What are referring domains? 

Referring domains are those websites that have included backlinks to your website. This means that the domain where the backlink comes from is used. All external backlinks to your website can be linked to referring domains. When visitors of that domain encounter a link to your page, chances are they will click on it and land on your website. When what is written on the referring domain is relevant for your page, chances are that the visitor will eventually stay on your site. So referring domains contribute to the findability, the popularity and in a way even the trust flow of your site. The more referring domains you have, the higher your visitor numbers will be. They are an important part of any link building strategy. 

But what exactly are referring domains and what is the difference between referring domains and backlinks? 

Definition of referring domains 

Referring domains are all domains where backlinks to your page are placed. These domains have a great influence on the popularity and reliability of your website. A referring domain is therefore essential for your position within the search results. When you start with SEO and creating a good link profile, you will have to build on these domains. In addition, it is also important that you look at the quality of the referring domains. 

In the past it was the quantity of the links that counted. The more links, the better. Nowadays, however, this has changed. Google attaches more and more value to quality. The web crawlers are also increasingly able to determine the quality of the links and thus influence the search results. Therefore, it is not only the quantity of the links that counts, but also their quality and how they were acquired. For example, Google is strongly against companies 'buying' links or 'link exchange'. If this is noticed, it can result in a heavy penalty. Referring domains should therefore be collected as much as possible by 'simply' providing valuable content. That is what it is all about. 

Difference between referring domains and backlinks 

But what exactly is the difference between referring domains and backlinks? Is there a difference at all? 

Yes, because when we talk about referring domains, we are talking about the pages where the backlinks appear. But one domain can have multiple backlinks. Therefore, the number of referring domains does not say anything about the number of backlinks. When you want to build a natural backlink profile, it is important to place backlinks on different domains. More referring domains are therefore of great importance for a better domain authority and thus a higher position in the search results.