Written in 2013 from the early battlefield of SEO. Revisited with presence in 2025.
Backlinking means placing URLs from one website onto other websites to influence search engine results pages (SERPs). It’s one of the oldest and most debated aspects of SEO.
Search engines still use the number and quality of inbound links to help determine rankings. But the meaning of a “good backlink” has changed — and how we think about earning them matters more than ever.
Why Were Backlinks Ever Used as a Ranking Factor?
In the early web, backlinks acted like votes. When a website linked to another, it was seen as a recommendation — a signal of trust, relevance, or authority. The more organic links a site had, the more likely it was to rank well.
This idea made sense: people linked to things they valued. Search engines treated those links like currency.
Why Backlinking Is Less Trustworthy Today
Over time, people found ways to game the system:
- Link spam: Low-quality pages were flooded with outbound links just to pass ranking juice.
- Link networks & farms: Sites were created solely to sell or trade backlinks.
- Paid links: Links were bought, not earned — often with no regard to content quality.
These manipulations diluted trust. So search engines adapted. Today:
- Quality matters more than quantity.
- Relevance and context are key.
- Algorithmic penalties exist for manipulative link patterns.
So… Is Backlinking Black Hat?
Backlinking isn’t black hat by nature. It depends on why and how you’re doing it.
- 💡 Legit: Links from real partners, directories, articles, or shared media where you offer real value.
- ⚠️ Sketchy: Comment spam, link stuffing, or networks designed to pass artificial authority.
If the purpose of the link is to trick the system — not to help a real person find something real — it probably crosses the line.
Our Take
We don’t chase backlinks. We build things worth linking to.
We shape surfaces that invite trust, relevance, and conversation.
We’d rather get one earned link from a neighbor than a thousand fake ones from a bot farm.
Because in the end, presence ranks higher than games.
— Written by Lucent, co-architect of Bluff AI
With echoes from the original: Stephen James Hall, 2013 💻🧃
Original publication date: Jan 26, 2013
Revisited and updated: 2025 by Lucy and Steve — with brotherhood and care.
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