You have a nice website, you write for it honestly, and yet you still sit somewhere on the second or third page of search results. Then someone gives you advice: "Buy some backlinks, drop your business into a few directories, and your website authority will shoot up." It sounds simple. But what actually is a backlink, why would Google care about such a thing, and is a Firmy.cz listing really the shortcut it is made out to be? Let me explain it the way I would over a coffee with a friend — no jargon, and no promises that will turn against you in the long run.
Google doesn't rank sites by content alone, but also by trust
Most business owners imagine Google as a librarian who reads every website and puts the best text on top. That's half true. But for most queries there are dozens of near-identical pages with practically the same content. If Google decided purely on the text, it couldn't tell them apart.
That's why it also looks at how trustworthy a site is. Think of it like a tradesperson in your town. Two of them have an equally nice flyer. But one is recommended to you by your neighbour, the other nobody has heard of. Who do you call? Google works the same way: it looks for signals that your site is established, that someone has "vouched" for it, and that it isn't a scam. That whole sum of trust is called website authority. And one of the main ways Google reads it is precisely through backlinks.
What is a backlink? A recommendation from another site
A backlink is simply the situation where a clickable link from someone else's website points to yours. Nothing more. When a local magazine writes about your café and includes a link to your site in the article, you've earned a backlink. When a supplier lists you in a "where to buy us" section and links to you, that's a backlink too.
For Google, each such link works like a vote or a recommendation. The logic is simple: if lots of quality, relevant sites link to you, you're probably worth paying attention to. If nobody mentioned you, you'd hardly be someone important in your field.
But here's the single most important catch in this whole article: quality matters, not quantity. One link from a respected industry site or from a regional newspaper carries more weight than a hundred links from random, empty pages that exist only to link somewhere. Let's return to that recommendation — what's more valuable to you? A recommendation from one happy customer whom people respect, or a hundred flyers handed to random strangers on the street? Google reasons exactly the same way. A hundred worthless links not only fail to help — these days they can actively hurt. We'll get to that.
"Domain authority" is a thermometer, not a goal in itself
Once you start reading about SEO, you'll run into abbreviations like DR (Domain Rating) or DA (Domain Authority). These are numbers, usually on a scale from 0 to 100, by which various tools try to estimate how strong and trustworthy your site is — mainly based on the quantity and quality of links pointing to it.
It's important to know one thing: Google didn't invent these numbers and doesn't use them when ranking results. They were invented by the companies that sell SEO tools, to wrap a complicated reality into one understandable number. Treat it as a thermometer. A thermometer will show you that you have a fever, but it won't cure you on its own — and chasing a prettier reading on the dial makes no sense. The goal isn't to have a DR of 40. The goal is to have a site that people and Google trust, and a decent DR is just a side symptom that you're succeeding at it.
So don't let yourself be scared by a salesperson waving a chart at you: "your authority is only 8, we'll raise it to 30." You can inflate that number artificially, but it may have nothing whatsoever to do with real trust or with your positions in search. If you'd like to study terms like these at your own pace, you'll find plain-language explanations in our glossary.
Directories like Firmy.cz: when they help and when they're just spam
And now for the thing most people ask about — directories. Firmy.cz, Najisto, a listing on Mapy.cz. Is it worth registering your business in them?
The short answer: yes, but for a different reason than most people think. First, a technicality. Links from directories usually carry the so-called nofollow attribute — in plain terms, a marker by which the site tells Google "I didn't personally vouch for this link, don't treat it as my own recommendation." Such a link therefore usually doesn't add that classic "voting" weight for authority. That's why I keep hearing: "If it's nofollow, it's pointless." That's a mistake.
A quality listing on Firmy.cz or Mapy.cz does two other important things:
- It builds local trust. For a business that serves customers in a region, these listings are one of the places where both people and search engines verify that you genuinely exist and where to find you.
- It unifies your details. In the world of local SEO, so-called NAP consistency is crucial — your Name, Address and Phone must be exactly the same everywhere on the internet. Every typo, different number format or old postcode confuses search engines and customers alike. Directories are exactly the places where you keep this consistency in check. I covered it in more detail in the article on local SEO in Ostrava.
So where's the line between a useful listing and spam? A simple rule: register your business in a handful of established, quality directories that people actually use, and stop there. Firmy.cz, Mapy.cz, Google Business Profile, one or two relevant industry directories. What not to do: register in hundreds of random "business directories" from the other side of the world, just to accumulate links. These mass listings help no one, nobody reads them, and to Google they signal the opposite — that you're trying to game the system.
Beware of bought link packages and exchange networks
Sooner or later you'll come across an offer like "100 backlinks for 990 CZK" or an invitation into an "exchange network" where sites link to one another back and forth. In the short term it sounds like a genius shortcut. Please, don't do it.
Google recognises these unnatural patterns remarkably well today. Artificial link networks, bought packages, sites created solely for linking — all of that falls under the rules against link manipulation. The consequence isn't "nothing happens." In the better case Google simply ignores those links, so you've thrown money away. In the worse case it penalises your site and you drop even lower than you were before. And climbing back out of such a fall is a job that takes months.
Remember one simple honesty test: if backlinks didn't exist and Google never counted them — would that link still make sense for a human? A link from an article where a local magazine genuinely recommends you makes sense. A link in the footer of some random site where a living person would never end up doesn't. If a link has no value for the reader, in the long run it has none for your SEO either.
How to build authority honestly
Good news to close with: you can build authority without tricks. It's slower, but it's permanent, and nobody will wipe your site from the results for it. Here are the approaches that work:
- Create content people naturally link to. A useful guide, a clear comparison or an honest case study are exactly what others are happy to mention and link to on their own. This is the foundation on which all SEO rests.
- Use natural mentions. Are you a member of a guild or industry association? Do you supply someone who has a "our partners" section? Did you take part in an event that got written up? Those are all legitimate places for a link. Feel free to ask politely — most people are glad to add the link.
- Don't forget project footers. When, as a tradesperson, studio or supplier, you do work for clients, it's common and fair to have a small "website built by…" signature with a link in the footer of their site. That, incidentally, is part of where our own authority comes from.
- Cultivate local and industry sites. Regional news, industry portals, directories with a good reputation. One relevant link from there is worth dozens of worthless ones.
Notice the word "buy" doesn't appear once in that list. Honest authority is a by-product of doing good work and being known for it. There's no shortcut — or rather there is one, but it leads to a dead end.
Summary: a thermometer, not a race
If you take one thing from this article, make it this: Google ranks sites not only by content but also by trust, and backlinks are, to it, something like recommendations. What decides is their quality, not their count. "Domain authority" and numbers like DR are just a thermometer the tools invented — not a goal you should chase. Directories like Firmy.cz and Mapy.cz make sense for local trust and unified details, even though they tend to be nofollow — but only the established ones, not mass address lists. And steer well clear of bought link packages and exchange networks, because what looks like a shortcut today can turn into a penalty tomorrow.
If you're not sure where your site stands with its link profile and local listings, I'm happy to take a look and tell you straight where it makes sense to do something and where it doesn't — no strings attached, through a free SEO audit. And if you want to build authority systematically and for the long term, that's the core of what we call SEO. No tricks, just work that lasts.