Backlinks for SEO
How can backlinks be built?
What are backlinks?
Backlinks, known in German as “Rückverweise” (wikipedia.org/wiki/Rückverweis), are links on other websites that lead to your own website. If, for example, your own site is listed on the website dastelefonbuch.de and a clickable link to your own website is displayed there, this link is called a “backlink”.
Why are backlinks so important for SEO?
Search engines such as Google somehow have to assess how relevant a particular website is for a particular topic or a particular search term. In addition to the actual content of the website (see SEO content), links pointing to your own site provide information about this.
If, for example, a site has existed for quite some time but is not linked to by any other site on the internet, this site is apparently not of great interest to others; in other words, its content is not particularly relevant. If, on the other hand, a site is linked to by many other sites, for example from forums, social media, blogs, etc., this is an indication for Google that the site is of great interest to others. The site gains relevance for Google through the backlinks.
It is also crucial which site a link comes from. If your site is linked to by a well-known university, a trade journal or a government website, that carries far more weight than a link from a phone book or business directory. Google itself describes links from prominent websites as a sign of trustworthy content.
Source: Google – How Search works
Free directories
One of the most important listings is the one with Google itself — the “Google Business Profile”: business.google.com. This allows the listed site to appear not only in the normal search results for local search queries, but also in the map view that is displayed above the actual search results for local searches.
Source: Google – Business Profile help
Further free listings can (possibly) be created here:
gelbeseiten.de, dasoertliche.de, branchen-info.net, dastelefonbuch.de, branchenbuch.meinestadt.de, stadtbranchenbuch.com, yellowmap.de, yelp.de, kennstdueinen.de, golocal.de, 11880.com
It is possible that you cannot get listed on all of these sites that easily. This changes from time to time (list last checked: July 2026).
By the way, a Google search for your own company name in quotation marks shows where your company is already listed.
Paid listings that I can recommend:
wdku.de (formerly co2neutralwebsite.de)
Finding backlinks with the LinkMiner tool
Backlinks of websites can also be displayed using tools. LinkMiner by Mangools offers a very powerful tool for this, although it can only be used free of charge for 10 days.
Tool offer last checked: July 2026.
