What Is a Referring Domain? How Referring Domains Boost SEO

Referring domains, or other websites that link back to your site, play a bigger role in search engine optimization than most business owners realize.

Why do some business websites dominate Google rankings while others stay buried? The secret often lies not just in great content or user experience, but in who's linking to your site and driving traffic your way.

Referring domains, or other websites that link back to your site, are one of the most powerful yet underutilized factors in search engine optimization (SEO). They shape how search engines perceive your site, influencing its visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). According to a Link Builders study, websites with more referring domains receive an exponentially higher number of website visitors. A comparison of two website groups found that the group with 291% more referring domains saw a 657% increase in monthly organic users.

This guide explains how referring domains work, why they matter, and how to get more of them without chasing spammy backlinks. Learn how to develop a high-quality link-building strategy to get more organic traffic.

What is a referring domain?

A referring domain is any external website that links to your site. For example, if HealthCentral.com publishes an article on the best ways to burn calories that links to your online store selling exercise equipment, HealthCentral.com is a referring domain. If four other websites link to your online store from various articles, you have five referring domains in total.

Referring domains are a key part of your site’s backlink profile, a collection of all the links pointing to your website from across the internet.

Referring domain vs. backlink: What’s the difference?

A backlink is an individual hyperlink from one web page to another, whereas a referring domain is the website from which the backlink comes. One referring domain can create multiple backlinks to your site, but it only counts once as a referring domain.

For instance, this CNN Underscored article about the best tote bags links to Rothy’s product page. This is considered one backlink from one referring domain for Rothy’s. This CNN Underscored article highlighting the best online sales also links to Rothy’s. So, that’s two backlinks but still just one referring domain.

For search engine optimization purposes, having two backlinks from two referring domains sends a much stronger signal to search engines than having two backlinks from one referring domain. Although having more backlinks matters, search engines like Google favor domain diversity, as it demonstrates broader recognition.

Why are referring domains important for SEO?

According to the SEO software firm Ahrefs, 96.55% of web pages get no organic traffic from Google. One of the most common reasons Ahrefs cites for this is the lack of backlinks, especially from unique referring domains. Getting backlinks from a variety of referring domains builds authority, trust, and long-term search performance.

A diverse portfolio of referring domains can signal to search engines that your content is trusted. It means more businesses and publications feel confident suggesting that their readers or customers visit your site. Ultimately, strong backlinks and referring domains can help you grow your site’s domain authority (also called “domain rating” in some tools). Improving this measure takes time and consistent work, but higher site domain authority generally indicates higher ranking potential on SERPs.

How to identify a high-quality referring domain

When evaluating referring domains for SEO, focus on high-quality backlinks and referring domains. Lower-quality referring domains won’t provide the same benefits.

Here's what to check when seeking an authoritative referring domain:

• Domain authority or rating. Use SEO tools like Moz or Ahrefs to check referring domains. Every website has a domain authority rating between 1 and 100, heavily influenced by the relative strength of its backlink profile. While domain authority is a proprietary metric from Moz, each tool has its own version. Aim for links from domains with a rating higher than yours.

• Relevance. A link from a site in your niche (beauty, fitness, home décor) is more impactful than one from a random coupon aggregator.

• Placement. Contextual links within articles or guides carry more SEO value than those in footers or sidebars.

• Traffic. Use tools like SimilarWeb or Semrush to check if the site receives visitors. Spammy referring domains and backlinks from sites with no organic traffic won't help much.

Search engines like Google penalize “link schemes,” which include unnatural or inorganic links designed to manipulate rankings. Google Search Central guidelines explicitly call out tactics like paid links and large-scale exchanges as violations. These manipulative patterns can lead to ranking drops or even de-indexing.

How to get more referring domains

1. Perform regular backlink audits
2. Create link-worthy content
3. Study your competitors
4. Pitch to other websites already linking to similar businesses
5. Use partnerships and PR strategically

Here are five actionable strategies to help you earn more referring domains while building long-term credibility, organic traffic, and trust:

1. Perform regular backlink audits

You need to know where you stand before you can grow your referring domains. Auditing your backlink profile gives you a clear picture of who’s already linking to your store and what content earns those links. It also helps identify successful patterns and shows where you're falling short.

Use tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Google Search Console’s Links Report to analyze your site’s backlink profile. These show you:

• Total number of backlinks

• Number of unique referring domains

• Which pages are being linked to the most

• The authority of the sites linking to you (look for metrics like domain rating or authority score)

If your analysis shows that most of your referring domains are from small lifestyle blogs, it might be time to reach out to trade publications or partner with experts who bring new audiences and domains to the table. If you find that the proprietary studies you’ve conducted and published garner more backlinks from unique referring domains, consider investing in additional research.

Don’t be overly concerned if you discover spammy backlinks through your audit—they won’t help with your overall SEO strategy, but they’re beyond your control, and the Google algorithm typically ignores them.

2. Create link-worthy content

Your best shot at consistently earning new referring domains is publishing helpful content that others want to reference. This includes:

• How-to guides and other evergreen content (e.g., “How to care for handwoven linen”)

• Original data (e.g., survey results, usage trends, white papers)

• Expert roundups (e.g., “Top 10 clean beauty stores on Shopify”)

• Visual explainers or infographics

Journalists, bloggers, and other professionals continually seek credible sources. If your content teaches something valuable, includes proprietary data, or offers a unique perspective, they’re more likely to cite you.

3. Study your competitors

Your competitors—especially those outranking you—already earn referring domains. Reverse-engineer their strategies to identify where to focus your efforts. Here’s a quick way to do it:

• Plug a competitor’s URL into Ahrefs or Semrush.

• Navigate to the Backlinks or Referring Domains section.

• Identify the top sources linking to them (e.g., guest blogs, interviews, niche directories, product roundups).

• Check the anchor text and linked web page to understand why it earned the link.

For example, if you run an eco-friendly clothing store and discover through competitor analysis that your competitor earned backlinks from sustainability-focused news outlets after releasing a carbon footprint calculator on its website, this insight could inspire you to develop your own shareable tool or data-driven content.

Source: Semrush

4. Pitch to other websites already linking to similar businesses

One of the easiest ways to acquire new referring domains is to identify external websites that already link to businesses like yours and reach out to them with a relevant reason for linking to you.

Use Ahrefs’ “Link Intersect” tool to find domains that link to your competitors but not to you. Filter for editorial links and focus on links placed within blog posts, how-to guides, or curated product roundups, not links buried in footers or directories.

Source: Ahrefs

For example, if you have a Shopify store selling eco-friendly activewear and find a sustainable fashion blog linking to your competitor’s product in their “Top 10 Recycled Workout Brands” guide, check if your brand fits that context and if the article is current.

Reach out to the blog with a personalized pitch. Offer a quote, suggest a content update, or ask them to consider linking to your product as well. You might say:

“Hi [Name], I loved your list of sustainable workout brands. We run an online shop called SeaLegs and just launched leggings made from 100% recycled ocean plastic. Happy to send over product info or a quote if you’re ever updating the post.”

If your product fills a gap, improves on what’s featured, or offers something unique, that’s your angle.

5. Use partnerships and PR strategically

Earn publicity and exposure by building authentic relationships with businesses, publications, influencers, and others in your industry (or covering your industry). Media outreach tools like Muck Rack or Prowly can help you connect with journalists and content partners.

Here are a few strategies to create organic partnerships:

• Collaborate with influencers or micro-experts who write their own blogs. Pitch a joint post or Q&A linking to each other’s content.

• Co-create content or toolkits with another brand (e.g., a “wellness at home” checklist with a yoga mat company).

• Write guest blogs for complementary brands or publications, linking back to your site from theirs.

• Proactively promote your content on social media. The more people see it, the more they can reference and link to it.

When developing partnerships and media relationships, focus on sites in your niche or complementary areas with high levels of authority and trust.

What is a referring domain FAQ

How do I get referring domains?

You can earn referring domains by creating high-quality content, building partnerships, contributing guest posts, and reaching out to trusted websites in your industry. Track your progress with tools like Ahrefs and Google Search Console.

What is an example of a referring domain?

This Martha Stewart article on how to clean coffee pod machines quotes Bruvi founder Mel Elias and links to the coffee machine maker’s “About Us” web page. In this case, marthastewart.com is the referring domain for bruvi.com.

What is the difference between a backlink and a referring domain?

A backlink is a single hyperlink from an external website to your site. A referring domain is the website from which the link originates. One domain can send multiple backlinks, but it only counts once as a referring domain.