Link Building Glossary
114 terms, A to Z, explained in plain English.
Every term you need for backlinks, authority metrics, link types and Google’s link spam policies, explained clearly with real definitions, not jargon.
A
Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR)
Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) is a 0 to 100 score that shows how strong a website’s backlink profile is, based on how many unique sites link to it with dofollow links and how strong they are.
Ahrefs Rank (AR)
Ahrefs Rank (AR) ranks every website in the Ahrefs database by backlink profile strength. The lower the number, the stronger the site, with the strongest website at #1.
Ahrefs URL Rating (UR)
Ahrefs URL Rating (UR) is a 0 to 100 score that measures the backlink strength of one specific page, rather than the whole website, using its external and internal links.
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the visible, clickable words in a hyperlink. Search engines read it as a clue to what the linked page is about, so its wording shapes how a backlink is understood.
Anchor Text Distribution
Anchor text distribution is the mix of anchor types pointing to a site, such as branded, keyword, URL and generic. A natural mix is led by branded anchors, with few keyword anchors.
Authority Link
An authority link is a backlink from a widely trusted source, such as a major news site, government body, university or leading industry publication. It signals strong credibility.
Authority Score (AS)
Authority Score (AS) is Semrush’s 1 to 100 rating of a domain’s overall strength. It combines backlink quality, estimated organic traffic and signs of spam in the link profile.
B
Backlink
A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Search engines treat quality backlinks as votes of trust, which makes them one of the strongest ranking signals.
Backlink Audit
A backlink audit is a full review of the links pointing to your site. It measures their quality, finds toxic or lost links, and spots risks before they hurt your rankings.
Backlink Profile
A backlink profile is the full set of links pointing to a website, including where they come from, their anchor text and their quality. It shows how trustworthy a site looks.
Blogroll Link
A blogroll link is a link in a blog’s list of recommended sites, usually in the sidebar or footer. Because it appears on every page, it carries little SEO value today.
Brand Mention
A brand mention is any reference to your brand name on another website or platform, with or without a link. Mentions build trust, and unlinked ones can often become backlinks.
Branded Anchor Text
Branded anchor text is a link whose clickable words are a brand name, such as “Canva.” It is the most natural and safest anchor type and should make up a large share of your anchors.
Broken Link
A broken link is a hyperlink that leads to a page that no longer works, usually showing a 404 error. Broken backlinks pass little or no value until the page is fixed or redirected.
Broken Link Building
Broken link building is finding dead links on other websites and suggesting your own relevant page as the replacement. You earn a backlink while fixing the site owner’s problem.
C
Citation Flow (CF)
Citation Flow (CF) is a Majestic metric from 0 to 100 that measures how many links point to a site or page. It shows link quantity, not quality, so read it alongside Trust Flow.
Co-Citation
Co-citation happens when two websites or brands are mentioned together by a third source, even without linking to each other. It helps search engines see the two as related.
Co-Occurrence
Co-occurrence is when the same words, phrases or brand names regularly appear close together across the web. Search engines use these patterns to connect brands with topics.
Comment Backlinks
Comment backlinks are links placed in blog or article comment sections. Most are tagged nofollow or ugc and pass little value, and mass commenting for links is treated as spam.
Competitor Backlink Analysis
Competitor backlink analysis is studying the links that point to competing websites to understand why they rank and to find link opportunities you can pursue for your own site.
Contextual Link
A contextual link is a backlink placed inside the main body of relevant content, surrounded by related text. That context makes it more natural and valuable than template links.
Content Syndication
Content syndication is republishing your article on other websites with credit to the original. It extends your reach and can earn links, but copies should not outrank the original.
D
Deep Links
Deep links are backlinks that point to inner pages, such as blog posts or product pages, instead of the homepage. They send authority straight to the pages you want to rank.
Digital PR
Digital PR is a strategy that earns coverage and backlinks from news sites and publications by giving journalists newsworthy stories, original data or expert commentary.
Disavow
To disavow links is to ask Google to ignore specific backlinks when it assesses your site. It is meant for harmful, unnatural links you cannot remove, not for routine cleanup.
DoFollow Links
DoFollow links are standard links with no nofollow, sponsored or ugc attribute. They let search engines follow the link and pass ranking value, or link equity, to the linked page.
Domain Rating (DR)
Domain Rating (DR) is the Ahrefs score from 0 to 100 that link builders use to judge a site’s strength. Higher means stronger, but DR is not a Google metric and can be inflated.
Diversity of Links
Diversity of links means earning backlinks from many different websites, link types and anchor texts. A varied backlink profile looks natural and is safer than one built on few sources.
E
Editorial Link
An editorial link is a backlink a publisher adds by choice because your content is useful, with no payment or trade involved. It is the type of link search engines value most.
Ego Bait
Ego bait is content that features or praises specific people or brands, such as expert roundups, interviews or awards, so they share it and link to it from their own sites.
Exact-Match Anchor Text
Exact-match anchor text uses the target keyword word for word as the link text, such as “link building services.” It signals relevance but looks manipulative when overused.
External Link
An external link is any link that points from one domain to a different domain. Links leaving your site are outbound links, and links coming into your site are backlinks.
F
Footer Links
Footer links are links placed in a website’s footer, so they usually appear on every page. They carry little SEO value, and paid footer links with keyword anchors count as spam.
Forum Links
Forum links are backlinks placed in forum posts, signatures or member profiles. Most are nofollow and pass little ranking value, but helpful posts can still send targeted traffic.
G
Google Disavow Tool
The Google Disavow Tool is a Search Console feature where you upload a text file of links or domains you want Google to ignore. Google advises using it only for serious link problems.
Guest Posting / Guest Blogging
Guest posting is writing an article for another website in your industry, which publishes it in return for a backlink in the content or author bio, plus exposure to its audience.
H
HARO (Help A Reporter Out)
HARO (Help A Reporter Out) is a service that connects journalists with expert sources. When a journalist uses your quote, the article often links to your site as an editorial link.
Hidden Links
Hidden links are links concealed from visitors but visible to search engines, using tricks like text matching the background color. Google treats them as spam and can penalize them.
High-Authority Link
A high-authority link is a backlink from a site with strong authority metrics, such as a high DR. It can pass real value, but check traffic and relevance, since metrics can be inflated.
Homepage Link
A homepage link is a backlink that points to a site’s root domain, such as example.com, rather than an inner page. It builds overall site authority and usually uses a branded anchor.
I
Image Links
Image links are backlinks where an image is the clickable element instead of text. Search engines read the image’s alt text in place of anchor text, so keep it descriptive.
Inbound Links
Inbound links are links coming to your website from other sites. The term means the same as backlinks and is used to separate them from outbound and internal links.
Infographic Link Building
Infographic link building is creating a visual presentation of data and promoting it so other sites publish it with a credit link back to you as the original source.
In-Content Link
An in-content link sits inside the main body text of a page, not in menus, sidebars or footers. Body links carry more weight because they look like deliberate editorial choices.
L
Link Age
Link age is how long a backlink has existed since it was first found. Long-lasting links on maintained pages are often seen as more trusted, though Google has not confirmed age as a factor.
Link Attraction
Link attraction is the ability of content to earn backlinks on its own, without outreach. Pages with original data, free tools or standout guides attract links because writers cite them.
Link Bait
Link bait is content designed to attract many backlinks quickly by being surprising, useful or highly shareable, such as original studies, free tools or bold opinion pieces.
Link Building
Link building is the process of getting other websites to link to yours. Quality backlinks help search engines trust your pages, which improves rankings and organic traffic.
Link Building Campaign
A link building campaign is a planned, time-bound effort to earn backlinks for specific pages or goals, with set targets, tactics, a budget and measurable results.
Link Building Outreach
Link building outreach is contacting site owners, editors and journalists to request a backlink, pitch content or suggest a resource. It is how most active link building gets done.
Link Decay
Link decay is the gradual loss of backlinks, or of their value, as linking pages are deleted, edited, archived or lose traffic. Steady new link building offsets it.
Link Earning
Link earning is gaining backlinks by creating and promoting content people want to cite, rather than buying or trading links. It produces natural, low-risk links that last.
Link Equity / Link Juice
Link equity, or link juice, is the ranking value a link passes from one page to another. How much passes depends on the linking page’s authority, its relevance and the link’s placement.
Link Exchange
A link exchange is an agreement between two sites to link to each other for SEO. Occasional natural swaps are fine, but excessive link exchanges break Google’s spam policies.
Link Farm
A link farm is a group of low-quality websites created mainly to link to each other or sell links. Google treats link farms as spam, and their links are usually ignored or penalized.
Link Gap Analysis / Link Intersect
Link gap analysis, or link intersect, finds websites that link to your competitors but not to you. These sites make strong prospects because they already link within your niche.
Link Graph
The link graph is the network of links connecting pages and sites across the web. Search engines analyze it to discover pages, measure authority and spot manipulated link patterns.
Link Insertion / Niche Edit
Link insertion is adding a backlink to an article already published on another site, instead of creating new content. Because the page may already rank, the link can work quickly.
Link Marketplace
A link marketplace is a platform where publishers sell guest posts and link placements to buyers. It makes buying links faster, but paid links that pass value break Google’s guidelines.
Link Neighbourhood
Link neighbourhood is the group of sites a website links to and gets links from. Ties to trusted sites help credibility, while ties to spam networks can make a site look risky.
Link Placement
Link placement is where a backlink sits on a page, such as the article body, author bio, sidebar or footer. Links in the main content, near the top, usually pass the most value.
Link Profile
A link profile is the overall pattern of links pointing to a site. SEOs use it to judge whether those links look natural and healthy, or engineered and risky.
Link Prospecting
Link prospecting is finding and qualifying websites likely to link to your content. It builds the target list for outreach and checks each site for relevance, traffic and quality.
Link Reclamation
Link reclamation is recovering backlinks you lost or never received, by fixing broken pages, restoring removed links and turning unlinked brand mentions into links.
Link Relevance
Link relevance is how closely the linking site and page match the topic of the page they link to. Relevant links send stronger signals than unrelated links with similar metrics.
Link Roundup
A link roundup is a regular post, often weekly or monthly, where a site curates links to the best content on a topic. Pitching fresh, relevant content can earn you a link.
Link Scheme
A link scheme is any attempt to manipulate rankings by buying, selling, trading or creating links that are not earned naturally. Google’s spam policies prohibit link schemes.
Link Spam
Link spam is the mass creation of low-quality, manipulative links, such as automated comments, forum signatures or link farm links. Google’s systems usually detect and ignore it.
Link Velocity
Link velocity is the rate at which a site gains new backlinks over time. Steady growth looks natural, while sudden unexplained spikes from weak sites can look manipulated.
Linkable Asset
A linkable asset is content built to earn links because others want to cite it, such as original research, free tools, statistics pages or in-depth guides.
Linking Domains / Referring Domains
Linking domains are the unique websites that link to your site. Fifty links from one site count as one linking domain, which makes this a better authority signal than total backlinks.
M
Manual Action (for links)
A manual action for links is a penalty a Google reviewer applies when a site has unnatural links to or from it. It shows in Search Console and can sharply reduce rankings.
Money Page
A money page is a page that directly drives revenue or leads, such as a product, service or pricing page. It is usually the main link target but the hardest page to earn links for.
N
Naked Anchor Text / Naked URL
A naked URL is a link that uses the web address itself as anchor text, such as example.com. It is a natural, low-risk anchor type that helps balance keyword anchors.
Natural Links
Natural links are backlinks other sites give voluntarily, without payment, trades or favors. They are the type of link Google’s guidelines are designed to reward.
Negative SEO
Negative SEO is using unethical tactics, most often pointing spammy links at a site, to harm a competitor’s rankings. Google says it ignores most of these links automatically.
Niche Edit
A niche edit is a backlink added to an existing article on a relevant site in your niche. It is another name for link insertion and places your link on a page that may already have authority.
NoFollow Links
NoFollow links carry the rel=”nofollow” attribute, which tells search engines not to treat the link as an endorsement. They pass little ranking value but can still bring traffic.
O
Organic Links
Organic links are backlinks that happen naturally when people find and value your content, with no outreach or payment. They grow over time as your pages gain visibility.
Outreach
Outreach is contacting bloggers, journalists, editors and site owners to build relationships and secure opportunities such as guest posts, mentions and backlinks.
Outbound Links
Outbound links are links on your site that point to other websites. Linking to credible sources helps readers and builds trust, while links to spammy sites can hurt credibility.
Overoptimized Anchor Text
Overoptimized anchor text is when too many backlinks use keyword-rich, especially exact-match, anchors. The pattern looks unnatural and can lead to ranking drops.
P
Page Authority (PA)
Page Authority (PA) is a Moz score from 1 to 100 that predicts how well a single page will rank, based on the links pointing to it. It is the page-level version of Domain Authority.
Paid Links / Paid Backlinks
Paid links are backlinks gained in exchange for money, products or services. Google requires them to carry rel=”sponsored” or nofollow, and hidden paid links break its spam policies.
Parasite SEO
Parasite SEO is publishing content on a powerful third-party site to rank quickly using its authority. Abusive versions break Google’s site reputation abuse policy, introduced in 2024.
Partial-Match Anchor Text
Partial-match anchor text includes the target keyword plus other words, such as “tips for link building.” It adds relevance while looking more natural than exact-match anchors.
Private Blog Networks (PBNs)
A private blog network (PBN) is a group of sites, often built on expired domains, owned by one party to pass links to a target site. Google treats PBNs as a link scheme.
Profile Backlinks
Profile backlinks are links in your user profiles on forums, directories and social platforms. Most are nofollow with little SEO value, but trusted profiles help build brand presence.
R
Reciprocal Links
Reciprocal links happen when two websites link to each other. A few between related sites are normal, but large numbers created for SEO look like a link scheme.
Referring Domains
Referring domains are the unique websites that link to your site at least once. Growing this number with relevant, quality sites is a core goal of most link building strategies.
Referring Page
A referring page is the specific web page that contains a link to your site. Its authority, traffic, relevance and the link’s position on it decide how much value the link passes.
Resource Page Link Building
Resource page link building is finding pages that list useful links on a topic and asking the owner to add your content. It works best with genuinely helpful guides or tools.
Rel=”sponsored”
Rel=”sponsored” is a link attribute that marks a link as paid, sponsored or part of an ad deal. It tells Google not to count the link for rankings and keeps paid links within guidelines.
Rel=”ugc”
Rel=”ugc” is a link attribute that marks links inside user-generated content, such as comments and forum posts. It tells Google the site owner is not vouching for those links.
S
Scholarship Link Building
Scholarship link building is offering a scholarship so colleges list it with a link back to your site. It once earned easy .edu links, but overuse has sharply reduced its value.
Second-tier / Tiered Links
Second-tier links are backlinks built to the pages that already link to your site. They aim to strengthen your existing backlinks so those pages pass more value to you.
Sidebar Links
Sidebar links are links in a website’s sidebar column, so they often appear on every page. They carry less weight than in-content links and should be branded, or tagged if paid.
Sitewide Links
Sitewide links appear on every page of a site, usually in the header, sidebar or footer. They inflate backlink counts but often count as one link, and paid keyword versions are risky.
Skyscraper Technique
The Skyscraper Technique is finding content with many backlinks, creating a clearly better version, then asking the sites that link to the original to link to yours.
Spam Score
Spam Score is a Moz metric from 1% to 100% that estimates how likely a site is to be penalized by Google, based on features it shares with penalized sites. Higher means riskier.
Sponsored Links
Sponsored links are paid placements clearly labeled for readers and marked with rel=”sponsored” or nofollow. Google allows them, and they are valued for traffic and exposure.
T
Target URL
A target URL is the specific page on your site that you want a backlink to point to. Choosing the right one decides where link authority lands and which rankings improve.
Three-Way Link Exchange
A three-way link exchange is a disguised link swap where site A links to B, B links to C and C links back to A. Google still treats it as a link scheme.
Tiered Link Building
Tiered link building stacks backlinks in layers, with each tier linking to the one above and your site at the top. Spam-based tiers are risky and widely detected by Google.
Topical Trust Flow
Topical Trust Flow is a Majestic metric that breaks Trust Flow down by subject, showing which topics a site is trusted for. It helps you judge a linking site’s relevance to your niche.
Toxic Backlinks
Toxic backlinks are links from spammy, low-quality or manipulative sources that could harm your site. Google ignores most of them, so review them manually before any disavow.
Trust Flow (TF)
Trust Flow (TF) is a Majestic metric from 0 to 100 that measures link quality based on how closely a site is linked to trusted seed sites. Higher TF means more trustworthy links.
U
UGC Links
UGC links are links inside user-generated content, such as comments, forum posts and reviews. They are usually tagged ugc or nofollow, so they pass little ranking value.
Unlinked Brand Mentions
Unlinked brand mentions are references to your brand on other sites that do not include a link. Asking the author to add one is one of the easiest ways to earn a backlink.
Unnatural Links
Unnatural links are backlinks created to manipulate rankings rather than given freely, such as paid, traded or PBN links. Google can ignore them or issue a manual action.
URL Rating (UR)
URL Rating (UR) is the Ahrefs score from 0 to 100 for a single page’s backlink strength. It helps you compare pages competing for the same keyword and judge link placements.
W
Web 2.0 Links
Web 2.0 links are backlinks from free blogging platforms like WordPress.com, Blogger or Medium. Mass-made Web 2.0 blogs count as spam, but real content there can build an audience.
White Hat Link Building
White hat link building is earning backlinks through methods that follow Google’s guidelines, such as quality content, digital PR, genuine guest posts and honest outreach.
Widget Links
Widget links are backlinks placed in the embed code of free tools or widgets that other sites install. Google advises nofollow on them, and keyword-rich widget links count as spam.