategy successful.
Please note:
Receiving backlinks from mediocre domains or from domains that are marked as spam by Google can tarnish your online reputation and even attract a “Google link-related” fine. Getting a fine from a major search engine like Google is a disaster. Your website may lose its rankings. In serious case, Google may remove your website from search engine result pages.
So, please tread carefully in the path of linking websites to yours.
Quantity or Quality of Backlinks And Referring Domain
We have already said that quality wins over quantity. Because we can get unlimited backlinks from one referring domain. But quality works on more referring indexable TLD domains. For a better understanding, let’s consider two cases:
- One referring domain can get 100 or more backlinks.
- 10 referring domains can get 100 backlinks.
What is better?
The second case, in which you get 100 backlinks from 10 referring domains, is better than the first one. Why? Because your website gets linked to 10 different authoritative websites, thus, increasing your site’s chances ranking higher.
An intelligent SEO strategy is to create a fine balance between backlinking from various domains with high DA PA and having a good number of backlinks from other websites.
Yes, it’s wonderful to be endorsed multiple times by the same website.
But do you know value of the backlink gets reduced every time the website gives you another link?
To be precise, major search engines like Google start giving you diminishing returns on each successive backlink you receive from the same website.
What SEO Wisdom Says About Referring Domains
To avoid diminishing returns, SEO wisdom suggests having multiple referring domains rather than a single one. Your aim towards effective SEO should be multiplying the number of your referring domains than simply multiplying the number of backlinks. It’s okay if you receive fewer backlinks. Your website can still rank higher, if your referring domains are of high authority.
In this context, once again, we must mention here that your backlinks should come from high quality referring domains with the following qualities:
- Authoritative
- Industry relevance
- Reliability
- Appreciable backlink profiles
Quality linkers and no “serial linkers”
Importance of High-Quality Referring Domains and Backlinks
If you want to establish a strong online presence, you ought to understand backlinks vs referring domains and importance of both. This knowledge will help you build a sound SEO strategy.
Remember:
- Referring domains are great sources of web traffic.
- Search engines take them seriously.
- They depict your business relationships
- They connote the quality of your website’s content
- They can be a significant contributing factor to your high online visibility, if linked properly
People usually know about backlinks, but they are not that well-versed with referring domains. They think it’s great to get 100 backlinks from a single website; however, they fail to understand the power of linking to 100 different high authority domains.
When your website gets linked with high authority referring domains, that’s when the magic begins!
So, for effective SEO, your goal should be to receive as many referring domains and not as many backlinks as possible. In other words, having thousands of backlinks is not always a good thing. You don’t build a strong link profile by loading backlinks. In fact, this would give an impression that you are using black hat tricks for link building. Google might penalize you for an overly high backlink profile.
That’s why, time and again, we remind you that always have backlinks from trusted domains and focus on having more referring domains of high quality than simply having backlinks. You may even have an equal quantity of both, but having exceptionally high backlinks can lead to Google scrutiny.
Hot tips:
- All backlinks are not the same. A few are more authoritative than others; so, take care about this.
- Authority of a backlink depends on several factors, including relevance of webpage from where you are getting the link. If the backlink comes from a website that is from your industry, it is more valuable than a backlink from adjust any website.
- Another factor that affects backlink authority is anchor text of a backlink. As we have mentioned in the beginning, the anchor text must contain your main keywords to make the link more powerful.
Last but not the least, as we have mentioned several times, the PA DA of a website is very important. For instance, if your backlink is coming from a website like CNN, then it carries more weight than a backlink from a new website, as Google considers CNN highly authoritative.
However, that doesn’t mean backlinks from new sites or low authority sites are completely useless. If they are highly relevant to your niche, then please use them, but to an extent.
The better your understanding of backlinks vs. referring domains, the more effective your SEO strategy.
I'm Vipin Chandrapal
I am a professional SEO consultant. Increase your organic traffic and sales with result-driven SEO services. Whether you have an in-house SEO team or are looking for an organic SEO consultant, I can help you accelerate growth with results-oriented SEO and content marketing strategies.
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