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All lessons in SEO for Beginners Lesson 3.1 of 26

Module 0: Introduction

  1. 0.1What is a search engine?
  2. 0.2How do search engines work?
  3. 0.3What is SEO?
  4. 0.4How to start SEO

Module 1: Keyword Research

  1. 1.1What are keywords in SEO?
  2. 1.2What is search intent?
  3. 1.3How to find keywords for your website
  4. 1.4Keyword difficulty
  5. 1.5Keyword mapping

Module 2: On-Page SEO

  1. 2.1What is on-page SEO?
  2. 2.2How to optimize a page for a keyword
  3. 2.3How to write title tags and meta descriptions
  4. 2.4How to use headings for SEO
  5. 2.5Internal linking for SEO

Module 3: Link Building

  1. 3.1What is link building?
  2. 3.2What makes a good backlink?
  3. 3.3How to get backlinks for beginners
  4. 3.4Blogger outreach

Module 4: Technical SEO Basics

  1. 4.1What is technical SEO?
  2. 4.2How to check if a page is indexed
  3. 4.3How to find broken links on a website
  4. 4.4XML sitemap and robots.txt for beginners
  5. 4.5How to do a basic SEO audit

Module 5: Measuring SEO Results

  1. 5.1How to set up Google Search Console
  2. 5.2Clicks, impressions, CTR, and position explained
  3. 5.3Your SEO action plan

What is link building?

Your roadmap for this lesson

  • What link building means
  • Why backlinks still matter for rankings
  • Which link building tactics to avoid

Short answer

Link building is the work of getting other websites to link to yours. These links are called backlinks. Google and other search engines treat a backlink like a vote of trust. Links from relevant, respected sites can help your pages rank higher. Buying links or joining link schemes breaks search engine rules and can hurt your site.

A backlink is a link on another website that points to your website. If a Cebu food blog links to your lechon shop’s menu page, that is a backlink to you.

You may also hear them called inbound links. The number of different websites linking to you is called referring domains. Ten links from one site count as one referring domain.

Link building is part of off-page SEO, the pillar you learned in Lesson 0.3. It happens outside your own site.

Search engines use links in two main ways:

Other websites linking to your site like votes of trustYour siteLocal newsFood blogSupplierBusiness group
Each relevant link works like a vote of trust in your site.
  1. To find pages. Bots follow links from site to site (Lesson 0.2). A link from a known site helps search engines discover yours.
  2. To judge trust. Google built its early ranking on an idea called PageRank: pages with more links from important pages are likely more important. Links are still one of many ranking signals today.

Not all links count the same. One link from a respected news site or a trusted local organization can be worth more than a hundred links from random sites.

What search engines do not allow

Google and other search engines have rules against link spam. These tactics can get your rankings lowered:

  • Buying links that pass ranking value, without marking them as paid
  • Link exchanges done only for SEO, like “link to me and I will link to you” at scale
  • Private blog networks, groups of sites built only to link to each other
  • Spammy comments and forum links posted just for a link
  • Automated link tools that create links for you in bulk

If a link is paid or sponsored, it should carry a rel=“sponsored” or rel=“nofollow” tag. This tells search engines not to count it as a vote.

The safest links come from being genuinely useful. Examples:

  • A local news site mentions your business opening
  • A school links to your free study guide
  • A supplier lists you as an official reseller
  • A blogger links to your helpful price list

Lesson 3.3 shows beginner methods to earn links like these.

Quick quiz

1. What is a backlink?
2. Which tactic breaks search engine rules?
3. Fifty links from one website count as how many referring domains?

Common mistakes

  • Chasing link numbers. Quality beats quantity.
  • Buying cheap link packages. “1,000 backlinks for ₱500” offers can harm your site.
  • Building links before content. Make pages worth linking to first.
  • Ignoring easy local links. Partners, suppliers, and local groups are great first links.

Your action

Key terms

Link building
Earning links from other websites to yours.
Backlink (inbound link)
A link from another website to your site.
Referring domain
A unique website that links to you.
PageRank
Google’s original system for judging page importance through links.
Link scheme
Any attempt to manipulate rankings with links, like buying or trading them.
rel=“sponsored”
A link tag that marks a link as paid.

Questions beginners ask

Can I rank without backlinks?

For low competition keywords, sometimes yes. For harder keywords, you usually need some quality links.

Do social media links count?

Links from Facebook or Instagram posts usually do not pass ranking value. But they help people discover your content, which can lead to real links.

Related lessons

Want someone to handle SEO for your business while you learn? The team at Remar Digital can help.