The three types of links are internal links, external links, and backlinks
We will be looking at what each of these types of links is, what purposes they serve, and how to optimize your website using them.
But first, we need to understand what a link is, fundamentally.
Key Takeaways
- Not all types of links carry the same weight, backlinks are still the biggest driver of SEO success
- Internal links help with crawlability and user experience, while external links help add context and credibility
- The best backlinks are editorial links placed inside real content, not directories or spammy sources
- Link building is still one of the strongest ranking factors in search engines
- Listicle mentions and contextual placements are the most effective way to improve ranking, drive traffic, and increase visibility in AI-driven results
Link building cheat sheet
What Is A Link?
A link (also known as a hyperlink) is a clickable word, phrase, or image on the internet that leads from one web page to another.
In general, there are three types of links:
- Internal links – hyperlinks that lead from one page to another within your own website;
- External links – hyperlinks that lead from your website to another resource;
- Backlinks – hyperlinks that lead from another site to yours.
All of these links are important for the SEO of your website.
Let’s delve a bit deeper into the specific functions of each one in order.
Internal Links
Internal links serve two purposes: one lies on the surface and the second one is not so obvious for anybody that has never been involved in SEO and content marketing.
The first one lies in the fact that by interlinking your content, you’re guiding users through it in a natural way, and prompting them to stay on your website for longer.
So, for example, you might finish up a guide on link building with a link to another guide that you have on email outreach, making for a natural transition.
The not-so-obvious reason why you should always interlink your content is that internal links contribute to your website’s crawlability.
Every once in a while, Google’s bots crawl through your website in a process called indexing. During this process, the bots add any new pages and posts that you might have published into Google’s index.
Pages that are in this index can be found and returned in search results. If your pages are not indexed, there is virtually no way for anybody to find them.
How To Optimize Your Web Page Structure For Search Engines
There are a few ways in which you can optimize your internal site architecture for crawlability.
The first one is, of course, to make sure every single one of your pages has a good amount of internal links pointing to it. There is no “golden rule”, and even Google themselves doesn’t define an optimal number – it just needs to be reasonable.
In our experience, we have found that five internal links pointing to every single one of your blog posts is generally enough.
There are also two types of links that you should avoid: homepage and other sitewide links. The reason behind this is simple: your homepage is accessible from any other page on your site anyways, and the link to your contact page should always be accessible from your footer as well, so any additional links to them are redundant.
Also, it’s generally a good idea to avoid linking to any pages that are already easily accessible from your navigation menu. Instead, focus on deep content links to ensure traffic flow and accessibility for crawler bots.
Make sure all of your internal links are “DoFollow”, and relevant for the reader. Also, use anchor texts that make sense. Notice how we linked to our blog post on the difference between a NoFollow link and a DoFollow link?
This is just one example of using a relevant anchor text for an internal link.
Another way to ensure Google’s crawlers can access your pages is by uploading a sitemap.
A sitemap is an outline of sorts that tells search engines exactly what your site structure is. There are many different sitemap generators available that can help you build one.
Once your sitemap is ready, upload it to Google Search Console.
One more thing you can do is manually submit your pages to GSC once they’re published.
But, even if you use a sitemap and manually index each page, that doesn’t mean you should ignore your internal link structure.
You still need to interlink your pages for an improved user experience. You also need to run regular link audits and fix any broken link as soon as you spot it as these are
External Links
Many bloggers are against using external links in their content and you can definitely understand where they’re coming from. You don’t really want to drive traffic away from your website, do you? Especially considering that the whole point of running a website is to generate traffic, not give it away.
However, as is often the case in the world of search engine optimization, things are not quite so black and white.
In general, linking to high-authority resources is considered to be a good SEO practice. It is definitely a good idea to link to recent studies and guides by other people in your niche.
But you need to keep in mind which websites you’re linking to, and the number of backlinks that you’re giving away.
Can External Links Harm Your Search Engine Rankings?
Yes, they can.
And again, there are two ways in which they can do it: the first one is obvious, and the second one – not so much.
Of course, you don’t want to be linking out to shady resources – everybody knows that. But even if you’re only linking to high-quality resources, having too many external links can really slow down the growth of your website.
You won’t necessarily get a penalty for linking out to other people too much, but it’s important to understand how exactly links work.
They pass on ranking signals, more specifically, link equity from one site to another. This is also often referred to as “link juice” by the SEO community.
Piyush Shah, the Head of SEO over at Dukaan has a very good analogy that explains exactly why it’s called link juice:
“Imagine your website as a bucket. Every inbound link that you get adds a drop of link juice to your bucket. Every external link that you give out to someone else pokes a little hole in that bucket, causing a little bit of that link juice to flow out.”
This is especially noticeable if you rely on link building as one of your main SEO strategies. Having too many external links leading from your website can really throw off your link-building efforts because any PageRank that you’re earning will be instantly given away to other websites.
This is why it’s important to set a policy when it comes to outbound links: for example, don’t have any more than 10 such links going out from any given page of yours.
Paid links are a huge taboo, and you should avoid them at all costs.
You can measure the impact of your link activities with tools like Ahrefs and Google Analytics. If you notice that your traffic has been stagnating or even dropping, it’s time to clean up some external links on your website.
Backlinks
Backlinks arguably have the greatest impact on a website’s SEO. The more incoming links you have pointing to your website from other resources, the better it is for you.
There are many different types of backlinks. The best ones are editorial links from other people’s blog posts, but even blog comments or social media posts can be considered a backlink, just of a very low quality.
I have already explained how backlinks pass on PageRank from page to page. But how exactly do you benefit from having a lot of backlinks?
Links are a huge ranking factor. The more links you have pointing to your site, the more traffic flow you will get from them.
Google’s algorithm also takes your backlink profile into consideration when ranking your pages in search results. To search engines, backlinks serve as “votes” of sorts.
Having more good links than other sites tells Google and other search engines that your blog has in-depth, high-quality content. The more links from highly-authoritative websites you have, the more likely you are to rank high.
Additionally, if you have a more robust backlink profile than other businesses, they will struggle to outrank you until they build a comparable number of backlinks to their own site.
What Makes A Good Backlink?
Not all backlinks will bring you the same amount of link value. Links from spam resources can even hurt your technical SEO instead of helping it.
So, what makes a good backlink?
There is no one definitive answer to this question, as what makes a good backlink will vary depending on the website and its audience. However, some factors that could make good inbound links include:
- The website’s authority and relevance to the topic of the link;
- The quality of the content on the website;
- The trustworthiness and reputation of the website;
- The number and quality of other backlinks to the website;
- The age of the website;
- The location of the website (e.g. whether it is based in a high-traffic country like the United States);
- The link location on the web pages;
- The relevance of the used anchor tag (irrelevant anchors create unnatural links).
According to Google’s John Mueller, the best type of backlink is a recommendation by somebody who thinks that your content is great.
So how do you acquire these links? According to the Google Webmaster Guidelines, any types of link exchanges or paid backlinks are considered to be a“link scheme”.
But they’re also saying that it’s perfectly fine to reach out to bloggers and let them know that you’ve recently published a piece of content:
Here are the types of links with low SEO value:
- User generated links;
- Directory links (this includes local directories as well as industry directories);
- Links from niche forums;
- Multiple links coming from the same domain;
- NoFollow links;
- Other types links like links in video descriptions on YouTube, or other social media websites.
Even though they pass on little SEP value, it’s still good to have these.
Again, the best backlinks are editorial links acquired through manual outreach.
This leads us to the next section of the article: the best ways to acquire high-quality links.
Which Type of Link Is the Best for SEO?
Out of all the different types of links, backlinks are the ones that matter the most.
But even within backlinks, not all of them are equal.
The best ones right now are listicle mentions and contextual placements inside articles that already rank.
These are pages that are already getting traffic from search engines, already ranking for commercial or high-intent keywords, and in many cases, already being pulled into things like AI overviews.
So when you get placed on one of these pages, you’re getting three things at once.
You’re getting ranking signals that help your own pages move up in search results. You’re getting referral traffic from people who are already interested in what you offer. And you’re improving your chances of being picked up by answer engines that pull data from those same pages.
That’s why these types of links outperform pretty much everything else.
The problem is getting them.
Finding the right pages, reaching out, negotiating placements, filtering out low-quality sites… it takes a lot of time.
That’s where most link building efforts fall apart.
Not because the strategy doesn’t work, but because it’s hard to execute consistently.
Instead of doing all of that yourself, you can just outsource it.
With Respona, you don’t have to build outreach campaigns or manage anything manually. You just place an order, define your requirements, and the team handles the rest.
They find relevant pages that already rank and get traffic, secure placements, and build links that actually contribute to your SEO performance.
Most orders are completed in about four weeks.
On top of that, the campaigns feature lets you track your visibility over time, not just in search engines, but also across answer engines.
You can see which pages are getting picked up and identify new opportunities that are already driving traffic and citations.
So instead of guessing where to build links, you’re focusing on placements that already work.
Link building cheat sheet
Over To You
Different types of links all play a role.
Internal links help structure your site. External links add context. But when it comes to actually improving ranking in search engines, backlinks are what move things forward.
And not just any backlinks.
The ones that actually make a difference are placements on pages that already rank and already get traffic.
That’s also the part that’s hardest to do consistently.
Instead of trying to manage outreach, prospecting, and placements yourself, you can just outsource it.
You place an order, define what you’re looking for, and let the team handle everything. They secure placements on relevant pages that already perform, so your link building efforts actually translate into better visibility and traffic.
If you want to build links that actually impact your SEO instead of just adding numbers to your backlink profile, place an order and focus on what works.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What are the main types of links in SEO?
The three main types of links are internal links, external links, and backlinks.
Internal links connect pages within your own site, external links point to other websites, and backlinks are links from other sites pointing to yours.
Which type of link matters the most for SEO?
Backlinks matter the most.
They are one of the strongest ranking factors in search engines because they signal authority and relevance. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the better your chances of ranking higher in search results.
Are all backlinks equally valuable?
No.
Some backlinks carry much more value than others. Editorial links placed inside relevant content on authoritative sites are far more effective than things like directory links or forum posts.
Do internal links help with SEO?
Yes.
Internal links improve crawlability and help search engines understand your site structure. They also improve user experience by guiding visitors through your content.
Can external links hurt your SEO?
They can if you’re linking to low-quality or spammy websites.
Linking to high-quality, relevant sources is generally a good practice, but too many external links can dilute your page’s authority.
What is the difference between dofollow and nofollow links?
Dofollow links pass ranking signals from one page to another.
Nofollow links do not pass the same level of authority, but they can still bring traffic and contribute to a natural backlink profile.
What are the worst types of links for SEO?
Low-quality links include spammy directory links, forum links, and bulk backlinks from irrelevant sites.
These don’t contribute much to SEO and can sometimes even harm your rankings.
How do backlinks improve rankings?
Backlinks act as signals of trust.
When other websites link to your content, search engines interpret that as a sign that your content is valuable, which helps improve your ranking in search results.
Are backlinks still important in 2026?
Yes.
Even with changes in search engines and the rise of AI-driven results, backlinks remain one of the most important factors for ranking and visibility.
How can I get high-quality backlinks?
The best way is through manual outreach and getting placements on relevant websites.
This usually involves creating valuable content and reaching out to site owners to include your link in their articles.
