What is a Referring Domain?
A referring domain is a unique website that links to another site. A site that links to you ten times is ten backlinks but one referring domain.
Why it matters
Counting referring domains shows how many different sites link to you, which says more about the breadth of your link profile than the raw number of links. A large number of links can come from a single site, for example from a footer or a sidebar, and that is less informative than links from many different sites. SEO tools report both numbers, and comparing referring domains with those of the pages you want to outrank is a common way to size a link building effort.
Why referring domains are counted
A useful referring domain count is a matter of quality as well as quantity. The domains should be relevant to your topic, have real audiences and link to you from the body of pages that readers visit. A profile made of many domains that exist only to hold links can look larger than it is. When you compare with competitors, look at how many of their linking domains are relevant and reputable, not only at the total.
How referring domains are counted
Referring domain vs backlink
A backlink is a single link. A referring domain is the site it comes from. Many backlinks can share one referring domain.
Followed vs nofollow domains
Tools can separate domains that link with a followed link from those that use nofollow, sponsored or ugc attributes. Check how your tool reports this.
New and lost domains
A profile changes over time as sites start or stop linking to you. Watching new and lost referring domains shows whether your profile is growing or eroding.
Example
Two sites each have the same total number of backlinks. One receives them from a few sites that repeat the link on every page, and the other from a large number of different publications. The second has far more referring domains, which usually describes a broader and more natural profile.
Referring domains and Orbink
On Orbink every listing is a site, so each placement comes from a domain you can evaluate before you order, using metrics such as DR and monthly organic traffic.
Read the Link Profile GuideFrequently Asked Questions
A backlink is a single link from one page to another. A referring domain is the unique website those links come from. One referring domain can account for many backlinks.
There is no universal number. Compare your count with the pages you want to outrank and weigh the relevance and quality of the domains, not only how many there are.
It depends on the tool. Some count by root domain and others by subdomain, so check how your tool defines a referring domain before you compare numbers from different tools.
Tools differ. Many include domains linking with nofollow, sponsored or ugc attributes in the total and let you filter them, so read the report settings.