A backlinks example shows what a link actually looks like in context, not just what it means in theory. A good one comes from a real, relevant page and reads naturally, like an editorial mention or a resource-page listing. A bad one is placed mainly to move rankings, like a comment-spam post or a link from a private blog network. Below is a real backlinks example for every major type, good and bad, plus what separates the two.
A backlink is good when it comes from a page that is genuinely relevant to your topic, sits on a site with its own real traffic and reputation, and was placed by an editor because it added value, not because someone paid for it. A backlink is bad when it exists mainly to pass ranking credit rather than to help a reader, which is exactly the pattern Google's link spam policies describe. Everything below sorts the common backlink types into one category or the other, with a concrete example for each.
Ahrefs' 2024 analysis of published web content found that 94% of pages never earn a single backlink from another site, with only about 6% acquiring even one external link over their lifetime. That scarcity is worth sitting with before you judge any single link too harshly: earning even one relevant, editorially placed link already puts a page ahead of the vast majority of content on the web.
A good backlink example shares a few traits every time: it sits on a page about a related topic, the site has a real audience beyond search engines, and the link would exist even if it carried no SEO value at all. Here are the four types that consistently meet that bar, each with an illustrative example. None of these describe a specific client relationship; they are generic, illustrative scenarios meant to show the pattern clearly.
This is the strongest backlink example there is. An editorial link happens when a writer cites your page inside an article because it genuinely supports a claim they are making, with no payment or request involved. Illustrative example: a local news site publishing a piece on small-business marketing links out to a bakery's loyalty program page with the anchor text "the bakery's rewards program," because it fits the story naturally. Nobody asked for that link. It exists purely because the source was useful.
A guest post link is earned when you write a full, original article for a relevant site's own audience, and one contextual link back to your page is part of the byline or body. Illustrative example: a project management SaaS company writes a detailed guide on remote team communication for an industry blog, with a single link back to their own comparison page where it genuinely helps the reader go deeper. The distinction from a bad guest post link, covered further down, is that the article adds real value to that specific site's readers rather than existing purely to host a link.
Resource pages are curated lists, "best free tools," "helpful links for students," that an editor maintains because their readers ask for exactly that kind of list. Illustrative example: a university library's "free research tools" page adds a link to a genuinely useful free citation generator, because it fits the page's stated purpose. These links carry moderate, steady value because the host page has to keep the list accurate to stay useful, which naturally filters out weak links over time. Our guide to resource page link building covers how to find and pitch these pages.
Not every directory link is bad. A dentist listed on their state dental association's member directory, or a contractor listed on the local chamber of commerce site, is a legitimate, relevant listing that real prospects actually browse. The difference between this and the mass-submission directories covered below is specificity: a niche directory serves a defined audience and vets who gets listed, while a generic directory accepts nearly anyone for a fee.
Bad backlinks share the opposite pattern: they exist to pass ranking credit first, with any reader value as an afterthought or entirely absent. Google's Search Central spam policies name several of these tactics directly, which is useful because it means you do not have to guess where the line sits.
Illustrative example: a post on an unrelated blog reading "Great post! Check out my site for the best deals" with an exact-match, keyword-stuffed anchor in the comment or the commenter's signature. Google's spam policies list "forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature" as a named link spam example. These links carry no meaningful ranking value on their own, and doing this at scale is one of the easiest patterns for spam-detection systems to catch.
Illustrative example: a company owns a network of ten thin, low-content sites, all hosted through similar infrastructure, and each one links to the same money page using varied but always commercial anchor text. Google's link scheme guidelines cover this directly, and because PBN sites often share hosting fingerprints, template design, or registration patterns, they are one of the more detectable manipulation patterns despite the effort involved in building them.
Illustrative example: a site pays a blog for a placement that uses the exact keyword phrase it wants to rank for as the anchor text, with no rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" attribute disclosing the arrangement. Google's guidance is specific here: paid links that pass ranking credit without a qualifying attribute are a policy violation, not a gray area, and advertorials or native content with optimized anchors fall under the same rule.
Illustrative example: a site gets submitted through an automated service to hundreds of generic "SEO friendly directory" sites in a single week, none of which are reviewed by a human or relevant to the site's actual industry. Google's spam policies specifically call out "low-quality directory or bookmark site links" as a link spam pattern, which is what separates this from the legitimate niche directory example above.
The table below lines up the types covered so far, with a concrete example and how each is generally treated by search engines and major SEO tools.
| Type | Example | Typical value or risk |
|---|---|---|
| Editorial contextual link | A news article cites your data with a natural in-text link | Highest value; Moz and Ahrefs both treat earned editorial links as the strongest link signal |
| Guest post link (genuine) | An original article you wrote for a relevant blog, one contextual link back | Solid value when earned, not paid for ranking credit alone |
| Resource page link | Your free tool added to a curated "best resources" list | Moderate, steady value; the host page has to stay accurate to stay useful |
| Niche or local directory | A dentist listed on a state dental association directory | Light but legitimate value for relevance and local trust |
| Comment or forum spam | "Great post!" with an exact-match anchor in a blog comment | Named link spam example (Google); no meaningful ranking value |
| PBN link | A network of owned thin sites linking to one money page | High risk; violates Google's link scheme policies |
| Undisclosed paid link | Payment for a dofollow link with optimized anchor text, no sponsored tag | Policy violation per Google unless nofollow or sponsored is used |
| Mass-submission directory | Auto-submitted to hundreds of generic directories in one batch | Named as low-quality link spam (Google); little to no benefit |
Run any backlink you find, whether you are auditing your own profile or checking a link a competitor earned, against four questions: is the source page actually relevant to your topic, does the source site have real traffic and reputation, was the link earned inside content rather than inserted into a template, and is the attribution honest, a genuine dofollow for an earned link or a nofollow and sponsored tag for a paid or user-generated one. A link that fails most of these is worth investigating further before you assume it helped you.
Two free starting points do most of this work without any tools budget. Google Search Console's Links report shows a sample of who links to you and with what anchor text, which is a fast way to spot an obvious spam pattern. For a fuller picture, including which specific pages and anchors a competitor has earned, our competitor backlink analysis guide walks through the process step by step, and anchor text itself deserves its own check, since how anchor text works shapes how much weight any individual link example carries.
Not every weak link is equally dangerous. Google's own guidance says its systems ignore most low-quality links automatically, so a handful of spammy links you never built or paid for rarely does measurable damage on their own. What actually triggers a manual action is a pattern: many similar low-quality links built deliberately, exact-match anchors repeated across dozens of sites, or a cluster of PBN-style sites all pointing at the same page. A single bad backlink example is a data point. A pattern of them is a risk.
That distinction is also why the disavow tool gets misused so often. Google's own guidance frames disavowing as a narrow fix for links you actually built or paid for against the rules, or a confirmed manual action, not a general cleanup switch for anything that looks slightly off. If you are unsure whether your own profile needs that kind of intervention, our guide to toxic backlinks removal walks through how to tell the difference, and our backlinks management service covers the full ongoing monitoring routine if you would rather not track it manually.
The bigger picture, though, is that the count and type of link examples on a profile still correlates with rankings. Backlinko's analysis found the average page in Google's #1 position carries around 213 backlinks, compared with about 56 for pages sitting in positions 2 through 10, a roughly 3.8x gap. That does not mean chasing volume; it means the strong examples above, repeated consistently over time, are what separate page one from page two.
Once you can tell a strong link from a weak one, the next step is producing content worth linking to on purpose rather than hoping for editorial mentions to happen. That is a bigger topic than this page can fully cover, and our guide to how to build backlinks lays out twelve specific, white-hat methods in detail, from original data to digital PR to genuine guest contribution.
We have seen this compound in practice. When Zluri paired stronger content with a cleaner, more deliberate link profile, their organic traffic grew 45%, not from any single trick but from consistently earning the kind of links covered in this page rather than the kind covered in the spam section. The pattern holds regardless of company size: the good examples above are slower to earn than the bad ones are to buy, and that is exactly why they still work.
What is a backlinks example? A backlinks example is a real instance of one site linking to another, shown in context so you can judge whether it helps or hurts the site being linked to. Instead of a general definition, it shows the actual source page, the anchor text, and the placement, which is what actually determines a link's value.
What is considered a good backlink? A good backlink comes from a real, relevant site with its own audience, is placed naturally inside content by an editor rather than bought, and uses anchor text that reads like normal writing. Editorial mentions, genuine guest posts, and resource page listings are the clearest examples.
What is considered a bad backlink? A bad backlink is one built mainly to manipulate rankings rather than earned through genuine relevance: comment spam, links from private blog networks, and paid links with exact-match anchor text and no nofollow or sponsored tag. Google names these tactics directly in its link spam policies.
Is a guest post link a good or bad backlink? It depends on how it was earned. A guest post on a real, relevant site that you wrote because it adds value to that site's readers is a legitimate link. A guest post placed purely for a paid, optimized-anchor link on a site that publishes anyone's content is the pattern Google's spam policies call out.
Are directory backlinks still useful? Niche or local directories relevant to your industry, such as an industry association or a chamber of commerce listing, still carry light value for relevance and local trust. Mass-submission generic directories are named directly in Google's guidance as a low-quality link spam pattern and are not worth pursuing.
Do comment links help SEO? No. Blog comment and forum links with an optimized anchor in the post or signature are explicitly listed among Google's link spam examples. They carry no meaningful ranking value and can contribute to a manual action if used at scale.
What is a PBN backlink and why is it risky? A PBN, or private blog network, is a group of websites one person or company owns and uses solely to build links to a main site. It violates Google's link scheme policies, and because the sites usually share hosting, design, or ownership patterns, PBNs are one of the easier manipulation patterns for Google's systems to detect.
How many backlinks does a page actually need? There is no fixed number. Backlinko's analysis found the average #1 Google result carries around 213 backlinks versus 56 for positions 2 through 10, but competitive topics need more and low-competition ones can rank with very few. What matters more than the count is whether each link looks like the strong examples above.
Should I disavow a bad backlink example I find pointing to my site? Usually not right away. Google has said the disavow tool is meant for links you built or paid for in violation of its guidelines, or a confirmed manual action, not for every spammy-looking link you notice. Google's systems already ignore most low-quality links automatically, so disavowing without cause can remove more value than it protects.
Pull up your Search Console Links report or a backlink tool's export, and sort your links into the categories above: editorial, guest post, resource page, directory, comment, PBN, or paid. Most sites find their profile is mostly fine with a few links worth watching, not a crisis. If you want a second set of eyes on which of your links are actually helping and which are dead weight, request a free SEO audit from Rankite and we will walk through your full profile with you.
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