Referring domains

Referring domains are the distinct websites that link to a target website or page. This count helps you understand how many separate sites are involved. Backlinks count the individual links instead, so the two totals can be very different.

If a walking club links to your guide from twenty pages on its website, those links can contribute twenty backlinks but only one referring domain. If a local newspaper also links to it, that adds another referring domain.

Read both totals on the Backlinks page and inspect the source pages. A larger number of referring domains does not automatically mean that the links are useful or relevant. The context of the linking websites matters as well as the size of the total.