Referring Page & Referring Domain

The page where a backlink is originating from as Source URL is usually referred to as referring page or source page.

This is the exact URL, that the link is placed and implemented on.

URL examples of a referring pages could be

• a website page
  • without trailing slash https://www.linkresearchtools.com/kb/link-growth
  • or in some CMS with trailing slash looking like a folder as https://www.linkresearchtools.com/kb/link-growth/
• a website folder https://www.linkresearchtools.com/kb/
• a website root (start page, homepage) like https://www.linkresearchtools.com/

The URL where a backlink is originating from is usually referred to as referring URL which may become the canonical linking URL.

Using the term referring URL is more precise than referring page, because it can be one of two

• a canonical referring URL
• a non-canonical referring URL

Example:

• link on source URL https://www.linkresearchtools.com/kb/link-growth
• means referring URL is exactly that - https://www.linkresearchtools.com/kb/link-growth

The Domain (aka sub domain, FQDN) where a referring page is located on.

Example:

• link on source URL https://www.linkresearchtools.com/kb/link-growth
• means Referring Domain is www.linkresearchtools.com

So even the popular case of the www-version of a website is a Sub-Domain, hence we don’t use the word Sub-Domain specificall

The Root Domain a referring URL is located on.

Example:

• link on source URL https://www.linkresearchtools.com/kb/link-growth
• means Referring Root Domain (of referring topdom) is linkresearchtools.com