What Is a Referring Domain?
A referring domain is an external website that links to a specific website or webpage.
If Website A links to Website B, then Website A is the referring domain for that link.
If three different websites link to your blog post, then your blog post has three referring domains.
Backlinks vs. Referring Domains
Backlinks are links that a website gets from other websites, and websites that provide backlinks are referring domains.
If Website A links to your website twice, then you have two backlinks from one referring domain.
The website that receives a backlink is the target domain.
Why Are Referring Domains Important in SEO?
Referring domains are important in search engine optimization (SEO) because they can affect your website’s organic (unpaid) visibility in Google.
Basically, Google looks at referring domains as an indicator of a website’s or webpage’s quality.
If your website or webpage has backlinks from lots of high-quality domains, Google may rank it higher in relevant search results.
And this can help you get more traffic from Google.
Pages ranking #1 in Google have over 200 referring domains on average. While pages ranking at #10 have fewer than 80 referring domains on average, according to Semrush’s ranking factors study.
What Makes a Referring Domain High Quality?
A referring domain is generally considered high quality if it’s relevant and reputable.
Relevant domains are sites that are topically related to the target site.
Backlinks from relevant sites may carry more SEO weight because these links are more likely to represent genuine and well-informed endorsements.
Reputable domains are established websites that are popular and well-regarded in their niche.
Backlinks from these sites may carry more SEO weight because Google can trust these sites more.
You can get an idea of a website’s reputation with Semrush’s Authority Score (AS) metric, which measures authoritativeness on a scale of 100.
For example, Wikipedia has an Authority Score of 100.
Generally, try to get links from high-quality domains.
Backlinks from low-quality domains may have little to no impact on your SEO.
And backlinks from spammy domains (websites that violate Google’s spam policies) can put your website at risk of a Google penalty that will harm your SEO.
How to Check Your Referring Domains
You can see some of your referring domains by going to the “Links” > “Top linking sites” report in Google Search Console.
(If you need help getting started with the platform, read Semrush’s Google Search Console guide.)
The “Top linking sites” report shows the domains that link to your website the most.
For each referring website, you can see:
- Linking pages: How many pages on the referring domain include at least one link to your site
- Target pages: How many different pages on your website the referring domain links to
Click on a referring domain’s row to see which of your pages it links to most frequently.
Learn More with the Backlink Analytics Tool
You can learn more about your referring domains with Semrush’s Backlink Analytics tool.
Enter the domain, subdomain, subfolder, or exact URL you want to check.
Then, click “Analyze.”
Go to the “Referring Domains” report to see your referring domains and useful metrics.
These metrics (e.g., Authority Score) can show you high-quality and low-quality domains.
You can analyze the backlinks from any domain by clicking the corresponding arrow in the “Backlinks” column.
The “Referring Domains” report also allows you to apply a “Lost” filter.
This filter reveals websites that used to link to you but no longer do.
If you lose a backlink from a quality domain, it may be worth contacting the website and trying to get that backlink reinstated.
How to Get More Referring Domains
To get more high-quality referring domains to give you backlinks, you need to engage in link building.
You can use many link building tactics, including:
- Broken link building: Find broken backlinks to your own or competitors’ websites and get them replaced with relevant, functional links to your website
- Finding unlinked mentions: Identify unlinked references to your brand online and persuade the creators to add a relevant link to your website
- Becoming a source: Respond to media requests for commentary and ask creators to credit your contributions with a link
- Creating linkable assets: Publish high-quality content that relevant creators will want to share with their readers or use as a source
You can elevate your link building strategy with Semrush’s Link Building Tool.
The tool analyzes your competitors and target keywords to identify domains that might link to you. It also helps you manage your email pitches, track your backlinks, and much more.
Recent Comments