Backlink
A link from another website to yours. Search engines treat them as votes of credibility, so quality backlinks help you rank higher.
Why it matters
Backlinks are a major driver of search ranking, which is why earning them, through genuinely useful content and relationships, is core to SEO. Buying or spamming them tends to backfire.
For example
A well-cited research post earns links from a dozen industry sites, pushing the startup's page up the search rankings.
Related terms
Go deeper
See how founders actually handle this on Growing and marketing, part of the Starting Up hub.