If you want more visibility for your brand, learning about SEO is the way to go. And two of the most important things you need to know are the differences between backlinks and referring domains. The two are often used interchangeably, but they have clear nuances.
Backlinks Vs Referring Domains: What’s The Difference?
Backlinks and referring domains are hyperlinks from another site that link to yours. The main difference is that backlinks are the “individual links” inside a referring domain.
That means one referring domain can have multiple backlinks to your site. This is important for SEO, especially when you’re running backlink-building campaigns.
What are Referring Domains?
Referring domains are unique external websites that link to your site. For example, if you publish an article on “Best Coffee Beans for Cold Brew” and another site links to it in their “Where to Buy Farm-to-Table Coffee Beans in Seattle” article, that site becomes the referring domain.
What are Backlinks?
Backlinks are individual links from external websites pointing to your website. They’re one of the most crucial SEO ranking factors, and when combined with consistent, high-quality content, they create a potent formula for outperforming competitors in search results.
What’s Better for SEO: Backlinks or Referring Domains?
Search engines like Google use backlinks and referring domains to measure a site’s credibility. Think of it as a vouching system. Search engines see you as a trusted source when more websites link to yours. More quality backlinks = higher chances of ranking.
However, multiple links from the same site carry less weight, so earning backlinks from unique referring domains is more valuable for SEO than repeatedly getting links from one source. But remember to only get backlinks from relevant, high-quality referring domains.
How to Measure a Referring Domain’s Quality
The simplest way to gauge a domain’s quality is using third-party tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz. These tools measure a website’s backlink profile on a scale of 0 to 100. The higher the DR or DA, the more authority a site is perceived to have.
However, each tool calculates site authority differently, and a link from a high-DR site won’t always boost your rankings. Relevance is key. The most impactful backlinks will come from authoritative sites closely related to your niche.
If you don’t have access to SEMRush or Ahrefs, you can use free tools like Google Search Console to track your referring domains. Two key reports to check are:
- Top Linking Sites: Shows how many pages from other websites link to yours.
- Top Linked Pages: Shows which pages on your site are being linked to the most.
How Much DR Should a Referring Domain Have?
Many guides recommend targeting backlinks from sites with a DR of 30+, viewing DR 50 as strong and DR 70+ as a mark of industry authority. But DR isn’t the only metric that matters.
For local businesses, backlinks from relevant community sites can be more valuable even with lower DR. Another key factor is traffic. High-traffic referring domains can send you tons of referral traffic, even if the link is nofollow.
What Are Nofollow Backlinks from Referring Domains?
Link equity (or “link juice”) is the value or authority a webpage passes to another page through a backlink. Search engines use this to help determine rankings. While nofollow links are still backlinks, they don’t pass as much link equity to your site as a regular link.
Here are examples of popular sites that provide nofollow links:
- Wikipedia: Add citations if your site is a credible source.
- Facebook: Links in posts, profiles, and comments are nofollow.
- YouTube: Links in descriptions and comments are nofollow, but can still drive traffic.
- Instagram: Bio and post links are nofollow.
- LinkedIn: Profile, company page, and post links are nofollow.
How to Check if a Backlink is Dofollow or Nofollow
- Use your browser’s “Inspect” tool:
- Right-click the link and select Inspect (or “Inspect Element”).
- If the link has a rel=”nofollow” tag in the HTML, it’s nofollow.
- Use SEO browser extensions:
- Free tools like MozBar, Ahrefs SEO Toolbar, or SEO Minion highlight nofollow links on a page.
- Check in SEO platforms:
- Tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz show which of your backlinks are nofollow in their backlink reports.
How to Earn More Referring Domains
You can use several link-building strategies, but most come down to two key steps: finding relevant websites and doing scalable outreach. Once you’ve identified sites you’d like a backlink from, gather their contact information and send a concise, value-driven email. Here are a few proven approaches you can try:
- Broken Link Building: Find broken links on a target site and suggest replacing them with links to your relevant content.
- Unlinked Mentions: Look for mentions of your brand or business online that don’t include a link, then politely ask the site owner to add one.
- Becoming a Source: Offer your expertise as a trusted source for journalists, bloggers, or industry writers (platforms like HARO can help).
- Creating Linkable Assets: Develop high-quality, valuable content like infographics, original research, or guides that other sites naturally want to link to.
Running a cold email campaign for link building isn’t as simple as firing off messages from a free Gmail account. To avoid damaging your domain reputation, follow cold email strategies, segment leads, build nurture sequences, and carefully manage outreach at scale.
If that sounds like a hassle, let the pros handle it. Spacebar’s network and expertise allow us to deliver high-quality backlinks from relevant, high-DA sites without you lifting a finger.
Final Thoughts
Backlinks and referring domains are the most crucial search engine ranking factors. The key difference is that referring domains are the external websites linking to yours, while backlinks are the individual links from those sites.
Here’s a quick recap:
- Backlinks lose weight if they come from the same referring domain.
- DR is used to measure referring domain ranking, but it isn’t the only factor to consider.
- Relevance is as crucial as DR. Low DR, but highly relevant sites can boost rankings.
- Use tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs to target high-DR, relevant websites.
