What is a referring domain?

Referring domain often goes by the name Linking domain in technical conversations. ‘Linking’ basically refers to the backlinks that are connected with a particular website. A Backlink is self-explanatory, it means a link from one specific website to another. It is important to understand how closely related backlinks are to a referring domain as these two terms are similar but not exactly the same.

A referring domain is an online site that the target website has backlinks to. Backlinks and referring domains are two elements of a healthy link profile. It’s an SEO tactic which helps boost your ranking through higher optimizations. Let’s take an example to understand it better. Suppose you have a website which has a backlink to Wikipedia, it simply means that your site has one referring domain. In case you have multiple such backlinks to your site, that’s the number of referring domains associated with your website. However, if you have more than one backlinks from the same website, it will continue to be counted as one referred domain only.

Through the illustration above, it is clear how multiple backlinks can be associated with your website, but no matter how many backlinks are arising from the same source- It is recorded as a single referring domain only.

Want to hear a fun fact? Turns out Google highly prioritises websites with multiple referring domains. This means that if a website has no such domains, it is extremely likely that it will receive very low to no traffic at all. This directly points out how backlinks and referring domains are paramount if you wish to enjoy more organic traffic for your site. Moreover, there’s a direct and functional relationship between the number of referring domains you have and the amount of traffic it brings. The more unique referring domains your site has, the more traffic you’re likely to pull. This is only one of the SEO tactics you must have in order to bump up your rankings.

Another important point you must emphasize on is to have referring domains of quality, meaning from the best possible sites- preferably popular. It is widely known that link building and search engine optimizations are closely connected. This is why you must have a strong link profile, so that you can rank higher in search results in respect to the particular keywords you’re targeting. This would automatically result in more organic traffic directed to your website.

When a user is surfing some random website and clicks on a backlink which is pointing to your website, that specific web page will open- on your site. It is not uncommon for a site to link to your website if they find that the content on your page is accurate, informative and useful. This could be embedded in the form of images, videos, hyperlinks, etc.

In the above image, the highlighted texts are hyperlinks that wikipedia uses to link back to another informative page on its own website. Wikipedia is known to have a large number of such links, usually providing a wide range of information on almost any topic.

Let’s take another example, focusing on a referring domain. Suppose you’re a blogger and have your articles published on your website which are targeted at a younger audience. A teenager trying to find tips on self-improvement might come across a website which explicitly states that your article on this topic is highly beneficial and recommended. He then clicks on the backlink which directs him to the article on your site. This is how a referring domain works- it quite literally refers your page to a user.

How do I check referring domains?

Have you heard of Google search console tools? It’s highly recommended by professionals as it’s a low budget process, known for its accuracy. Simply type in ‘Google search console tools’ in your search engine and click on the site that pops up.

Google will guide you through all the steps necessary to reveal and understand all the referring domains connected to your site.

Google Search Console

Google search console offers the following services as well:

-Optimize your content and extend your audience effectively with Search Analytics

-Improve your performance and rankings on Google Search

-Get your content on Google

-Get alerted on any sort of issues and fix your site according

-Understand and learn how Google Search views your pages which will help in optimizations as well.

One of your main areas of focus should constantly be landing high-quality links from authoritative and popular websites. Adding high-quality referring domains to your target site’s backlink profile should be the most essential part of your link-building planning structure. If you can’t manage to have such high-quality referring domains, you might be losing potential traffic, sales and customers. All these points are crucial in understanding the importance of having quality backlinks associated with your link profile.

There’s a wide range of SEO tools which can help you in furthering and polishing your link profile. This includes Ahrefs, SE ranking, etc which help in assessing your referring domain report, statistically how the site is doing as well as the various opportunities for improvement. Have a look at some examples of how this report could potentially look.

These are random images pulled from Google to help you get a clearer picture of the subject. This article could become a referring domain if it were a website page since By linking the page from which the image was downloaded, https://seranking.com/blog/referring-domains/, this article could potentially become a referring domain(if it was a website page).

How is this beneficial to my site?

Hoping that you found this post on referring domains informative, we’ll give you a few key tips to stick to while undertaking this process. The most essential element is how much time and effort you are willing to put into your website. Firstly, get a report of your referring domains and analyse it carefully to understand how it affects your rankings. Secondly, pinpoint your top performing pages which are most viewed than others or which have a positive impact on your rankings through increase in target audience. Thirdly, make sure your content is relevant, accurate, interesting and useful. Fourthly, it’s vital that you know your competitors so that you can derive suggestions and other information to improve and boost your site thereby. Fifthly, spread your content by getting associated with a lot more popular sites. This will help build your link profile while getting you more publicity. Sixthly, collaborate with respected domains in your industry I’m order to obtain a larger number of backlinks. Lastly, apply optimization methods, spend time on developing a brand strategy and move towards growth.

These are essential tips to keep in mind while taking an active role in gaining referring domains, optimize your site and receive recognition through multiple sources.

Notably, a website has the ability to build an impactful, popular brand and promote your message all over the internet, across the globe. With your newfound knowledge of referring domains, try applying it and gain as many high-quality domain referrals as possible to increase the worth of your website!