What Is a Backlink? A Beginner Guide for Makers

FLIGHT SCHOOL · BEGINNER GUIDE

Backlinks, explained for people who just shipped their first product

What a backlink is, why everyone keeps telling you to get them, and the one term you actually need to know.

By Divv Saxena · DivvLaunches · 6 minute read

You built something. You put it online. Then someone in a founder group said, "Nice, now go get some backlinks."

And you nodded, because that is what you do, and then you quietly searched for what a backlink is.

This guide is for that moment. No jargon, no SEO theory, just the handful of things a new maker needs to understand before spending a single hour or dollar on this.

What a backlink actually is

A backlink is a link on someone else's website that points to yours.

That is the whole definition. If a startup directory lists your product and includes a link to your homepage, that is a backlink. If a blogger mentions your tool and links to it, that is a backlink. If your friend adds you to their "tools I use" page, same thing.

A backlink is simply another site pointing to yours.

The word sounds technical because it comes from the search engine world. Google sees the web as a giant map of links. When it finds a lot of sites linking to yours, it treats that as a signal that people find your site worth pointing at.

Why anyone cares

Search engines have a hard problem. Millions of pages claim to be the best invoice tool, the best habit tracker, the best whatever. They need some way to decide which ones to show first.

One of the signals they use is links. A link from another site works a bit like a vote of confidence. A site with many good votes tends to show up higher in search results than a site with none.

That is why makers care. Backlinks are one of the few things you can actively go and get in your first weeks, before you have much content or any brand. They help Google trust a brand new domain a little faster.

Three honest caveats before you get excited:

• Not all votes are equal. A link from a well known site counts for far more than a link from a site nobody visits.
• They are slow. Backlinks help over months, not days.
• They cannot rescue a bad product. Links get people to your page. What happens after that is on you.

The one term you need: dofollow vs nofollow

This is the part that trips most beginners up, so here it is in plain language.

Every link on the web can carry a small hidden tag that tells search engines whether to count it. A dofollow link says "yes, count this." A nofollow link says "this is a link, but do not treat it as a vote." Google documents these as link attributes such as nofollow, sponsored (for paid placements), and ugc (for user-generated content) in its guide to qualifying outbound links.

Both links work for humans. Only one of them helps your ranking.

A few things worth knowing:

• Dofollow is the default. If a site does nothing special, the link is dofollow.
• Big platforms like Reddit, Twitter and most comment sections mark links as nofollow, because otherwise they would be flooded with spam.
• A nofollow link is not useless. People can still click it and find you. It just does not move your search ranking much.
• When a directory says it offers "dofollow links," it is telling you the listing will count as a vote. That is why makers look for it.

You do not need to check this yourself for every site. Most directory lists, including the one on DivvLaunches, tell you which third-party listings are dofollow up front.

We also checked the links on our own product pages in Dofollow vs Nofollow: What 39 Real Listings Showed Us. A free DivvLaunches product page is nofollow. A First Class listing is marked sponsored. DivvLaunches does not give dofollow product-page links.

Here is a real example of a listing backlink, the kind described above. DivvLaunches is now listed on Nick Launches, where builders can upvote and follow it: nicklaunches.com/products/divvlaunches.

What "DR" means, and why makers obsess over it

You will see "DR 32" or "DR 50+" thrown around. DR stands for Domain Rating. It is a score from 0 to 100, created by Ahrefs, that estimates how strong a website's backlink profile is. Ahrefs explains the metric in its guide to Domain Rating: the scale is logarithmic, and 100 is the strongest.

A brand new site starts near the bottom of that scale. Large, heavily linked sites sit near the top. We are not attaching a specific score to Wikipedia, or a numeric range to indie sites, because those numbers move and we did not measure them for this post.

The score matters for one practical reason: a dofollow link from a higher-DR site is generally treated as a stronger vote than a link from a very low-DR site. So when you are choosing where to spend time, higher-DR directories are usually the better use of it.

Do not chase the number for its own sake. Nobody buys your product because your DR went up. It is a rough indicator, useful for prioritising, and that is all. For more on what the number can and cannot tell you, read what Domain Rating is and whether it matters for a new site.

Where new makers actually get backlinks

You do not need a PR agency. Most early links for indie products come from a few places:

• Launch platforms. Sites like DivvLaunches, Product Hunt and similar. You get a permanent product page with a link back to you.
• Startup directories. Curated lists of tools, sorted by category. Each listing is a page about your product with a link.
• Your own profiles. GitHub, LinkedIn, X, Dev.to and similar. Some are nofollow, but they still help people find you.
• Other makers. Friends who link to you from their blogs or tool lists. Underrated and free.
• Content people want to link to. A useful comparison, a free tool, a good write up. This takes longest and pays off the most.

The badge trade, explained

Many directories and launch platforms, DivvLaunches included, ask you to place a small "Featured on" badge on your website in exchange for a free listing.

Here is the deal being offered. They give you a page and a link back. You give them a link back from your site. Both sides get a backlink. Nobody pays. On some platforms that return link is dofollow, which is why people look for the trade. On DivvLaunches, a free product-page link is nofollow, and a First Class listing is marked sponsored.

Is it worth it? For a new site with no links at all, a listing can still help, because people can click through even when the link is nofollow or sponsored. The badge usually sits in your footer and costs nothing. If you would rather keep your site badge free, most platforms offer a paid option instead. Both are fair choices.

What to realistically expect

This sketch is only a rough picture of how slow the work can feel. There is no official week, month, or three-month timetable.

If you submit your product to ten decent directories this week, listings will go live one by one, and you might see a handful of visitors from each. Search engines take time to find new links, and we cannot put that on a calendar. Ranking for competitive keywords still depends on having good content.

If you were hoping backlinks would send a flood of customers, adjust that now. They are groundwork, not a growth channel. The traffic from directories themselves is small. The value is in what they do for your search visibility over time.

A simple first week plan

1. 1
   Write your product details once: name, a one line tagline under 100 characters, a short description, a logo, and two screenshots. Save them in a doc. You will reuse them everywhere.
2. 2
   Launch on one platform first so you have a permanent page and a badge to place.
3. 3
   Submit to five to ten directories. Prioritise the ones marked dofollow, and prefer higher-DR directories when you have a choice.
4. 4
   Keep a spreadsheet with the directory name, date submitted, and whether it is live. Approvals take days to weeks.
5. 5
   Then stop, and go back to building. Check the sheet once a week.

That is the entire beginner version. Everything past this point is optimisation, and you can worry about it once you have something people actually use.

Want the full list?

DivvLaunches publishes the complete list of directories we submit to, with the DR and dofollow status of each one, at divvlaunches.com/directories. If you would rather not fill 74 forms by hand, we also do it for you.

When you are ready to ship, launch on DivvLaunches or submit your product.

FAQ

What is a backlink?

A backlink is a link on someone else's website that points to yours. If a directory lists your product and includes a link to your homepage, that is a backlink.

What is the difference between dofollow and nofollow?

A dofollow link asks search engines to count it as a vote. A nofollow link is still clickable, but search engines are asked not to treat it as a vote. Google documents these as link attributes, along with sponsored (for paid placements) and ugc (for user-generated content).

Does DivvLaunches give dofollow links?

No. On a free DivvLaunches product page the link is nofollow. A First Class listing is marked sponsored.

What does DR mean?

Domain Rating is an Ahrefs score from 0 to 100 that estimates how strong a website's backlink profile is. It is useful for comparing sites, not a goal to chase.

How long do new backlinks take to help?

They help over months, not days. There is no fixed week-by-week schedule we can stand behind.

Where should a new maker start?

Write your product details once, launch on one platform, submit to a handful of directories (preferring dofollow listings and higher DR when you can), track what goes live, then get back to building.