How many backlinks do you need to rank?

There is no magic number of backlinks that gets a page onto the first page of Google. Links are one signal among many, and how many you need depends on your keyword: match the number and quality of relevant sites linking to the pages that already rank, and make your page the better answer.

A handful of links from respected, relevant sites usually does more than hundreds from sites nobody reads.

What are backlinks and why do they matter?

A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Google's guide to its ranking systems says it uses link analysis systems to understand how pages link to each other, which helps it work out what pages are about and which are most helpful. PageRank, the system Google launched with, is still part of its core ranking systems.

So links still matter. But they are not the only thing that matters, and Google has become much better at ignoring links that were not earned.

How many backlinks do I need to rank?

It depends on the competition for your keyword. A simple way to estimate it:

1. Search your target keyword and note the pages in the top five to ten results.
2. Check their backlinks in any backlink tool. Look at the number of unique linking websites (referring domains), not the total number of links. One site linking 500 times is still one site.
3. Look at quality, not just count. Are the links from real, relevant sites in the same industry, or from directories and spam pages?
4. Compare content. If the ranking pages have few links but thin content, a much better page may rank with few links. If they all have strong content and many relevant links, you will need both.

That gives you a realistic target for that keyword. Expect it to differ a lot between a niche B2B question and a broad, commercial keyword.

Can you rank without backlinks?

Yes, for some searches. At SERP Conf in April 2024, Google's Gary Illyes said Google needs very few links to rank pages, as reported by Search Engine Journal. He later posted that he should not have said it, without saying it was wrong. In practice, pages with few or no links can rank for specific, less competitive questions. For competitive keywords, it rarely happens.

What makes a high-quality backlink?

Google does not publish a checklist, but its documentation points in a consistent direction.

• Relevance. A link from a site about your topic, from a page about your topic, makes sense to readers and to search engines.
• A real, trusted site. A site with genuine readers and its own earned links is worth more than one that exists to sell links.
• Natural anchor text. Google's link best practices ask for descriptive, concise anchor text and warn that forcing keywords into it can count as keyword stuffing. Your brand name, a page title or a plain description is fine.
• Editorial context. A link placed by an editor inside a relevant article, because it helps the reader, is the kind of link Google's systems are built to reward. Our guide to contextual backlinks goes deeper.

What about Domain Authority?

Scores such as Domain Authority (Moz), Domain Rating (Ahrefs) and Authority Score (Semrush) are estimates made by those tools from their own link data. They help you compare sites quickly, but they are not Google metrics. Google's John Mueller has said several times that Google does not use domain authority, as Search Engine Journal has documented. Read more in our glossary entry on domain authority.

Can you have too many backlinks?

Not if they are earned. A page that goes viral can gain thousands of links in a week without any problem.

What causes trouble is links that look manufactured. Google's spam policies list examples of link spam, including:

• Buying or selling links that pass ranking credit, including paying with products or services
• Excessive link exchanges ("link to me and I'll link to you")
• Using automated programs to create links
• Guest posts, advertorials or press releases with optimised anchor text links that pass credit
• Low-quality directory and bookmark links, widget and footer links, and forum comments with optimised links

Paid links for advertising or sponsorship are allowed, as long as they carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". Those links do not pass ranking credit.

How do you get good backlinks?

These methods fit within Google's guidelines because they give other sites a reason to link:

• Original research and data. Surveys, benchmarks and analyses that other writers want to cite.
• Genuinely useful guides. How-to content, templates and tools that answer a question better than what exists.
• Broken link building. Find dead links on relevant pages, tell the site owner, and suggest your page as a replacement if it truly fits.
• Resource pages. Ask to be listed on curated resource pages in your industry when your content belongs there.
• Guest articles. Writing for respected industry sites can bring readers and links, as long as the article is real editorial work and not a vehicle for keyword-rich links. See our post on the benefits of guest posting.
• Digital PR and expert commentary. Journalists and bloggers link to sources they quote.

Avoid paid link schemes, link farms and forum link spam. They break Google's spam policies and can lead to a manual action.

Should you disavow bad backlinks?

Usually not. Google says it can assess which links to trust without extra guidance, so most sites will not need the disavow tool. It recommends using it only when you have a considerable number of spammy, artificial or low-quality links pointing to your site and they have caused, or are likely to cause, a manual action. Misusing it can harm your site's performance, so try to have bad links removed at the source first.

The short answer

Stop counting links and start comparing. Look at what the pages that already rank have, build a better page, and earn links from sites your buyers actually read. For the full approach, read building backlinks: what you need to know and our guide to white hat SEO.