Referring Domains vs. Backlinks: What’s the Difference?

Let’s begin by defining both referring domains and backlinks.

In SEO, both backlinks and referring domains matter – they are complementary. An effective backlink will be placed on a reputable referring domain, but the fact it comes from a high-quality domain doesn’t immediately mean it will bring lots of SEO juice to your site. How does it work?

How do you compare the number of backlinks vs. the number of referring domains your website has? You can do this in multiple ways, using GSC or popular (but paid) SEO tools. Let’s look at some of the easiest methods.

For starters, you can use Google Search Console. This tool won’t be as detailed as the others, but it’s completely free, and checking your backlinks or referring domains takes less than two minutes. How do you do it?

As you can see, Google Search Console will first present you with a preview of the pages on your website that receive the most backlinks and the top referring domains, which you can expand to get a full overview. If you click linking sites, you’ll also see your total number of external links summed up above:

You can also check the number of backlinks and referring domains in SEO tools. Here’s how you do this in Ahrefs:

Naturally, you can do this with other SEO tools as well. See: How Many Backlinks Do I Have?

You know that backlinks and referring domains are not the same. However, what’s the difference between them in terms of off-site SEO?

They are both crucial. According to Ahrefs, the number of referring domains correlates directly with a site’s visibility in search engines.

When it comes to backlinks, they are also crucial. Since they are the most difficult SEO element to manipulate, high-quality backlinks are a direct sign to the algorithm that your website is valuable. We expand on this topic in our article on the importance of external links – feel free to read it if you wish to learn more.

Every referring domain has at least one backlink, but more than one backlink can come from the same referring domain. This poses a common question: does the ratio between backlinks and referring domains matter in SEO?

Many people might try to give you a specific answer to this question, claiming it’s either between 1:1 to 3:1 or 5:1, but the truth is: nobody knows the answer. The natural ratio might differ depending on the industry you operate in, the type of content you post, or even your link building strategy. Ideally, you want to acquire backlinks from different domains (but not weaker than yours), but if you do have several backlinks from one domain, it’s not a problem – it shows that your backlink profile is natural. So, unless you’re trying to manipulate the ranking by acquiring tens, if not hundreds, of links from the same source, this shouldn’t bother you.

You know the difference between backlinks and referring domains, both in terms of what they are and how they impact your SEO. Now, it’s time to put this knowledge into practice! If you need help, consider our link building services – we’ll help you acquire high-quality links from reputable domains; links that will strengthen your site in Google!