Referring Domains VS Backlinks: Everything You Need to Know
It’s no surprise that to rank high in Google, you require links. Links are the bread and butter of the ranking algorithm, serving as the main method by which Google determines fresh content and decides which pieces are the most pertinent and reliable.
To improve your SEO performance effectively, it’s essential to understand the difference between referring domains and backlinks. Both play distinct yet critical roles in building search engine credibility. Focusing on both metrics can help strengthen your site’s authority and improve rankings over time.
Creating a wide-ranging link-building plan is vital to ranking in Google, so having a stronger understanding of link-building is key to transforming your SEO results.
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What is a Backlink?
A digital backlink is a link from one website to another. Google and other search engines use these tactical links to determine a site’s fame and importance.
A site with many high-quality backlinks will be more likely to rank higher in search results than one with fewer backlinks. Additionally, backlinks can help improve a site’s visibility in search results. A link from a trendy website related to your content can help your site stand out from the masses and draw more visitors.
When comparing referring domains vs backlinks, it’s essential to understand that the number of unique referring domains can often be more valuable than the number of backlinks alone. Backlinks are an integral part of any winning SEO strategy, so it’s vital to guarantee that quality links are pointing to your website.
You can present your website content to the directories to get the backlinks, participate in forums, or write guest blog posts. There are many diverse services that you can apply to find the sites that are ready to link to your site.
The quality of a backlink relies upon the linking site’s potency and the link’s importance. A link from a low-quality site will weigh less than a high-quality one. So, it’s imperative to focus on the quality over quantity.
What is a Referring Domain?
A referring domain is the internet address of a site that links to your website. In other words, it’s the website that is sending traffic to your site. Referring domains are necessary as they are one way that Google computes the value of your website.
The more high-quality sites link to your site, the more valuable it will appear on Google, which will lead to higher search results rankings. Understanding referring domains vs backlinks is crucial for SEO success.
Referring Domains vs Backlinks: Don't Ignore!
Referring Domains
- Definition: A website that produces the backlinks to your site.
- Alternate Terms: Linking domains.
- How They Relate: Referring domains make backlinks.
- SEO Impact: SEO is improved if various high-quality referring domains link to your website. Your Google ranking may be negatively affected if all your backlinks come from one or two referring domains.
- Function: Referring domains can help generate organic traffic to your website and indicate its reliability.
Backlinks
- Definition: Hyperlinks that direct the reader from the referring domains to your web page.
- Alternate Terms: Incoming links or inbound links.
- How They Relate: Backlinks come from the referring domains.
- SEO Impact: Many backlinks from trustworthy referring domains can affect your SEO. Few backlinks or spammy backlinks can unhelpfully impact your SEO.
Function: Backlinks provide link equity from the referring domains and can augment your traffic.
If you’re looking for professional SEO services in India, our experts can help you craft a tailored link-building strategy to boost your site’s ranking.
Do Referring Domains vs Backlinks Improve the SEO Value?
The most asked question in SEO is: Which has more value, referring domains vs backlinks? Like most things in SEO, the reply is “It depends.”
Let’s break it.
A backlink is a link from one website to another. So, if site A links to site B, that’s a backlink.
A referring domain is the sum of exclusive domains that connect to your website. So, if websites A and B link to site C, that is two referring domains.
Now, which is more precious?
That depends on the quality of the links. A high-quality backlink from a well-respected site will carry more power than a low-quality backlink from a less well-known site.
Referring Domains vs Backlinks: How Do They Impact SEO?
Backlinks and referring domains are both imperative to your site’s SEO efforts. Backlinks act as a measure of confidence for your site. The more backlinks you have from trusted resources, the higher Google will rate your site.
But not all the backlinks are created equal. Some are more reliable than others and carry more load. Several factors decide the power of a backlink. One is the significance of the web page providing the link. A backlink from a page on a similar topic to your site is much more precious than a link from a page covering something inappropriate.
Second is the link’s anchor text. Since search engines use this text to decide what a page will be about, it helps if the link has vivid anchor text rather than a saying like “click here.”
Counting a keyword in the anchor text of a link can be mostly powerful, but it’s simple to over-optimize links and be penalized by Google. The authority of the site providing the backlink is also imperative.
A backlink from a site that Google considers very commanding, like The Washington Post, will carry more weight than a brand-new site. Low authority backlinks aren’t valueless, though, and they won’t hurt your site’s ranking.
Referring domains also operate as votes of self-assurance and can influence how reliable each backlink is. Some referring domains are better than others, like backlinks. The metrics for evaluating the quality of a referring domain are mostly the same as those for measuring the quality of backlinks, too.
How to Get More Referring Domains For Your Website?
Obtaining the backlinks from authoritative referring domains should be a part of your link-building strategy. There are many ways you can obtain more referring domains to link to your website:
1. Perform Backlink Analysis
Backlink analysis can assist you in determining which outer sites may give backlinks for you (or are previously linking to your site). There are many tools that can help you to find which referring domains are linking to your competitors.
A. Use Google Search Console
If you have correctly set up GSC for your website, simply:
- Head over to your GSC account.
- Select the website property that you wish to check.
- Choose “Links” from the sidebar on the left.
- In the “External links” segment, go for “Top linking sites” and click on the “More” button.
Google Search Console will then show you the total number of outside links, along with the list of referring domains vs. backlinks linking to your site:
B. Use Google Analytics
Head over to your Google Analytics 4 account.
From the left menu, click on Reports.
Go to Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition.
In the table, find the Session source/medium dimension.
Look for sources labeled as referrals to view referring domains.
GA4 doesn’t track backlinks directly, but it shows referring domains through referral traffic sources, helping you compare referring domains vs backlinks using complementary SEO tools.
C. Use LinkMiner
LinkMiner will give you a brief outline of the target domain with many referring domains vs. backlinks that can help you guess your competitor’s authority. With LinkMiner, you can analyze your competitors in just a few clicks:
- Open the LinkMiner tool
- Type the URL of one of your competitor sites
- Choose ‘One link per ref. Domain’
- Hit the ‘Find backlinks’ button
2. Identify Hidden Opportunities
Once you gather all the data concerning your competitors and their backlink profiles, you can manually analyze the selected referring domains and imitate the competitors’ backlinks. Based on the form of the referring area, you can find backlinks in different ways:
- Reach out to the site owners.
- Approach for guest posting.
- Look out for the broken links
- Promote your content on social media
3. Create High-Quality Content
Valuable pages, blog posts, and in-depth articles often act as natural link magnets, attracting backlinks from various external websites. When your content is genuinely useful, it doesn’t just earn backlinks but draws in new referring domains, which is even more powerful for SEO.
Long-form content is especially effective, increasing the chances of gaining many backlinks and a diverse range of referring domains. According to Backlinko’s analysis, long-form content can get almost 77.2% more referring domains vs. backlinks than normal short posts.
Conclusion
We hope the comparison of referring domains vs. backlinks provided valuable insight. Ultimately, it all comes down to how much time and effort you’re willing to invest, and that’s where Tech Savy Crew is here to help.
Memorize that a website can establish a positive, well-known brand and endorse your message online. With your newfound knowledge of referring domains, get to work grabbing as many high-quality domain referrals as possible to increase the value of your website.