How Many Backlinks Does Your Site Need?

Understanding backlinks

Backlinks are hyperlinks to your site from other sites. If you’re an authority in your industry, a website may link to yours since you’re a credible source of information.

If you’ve created a high-quality, unique piece of content, a website may link to yours to spread the word about something great you made. There are dozens of potential scenarios like this, and they all have the potential to give you increased traffic and better rankings on search engines.

The best ways to get links to your website is a combination of establishing yourself with credibility, creating outstanding content, and forging those valuable networking connections with other websites.

It may take a long time and a lot of effort, but establishing yourself with a reputation for quality and trustworthiness is invaluable online.

Why do search engines like backlinks?

Backlinks are appealing to search engines because they are indicators that someone else likes your website. When a search engine recognizes that you have backlinks to pages on your site, they see it as someone else saying “I know about this subject, but this website knows it even better.”

Google confirms its ranking systems look at how pages link to each other to understand what pages are about and which are most helpful for a query.

With that in mind, there are some disreputable businesses online that will use sneaky, under-handed ways of achieving links, which is often called “black hat” SEO.

These dealers accept payment in exchange for links to your website across numerous other sites. The problem is that Google and other search engines are so sophisticated that they can tell when you purchase links, and — beyond that — they can tell when your links come from poor sources.

Basically, if you hear about a plan to build links, and it costs money, don’t use it. It likely constitutes a “link scheme,” which carries heavy penalties from Google and other search engines.

The worst possible penalty is de-indexing, meaning search engines will no longer show your site in search results. That deals a heavy blow to your growing business, and the possible payoff of link schemes isn’t worth the risk of de-indexing.

But now that you know more about backlinks, there’s another burning question about linkbuilding.

How many backlinks are enough?

Since Google’s algorithm has become so much more sophisticated over the years, the quantity of backlinks matters less on its own than the quality of backlinks. Google says the number of quality pages linking to a page is a signal that it may be a trusted source on a topic.

Across 15 industries, an average of 92.2% of backlinks pointing to page-one sites are editorial links, and directory and resource links combined are under 8%.

That means the links behind page-one rankings are mostly ones other sites chose to place in their own content, not listings you submit yourself.

This means Google (and other search engines) look to see who’s linking to your site. If that site has a lot of reputable, organic backlinks, then their link passes more power to you.

But if it’s a site from a disreputable source, it could be an indicator that you’re in a bad link neighborhood, you can (and should) disavow that link so that it doesn’t hurt your site.

However, you should only disavow links if you have a Google penalty AND purchased spammy links. If you didn’t purchase links and don’t have a penalty, you shouldn’t disavow links. Disavowing the wrong links can hurt your SEO.

It’s not as easy to get a link from a website like the New York Times as it is from other, lesser-known sources, but that’s the point of Google’s algorithm — if you get a link from one of the best sites on the Internet, you must be doing something right.

And if you’re doing something right, Google will know that you run a quality website and recommend it to their search engine users.

Basically, when a website vouches for you with a link, Google is more comfortable vouching for you to their users. The better you look, the more comfortable Google will be in recommending you.

Curious about how your backlink profile stacks up against competitors?

Use a tool like Ahrefs to take a look at your unique referring domains and compare your Domain Rating (how authoritative your domain is) to your competitors’.

How to set a backlink target for your site

A backlink target for your site comes from the pages you compete with, not an industry average. Count the referring domains of the pages ranking on page one for your keyword, then close the gap with relevant, editorial links.

Here’s a breakdown:

1. Start with your keyword, not your industry. Local keywords often need far fewer links than industry averages suggest. For “roof repair near me,” page-one sites have a median of just 144 referring domains, vs. a 461 median for the Home & Garden industry overall, in our backlink study.
2. Benchmark three to five page-one competitors. Pull each ranking page’s referring domains in Ahrefs or a similar tool. Set your first target at the lowest page-one competitor and a longer-term target at the leaders.
3. Count only links worth keeping. Before a new referring domain counts toward your target, check that the site is relevant to your industry and links to you from real content. Directory listings won’t close much of the gap, since editorial links make up most of what page-one sites have.
4. Plan for steady growth. Page-one sites gain an average of 48 new referring domains per month across 15 industries, based on a Q1 2026 snapshot. A one-time link push falls behind competitors who keep earning links every month.
5. Track AI citations alongside links. Teams use OmniSEO®, WebFX’s AI search visibility platform, to track how often ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews cite and mention their brand and competitors. When competitors show up in those answers and you don’t, add the sites those answers cite to your outreach list.

5 ways to get backlinks

Now that you know why links are so important, there are some different methods you can use to get backlinks that help your SEO and improve your online reputation with Google.

1. Create high-quality content. Infographics, long-form, whitepapers, blog posts, landing pages, and more are all at your disposal to create something fascinating about your industry. The more in-depth you go, the more likely your content will naturally rank well on search engines, and it’ll probably attract more links from outside sources. It’s a win-win!
2. Share your content with your audience. Whether you want to email all of your customers or get the word out via social media, it’s easier for other websites to link to you when people know that you just made something great. The links from social media sites may not directly impact your SEO ranking, but they tell others about your site so that they can link to you.
3. Reach out to industry personalities. Establishing a rapport with the popular leaders of your industry gives you a chance to make valuable connections and promote your business on a person-to-person basis. Reaching out to share content, offer different opportunities, and more are all great options to start that relationship.
4. Establish a portfolio and write for industry publications. When you create a blogger or writer persona, you open the door to the possibility of writing for a number of different outlets online. And the more outlets that hire you, the more opportunities you have to add backlinks to your site from theirs. While this may sound like a black hat technique, the key is to only link to your site if it’s relevant and helps the user — if your link can’t do either of those things, then you shouldn’t link.
5. Regularly update your blog. As a business website, you should have a blog that’s updated regularly for two reasons: Google loves to see that your site is consistently updated, and readers like to know when they can expect the next post from your business. Updating your blog with strong, unique content appeals to both of those criteria and increases the chance that someone will find something they like on your site and, eventually, link to it.

When you’re working on getting backlinks, remember that it’s not always the quantity that counts — it’s the quality.

Build an authoritative backlink profile with WebFX

If you’re too busy running your business, we understand that you may not always have the time to work on building links to your website. That’s where WebFX can help.

Our Internet marketers and SEO specialists know exactly how to get valuable links to your website from reputable, credible sources, so you can grow your brand’s visibility on search engines and in AI answers.

For Thompson Tractor, our earned media team built authoritative links and secured placements in the sources Google AI Overviews cite, alongside seed content answering common AI questions. As part of that AI search optimization program, Thompson Tractor saw a 136% increase in visibility in Google AI Overviews.

Do you want to beat your competition online? Contact us today to start laying out your link-building strategy!