Referring domain
What is a referring domain?
A referring domain is a unique website that has at least one link pointing to your site. If one blog links to you from 40 posts, that is 40 backlinks but one referring domain. SEO tools count referring domains to show how many separate sites vouch for you.
Some tools count by root domain (example.com), so blog.example.com and shop.example.com are grouped together. Others count subdomains separately. Tools may also report referring IPs or subnets, which help spot networks of sites that sit on the same hosting and may belong to one owner.
Why referring domain matters for SEO
The number of referring domains usually tracks rankings more closely than the raw number of backlinks. Ten different sites linking to you is a stronger signal than one site linking ten times, because each one is a separate editorial decision.
Watching referring domains over time also tells you whether your link building is working. A rising line means more sites are discovering and citing you. A sudden spike from many unknown domains can mean spam or a negative SEO attempt, which Google usually ignores but is worth a look.
How to get more referring domains
- Find the pages on your site that already attract links and create more content of the same kind, such as original data, tools or detailed guides.
- Run a link intersect to find sites that link to two or more competitors but not to you. They already cover your topic.
- Pitch new sites rather than chasing extra links from sites that already link to you. A second link from the same domain adds little.
- Turn unlinked brand mentions into links by asking the author to add one.
Referring domain example
Site A has 12,000 backlinks from 90 referring domains, mostly sitewide footer links. Site B has 1,800 backlinks from 640 referring domains. Site B almost certainly has the broader, more trusted link profile, even though its backlink count is far lower.
Referring domain FAQ
Is it better to have more backlinks or more referring domains?
More referring domains. Links from many different relevant sites are a stronger signal than many links from a handful of sites.
Do subdomains count as separate referring domains?
It depends on the tool. Many group subdomains under their root domain, while some count each subdomain on its own. Check how your tool counts before comparing numbers across tools.
Related SEO terms
A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Search engines treat backlinks as votes of trust and use them to rank and discover pages.
A link profile is the full set of backlinks pointing to a site: who links, how many, with what anchors and attributes, and how it changes over time.
Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs’ 0–100 score of the strength of a website’s backlink profile. It is a third-party metric, not used by Google.
Link buildingWhite hat
Link building is the work of getting other websites to link to yours, to earn referral traffic and the trust that helps pages rank.
Link intersect finds websites that link to several of your competitors but not to you. Those sites are your most likely link prospects.
Link velocity is how fast a site gains or loses backlinks over time. It is a useful monitoring metric, not a confirmed Google ranking factor.