How does having high-quality backlinks affect a website?

Having high-quality backlinks significantly improves a site's authority and search ranking. When a website earns backlinks from reputable and relevant sources, it signals to search engines that the website is trustworthy and valuable. Search engines use these backlinks as a way to gauge the quality of the site's content; the more high-quality backlinks a site has, the more likely it is to be seen as an authoritative source in its domain.

As a result, backlinks play a crucial role in determining where a site ranks in search engine results pages. A higher ranking can lead to increased visibility, more organic traffic, and ultimately, a better overall performance of the site. This is why building a strong backlink profile is a key component of effective SEO strategies.

The other options do not accurately reflect the impact of backlinks. For instance, high-quality backlinks do not decrease site authority; on the contrary, they enhance it. Similarly, backlinks have a substantial impact on visibility, contradicting the notion that they have no effect at all. Loading speed is also not directly influenced by backlinks; rather, it is determined by other technical aspects of website performance.