Types of Backlinks: The 12 That Matter, Ranked by Value
Backlinks are classified three ways: by rel attribute (dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, UGC), by where the link sits on the page (in-content, image, footer, widget), and by how you acquire them (editorial, guest post, niche edit, and a dozen more). Only a handful reliably move rankings. This guide ranks the 12 acquisition types you'll actually encounter, covers the rest briefly, and tells you what's worth your budget.
TL;DR:
- Editorial contextual links are the most valuable type; guest posts and niche edits on vetted sites are the closest buildable equivalents.
- The rel attribute (dofollow / nofollow / sponsored / UGC) determines whether a link can pass authority at all — check it before you pay for anything.
- In-content links beat footer, sidebar, and widget links of the same origin; placement matters as much as the source.
- Comment, bulk profile, sitewide, Web 2.0, and PBN links range from useless to actively risky.
- The site behind the link matters more than the type: a guest post on a real-traffic site beats an "editorial" link on a ghost blog.
If you're new to the topic, start with what backlinks are and come back; this article assumes you know the basics.
What are the main types of backlinks?
A backlink type is a category of inbound link defined by one of three things: its rel attribute in the HTML, its position on the linking page, or the method used to acquire it. Most "types of backlinks" lists mix all three layers, which is why they balloon to 30 entries. Separated, the picture is simple:
- By attribute: dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, UGC — decides whether the link can pass authority.
- By placement: in-content (contextual), image, footer/sidebar, widget — decides how much weight it gets on that page.
- By acquisition method: editorial, guest post, niche edit, directory, and so on — what people usually mean by "backlink type," and what the ranked list below covers.
Every link has all three properties at once. The best realistic outcome is a dofollow, in-content, editorial link on a relevant page with real traffic.
Dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, and UGC: the four link attributes
Before ranking acquisition types, know the four rel attributes, because they cap what any link can do:
| Attribute | HTML | What it signals | Passes authority? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dofollow | (no rel value) | Default; an editorial endorsement | Yes |
| Nofollow | rel="nofollow" |
"Don't treat this as an endorsement" | Generally no — treated as a hint |
| Sponsored | rel="sponsored" |
Paid or compensated placement | No |
| UGC | rel="ugc" |
User-generated content (comments, forums) | No |
Google introduced nofollow in 2005 to fight comment spam and added sponsored and ugc in 2019; its documentation on qualifying outbound links states that links carrying these attributes are generally not followed. A nofollow link can still send traffic and lead to followed links later — it's just not what you pay for. Full breakdown in our dofollow vs nofollow guide.
Placement matters too: in-content links carry the most weight, image links pass less context (alt text acts as the anchor), and footer, sidebar, and widget links carry the least — they're also the placements Google's link spam systems watch most closely.
How this ranking works
We ranked each acquisition type by how much it typically moves rankings when the linking site is legitimate — real organic traffic, real editorial standards, relevant topic. A guest post on a DR 60 site with traffic beats an "editorial" link from a DR 20 ghost blog, so treat the ranking as a guide to the format, not a guarantee. Whatever the type, check the link's quality before you count it as a win.
1. Editorial / contextual links
The gold standard. A writer or site owner links to your page from within their content because it's genuinely useful — a statistic, a tool, a guide worth citing. These links sit in the body of a relevant article, surrounded by related text, on a page the site actually wants to rank. Google's systems are built to reward exactly this. They're also the hardest to get: you need content worth linking to, plus outreach or enough visibility that people find you. Most serious link building services exist to manufacture this outcome legitimately — earning contextual placements you'd struggle to get on your own.
2. Guest post links
You write an article for another site in your niche and include a link back to your own page. Done properly — real sites with real traffic, useful content, natural anchors — guest posts are one of the most reliable ways to build contextual links at scale. Done badly — mass-produced content on sites that exist only to sell posts — they're a footprint Google has been discounting for years. One detail worth knowing: a link in the article body is worth far more than one in the author bio, which Google treats closer to a profile link. Vetting the host site matters more than the link itself, which is the core of our guest posting service: every site is verified in Ahrefs for traffic and topical fit before anything gets written.
3. Niche edits (link insertions)
A link added to an existing, already-indexed article on someone else's site. The appeal is speed and inherited authority: the page may already have age, links, and rankings, so your link starts passing value immediately instead of waiting for a new post to earn its place. Quality varies with the same factor as guest posts — the site. A niche edit on a page with real organic traffic is close to an editorial link; one on a link-farm page is worthless. Niche edits are usually cheaper than guest posts because nobody's writing new content.
4. Resource page links
Links from curated "useful links" or "resources for X" pages — university lists, industry association pages, tool roundups. They're editorial by nature (a human chose to include you) and often live on trusted domains, but the pages themselves usually have modest authority and lots of outbound links, which dilutes what each link passes. Broken link building — finding a dead link on a resource page and offering your content as the replacement — is the classic way to earn these. Solidly worth pursuing if your content genuinely fits the list.
5. Directory links
Listings in business directories, industry directories, and local citation sites. The good ones — curated directories with editorial standards, plus Google Business Profile ecosystem citations — provide modest value and matter more for local SEO than national rankings. Pay-to-list farms with 50,000 unrelated businesses do nothing. A handful of relevant directories belongs in every site's foundation; a "campaign" of 500 submissions belongs in 2009.
6. Forum links
Links from forum posts and communities — Reddit, niche forums, Stack Exchange, Quora. Most are nofollow or UGC-tagged, so direct ranking value is limited. Their real value is indirect: referral traffic, brand visibility, and occasionally getting your content in front of someone who links to it editorially. Participate where your customers actually are; don't drop links for the link's sake — forums police that aggressively anyway.
7. Profile links
The link in your bio or profile on platforms where you have an account — social networks, SaaS review sites, community profiles. Nearly all nofollow, low value individually, but a normal part of any real brand's link profile. Worth setting up once for the branded search presence and consistency; not worth "building" beyond that. Any service selling "500 profile backlinks" is selling noise.
8. Comment links
Links left in blog comment sections. Almost universally nofollow or UGC-tagged since the mid-2000s, precisely because they were abused into oblivion. A thoughtful comment on a relevant post can drive a trickle of referral traffic and start a relationship with the author. As a ranking tactic, comment links are dead, and automated comment spam is one of the fastest ways to make your link profile look toxic.
9. Sitewide / footer links
A link that appears on every page of a site — footer credits, sidebar blogrolls, "designed by" links. Thousands of links from one domain sounds impressive, but Google effectively collapses sitewide links to roughly the weight of a single link, and paid footer links have been an explicit target of Google's link spam policies for over a decade. The same applies to widget and badge links embedded across many sites with keyword anchors. If you get a footer link naturally (a partner, a client credit), fine. Buying them is poor value and elevated risk.
10. Image backlinks
Links earned when someone embeds your image, infographic, or chart and credits the source. The link often points at the image file or sits in a caption, and attribution is frequently missing entirely — which is why image link building usually means reverse-image-searching your graphics and requesting proper credit. When the crediting page is relevant and the link lands in the content, these behave like editorial links. The catch is volume: unless you produce genuinely citable visuals, opportunities are scarce.
11. Redirect backlinks
Links acquired by 301-redirecting an expired or acquired domain into your site, passing along its backlink profile. When the old domain is genuinely relevant and its links are clean, redirects can pass meaningful authority. In practice, most expired domains for sale have spam-riddled profiles, and redirecting an irrelevant domain tends to get its links ignored — Google is good at spotting the pattern. This is a tactic for experienced operators with the tools to audit a profile, not a shortcut for everyone else. If a vendor's "authority boost" package is really just redirects, walk away.
12. PR / news links
Links from journalists and news publications, earned through digital PR campaigns, data studies, or expert commentary — including answering journalist requests on HARO-style platforms like Qwoted. Ranked last not because they're weak — a link from a major news outlet is one of the most powerful single links you can get — but because they're the least controllable format on this list. Many news links are nofollow or syndicated copies, campaigns routinely produce unlinked brand mentions, and you can't reliably point them at the commercial pages you need to rank. Treat PR as a brand and authority play with ranking upside, not a dependable link pipeline. Our digital PR link building guide covers when it's worth the spend.
Backlink value vs. effort
| # | Type | Ranking value | Effort / cost | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Editorial / contextual | Very high | High | The goal of every campaign |
| 2 | Guest post | High | Medium–high | Core tactic when sites are vetted |
| 3 | Niche edit | High | Medium | Best value-per-dollar for most sites |
| 4 | Resource page | Medium–high | Medium | Worth it when you genuinely fit |
| 5 | Directory | Low–medium | Low | A few relevant ones; local SEO mainly |
| 6 | Forum | Low (indirect) | Low | Participate, don't link-drop |
| 7 | Profile | Very low | Very low | Set up once, move on |
| 8 | Comment | Near zero | Low | Skip as a tactic |
| 9 | Sitewide / footer | Low, risky | Low | Avoid buying |
| 10 | Image | Medium | Medium | Only if you produce citable visuals |
| 11 | Redirect | Variable, risky | High | Experts only |
| 12 | PR / news | High but unpredictable | Very high | Brand play with SEO upside |
Other backlink types you'll hear about
Longer lists pad their counts with variations of the twelve above. The honest verdict on each:
- Testimonial and badge links. Write a genuine testimonial, get a homepage link; award badges work similarly for review sites. Fine in small doses, low volume by nature.
- Podcast, webinar, and video links. Show notes and video descriptions. YouTube description links are nofollow; the real value is audience and the editorial links that follow exposure.
- Reciprocal links. Linking to sites that link to you is natural in moderation. Systematic exchanges — including three-way swaps — fall under excessive link exchange in Google's spam policies.
- .edu and .gov links. No algorithmic bonus for the TLD itself; they're valuable because those sites tend to be genuinely authoritative. Scholarship link building, the classic shortcut, is burned and widely ignored.
- Unlinked brand mentions. Not links yet — but asking a site that already mentioned you to add the link is some of the highest-converting outreach there is.
- Paid dofollow links. Buying links that pass ranking signals without a sponsored/nofollow tag violates Google's spam policies. In practice the real risk control is whether the placement would survive a human review — site vetting, not the invoice.
- PBN links. Links from a private blog network — sites built or bought purely to link out. They work until the network is detected, then everything hanging off it drops. We don't touch them.
- Web 2.0 and social bookmark links. Free-platform blogs (Blogger, Tumblr) and bookmarking sites built solely to host your links. Zero-value relics of 2010-era SEO.
Which types LinkVetted builds
We build the top three: editorial-style contextual placements, guest posts, and niche edits — because they're the formats where quality can be verified before you pay. Every site we place links on is checked in Ahrefs for organic traffic, traffic trend, and topical relevance, and you see the live placement before payment. We don't sell directory packages, profile links, sitewide placements, PBN links, or redirect schemes, because we wouldn't buy them for our own sites. Pricing starts at $69 per link — see current rates for the full breakdown by DR tier.
FAQ
What type of backlink is most valuable? Editorial contextual links — dofollow links placed naturally within relevant content on sites with real organic traffic. Guest posts and niche edits on properly vetted sites are the closest buildable equivalents.
What are the four backlink rel attributes? Dofollow (no rel value, passes authority), nofollow ("don't treat as endorsement"), sponsored (paid placements), and UGC (user-generated content like comments and forum posts). Only dofollow links pass ranking signals; Google generally doesn't follow the other three.
Are nofollow backlinks worthless? No. Nofollow links (common in forums, profiles, and news sites) don't pass authority directly, but they drive traffic, build brand visibility, and often lead to followed links later. They just shouldn't be what you pay for.
Which backlink types should I avoid completely? Automated comment spam, bulk profile packages, paid sitewide footer links, PBN links, Web 2.0 blasts, and redirect schemes built on spammy expired domains. All are cheap for a reason: they either do nothing or add risk to your profile.
How many types of backlinks does a natural profile have? A mix. Real sites accumulate editorial links, a few directories, some forum and profile links, and the occasional news mention alongside their strongest contextual links. A profile that's 100% one format — especially one buildable format — is itself a footprint.
Want links from the top of this list, with proof before you pay? Get in touch and we'll show you the vetted sites first.