Types of Backlinks: Which Help SEO and Which Hurt

The main types of backlinks, what nofollow, sponsored and ugc mean, which links risk Google's spam policies, and where Indian SMBs can earn real links.

Published 4 June 2026 by Web Hippo in SEO

Not all backlinks are equal. A single link from a Hyderabad newspaper story about your clinic can do more for your rankings than 500 profile links from a "free backlink sites" list, and some types of backlinks can actively work against you. If you are an Indian business owner trying to work out which links are worth chasing, the answer depends on where the link comes from, why it exists and how it is marked up.

This guide covers the main types of backlinks by source, what Google's nofollow, sponsored and ugc attributes actually mean, what Google's spam policies rule out, and a practical list of link sources a small Indian business can realistically earn. There is also a table rating each link type on value, effort and risk, so you can decide where to spend your time.

What Are Backlinks and Why Do They Matter?

A backlink is a link on another website that points to yours. If a Pune food blog links to your bakery's menu page, that is a backlink to your site. SEO people also call them inbound links or external links.

Backlinks matter for two reasons. First, search engines discover pages by following links, so links help new pages get found. Second, Google treats links as one signal of which pages people find useful and trustworthy on a topic. That second point is exactly why people try to manufacture links, and why Google has a whole section of its spam policies on link spam.

In our view, links are a multiplier rather than a starting point. A slow site with thin pages will not rank because of backlinks, and a strong site with no links will struggle in competitive searches. Links are the main lever of off-page SEO, which our guide to on-page vs off-page SEO explains in more detail.

Dofollow vs Nofollow Backlinks: What the Attributes Mean

There is no such thing as a "dofollow" attribute in HTML. A "dofollow" backlink is simply a normal link with no special rel value. Site owners can add a rel attribute to tell Google what kind of link it is. Google documents three values in its guide to qualifying outbound links:

Two details that most "types of backlinks" articles get wrong. First, these attributes are hints, not commands. Google announced in its 2019 post on evolving nofollow that all three would be treated as hints for ranking, and that nofollow would also become a hint for crawling and indexing from 1 March 2020. So a nofollow link is not automatically worthless. Second, values can be combined, for example rel="ugc sponsored".

In practice, do not dismiss a link because it is nofollow. Say a nofollow link from a Times of India article sends you 300 visitors and a few enquiries. That is more useful than a followed link on a page nobody reads. Judge links on relevance and real traffic first, attributes second.

Types of Backlinks by Source

Grouping links by where they come from is more useful than grouping by attribute, because the source tells you both the value and the risk.

1. Editorial backlinks

An editorial link is one a site owner chose to add because your page helped their readers: a blogger citing your research, a college linking to your admissions guide. You do not ask for it or pay for it. These are the links Google's systems are designed to reward, and the hardest to fake. You earn them by publishing something worth citing, such as original data, a useful calculator or a clear explainer.

2. Digital PR and news links

Digital PR means pitching stories, data or expert comment to journalists so your business gets covered. For Indian SMBs this often starts local: a Deccan Chronicle or Telangana Today piece on a new service, or a quote in a regional business story. Many news sites add nofollow to outbound links, and that is fine. The coverage still brings traffic and brand searches, and it gets you seen by other writers who may link later.

3. Guest post links

A guest post is an article you write for someone else's site, usually with a link in the byline or body. Written for a relevant industry publication, it builds reputation. Done at scale with keyword-stuffed anchor text, it is listed in Google's spam policies as link spam. The difference is intent: one article a quarter for a respected trade site is fine; fifty "write for us" placements a month is a scheme.

4. Business directories and citations

Citations are listings of your business name, address and phone number on sites such as Google Business Profile, Justdial, Sulekha, IndiaMART or a practice-listing platform in your field. Their main value is local search and real customers, not link authority. Keep the details identical everywhere; this matters more for map rankings than the link itself, as our guide to ranking on Google Maps in Hyderabad covers.

5. Industry association and chamber links

Membership bodies often list members with a link: a regional chamber of commerce, a trade association such as CREDAI for developers, a professional body for CAs or doctors, or an IT industry group such as HYSEA in Hyderabad. These links are relevant, hard for competitors to copy and come from trusted sites. Membership has a cost, but you are paying for the membership, not the link.

6. Partner and supplier links

Brands you stock, software you are certified in, and distributors you sell through often have "where to buy", "find a dealer" or "certified partners" pages. A Pune D2C brand might get links from its retail partners; a Kukatpally clinic might be listed on an equipment maker's "clinics using our technology" page. These are natural and easy to ask for. What Google warns against is partner pages created purely for swapping links.

7. Forum and community links

Links in Reddit threads, Quora answers or niche forums are almost always marked ugc or nofollow. Their value is referral traffic and visibility when you genuinely answer a question. Google's spam policies specifically list "forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature", so dropping links for SEO is both pointless and risky.

8. Profile and comment links

Profile links come from creating accounts on websites that allow a homepage URL. Comment links come from leaving comments on blogs. Both are easy, so everyone does them, so they carry close to no weight. Most "profile creation sites" lists are exactly this. Keep a few real profiles (LinkedIn, YouTube, Behance for designers) because customers look at them, and ignore the rest.

9. Resource page links

Resource pages are curated lists of useful links, such as a university's career resources or an NGO's list of support services. If you have a genuinely helpful free tool or guide, a polite email to the page owner can earn a link. Relevance is everything: a GST calculator belongs on a small-business resource page, a salon offer does not.

Types of Backlinks Rated: Value, Effort and Risk

Here is how we rate each link type for a typical Indian small or mid-sized business. This is a practitioner view from the link profiles we audit, not a Google score.

Which Backlinks Break Google's Link Spam Policies

Google defines link spam as creating links "primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings". Its spam policies list these examples, which we have paraphrased:

Buying or selling links for ranking purposes, including exchanging goods, services or free products for a link.
Excessive link exchanges ("link to me and I'll link to you") or partner pages that exist only for cross-linking.
Using automated programs or services to create links to your site.
Low-quality directory or bookmark site links.
Keyword-rich, hidden or low-quality links in widgets distributed across many sites, and widely distributed footer or template links.
Forum comments with optimised links in the post or signature.
Advertorials that pass ranking credit, and optimised anchor text in articles, guest posts or press releases distributed on other sites.
Requiring a link in terms of service or a contract without letting the other site qualify it.

The same page says paid or sponsored links are not a violation if they carry rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored". So you can sponsor a local event or pay for an advertorial; just make sure the link is marked as sponsored.

Google also has an automated answer to link spam. In its December 2022 link spam update, it said it was using its AI-based system, SpamBrain, to "neutralize the impact of unnatural links". In plain terms, many spammy links are simply ignored. That is why a ₹5,000 "100 high DA backlinks" package often changes nothing: you paid for links Google already discounts.

Free Backlinks Sites: An Honest Verdict

Search "free backlinks sites" in India and the results are dominated by lists of hundreds of directory, profile, classified, PDF and image submission sites, all labelled "high DA". Our honest verdict: almost none of them will move your rankings.

DA is not a Google metric. Domain Authority is a score created by an SEO tool company. A high-DA site where anyone can create a profile passes little value to any single profile page.
Anyone can get them. If a link takes five minutes and no approval, thousands of spammers already have one. That tells Google nothing about your business.
Many are nofollow or unindexed. Profile pages and classified ads are often marked nofollow, and many are never indexed at all.
Some are explicitly risky. Low-quality directories and bookmark sites appear by name in Google's link spam examples.

There are exceptions. A handful of "backlinks websites" are worth your time because real customers use them: Google Business Profile, the major Indian listing sites for your category, a marketplace like IndiaMART or TradeIndia if you are a B2B supplier, and your trade body's member directory. Treat these as customer channels that happen to include a link, and do them properly with photos, correct hours and reviews. Skip the other 490 sites on the list.

Realistic Backlink Sources for Indian SMBs

Most small businesses already have relationships that could turn into links. Here is where we would start:

Local directories that customers use: Google Business Profile, Justdial, Sulekha, and the category platform for your field (for example, Practo for doctors or a property portal for developers).
Industry bodies and chambers: your trade association, a regional chamber of commerce, or a professional institute's member list.
Local news: a genuine story, such as a new branch, a free health camp, a scholarship or local survey data, pitched to city editions and hyperlocal news sites.
Suppliers and brands: ask to be added to "where to buy", "authorised dealer" or "certified partner" pages.
Clients and B2B customers: a case study or testimonial on a client's site, with a link to you as the provider.
Events: speaking at a meetup, sponsoring a college fest (with the sponsor link marked sponsored), or hosting a workshop that gets listed on event pages.
Your own useful content: a cost guide, checklist or calculator that others cite. This is where ongoing SEO work and content planning meet.

Worked example: a 90-day plan for a Kukatpally dental clinic

Say a two-dentist clinic in Kukatpally wants to rank for "dentist in Kukatpally" and has no link-building budget beyond staff time. An illustrative plan:

That is perhaps 8–12 links in three months, every one of them relevant and none of them risky. For a local clinic, that usually beats a paid package of hundreds of irrelevant links.

Common Backlink Mistakes

Chasing DA scores instead of relevance and traffic.
Using exact-match anchor text everywhere, such as "best dentist in Hyderabad" on every link. Natural links mostly use your brand name or the page title.
Buying cheap link packages from marketplaces or freelancers promising "permanent high DA dofollow links".
Ignoring links you already have. Check which pages others link to, and make sure none of them now return a 404 error. Our SEO audit guide covers how to check.
Treating links as a one-off project. Links build up from steady PR, partnerships and useful content, not a single month of outreach.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you would rather have someone build links the slow, safe way, our SEO team runs local PR, citation clean-up and content-led link building for businesses across India. You can also talk to us about auditing the links you already have.

Last checked September 2026. Link attributes and spam policy examples are from Google Search Central documentation; ratings and plans are Web Hippo's practitioner views, not Google guidance.