Backlink (inbound link)
Why engines value them
A link from a recognised website is a recommendation nobody can easily fabricate. That is why engines weigh it, and why bought or bulk-exchanged links are detected and penalised. A link counts by the trust of the website giving it, by the closeness of its topic to yours, and by the link text, which says what the target page is about.
The links accessible to an association
- The "associations" or "community life" page of your municipality
- The directory of your sector federation or umbrella organisation
- The websites of your partners, funders and sponsors, who have every interest in citing you
- Sector directories (Guide Social, thematic networks, volunteering platforms)
- The local press, when it talks about you, asking for the link in the article
- The websites of the associations of the same Kern4Good cohort, which cite each other
How to go about it
- List the ten websites that should cite you and check which already do
- For each, find the person who runs the website and the page where the link belongs
- Send the exact sentence to copy, with the address of the target page, to make the yes easy
- Note the date and come back once a quarter: half a day is enough
What not to do
Buying links, exchanging links in bulk, listing the website in directories unrelated to your activity, or letting a provider "build backlinks" without saying where. A useful link comes from a website your publics visit; the others are useless at best, and penalise the website at worst.
In Kern4Good
The websites of a cohort cite each other from go-live, and the programme's website cites every supported association, with its address. The rest of the link work is part of the search strategy described in the guide Getting your association's website found: a few days a month, by your trained team or with at-cost support.
How many backlinks do we need?
There is no number. Ten links from serious websites close to your topic are worth more than a hundred links from generic directories.
Do links from social networks count?
They bring visits, but engines give them little weight as a recommendation. They remain useful to make a page known.
Does a link from a bad-reputation website harm us?
Rarely, engines ignore most of these links. If a dubious website cites you in bulk, Search Console lets you disavow it; it is exceptional for an association.
Should we link to other websites from ours?
Yes, when they help your publics: the municipality, a partner, a source. Citing good websites costs nothing in rankings and makes your pages more useful, which engines and AI assistants appreciate.