SEO glossary
The link building glossary.
79 link building and SEO terms, explained in plain English — with links to the guides that go deeper.
1
- 10x content
- Content that is dramatically better than anything else ranking for the same topic — more complete, more useful or more original. The idea is that only clearly superior pages earn links consistently. How to get backlinks →
3
- 301 redirect
- A permanent redirect that sends visitors and search engines from one URL to another. It's the standard way to move a page or site while keeping the links pointing at the old URL working. Broken link building guide →
- 302 redirect
- A temporary redirect, used when a page will come back to its original URL. Google has said 301 and 302 redirects both pass PageRank, but a 302 tells it to keep the original URL indexed, so use a 301 for permanent moves.
A
- Alt text
- The alt attribute on an image, describing it for screen readers and search engines. When an image is used as a link, its alt text acts as that link's anchor text. Anchor text guide →
- Anchor text
- The clickable, visible words of a hyperlink. Search engines use it as a hint about what the linked page is about, which is why over-optimized keyword anchors are a common spam signal. Anchor text guide →
B
- Backlink
- A link from one website to another. Search engines treat relevant backlinks from trusted sites as votes of confidence, making them one of the strongest off-page ranking signals. What are backlinks? →
- Backlink profile
- The full set of links pointing to a site: which domains link, to which pages, with what anchor text and attributes, and how that has changed over time. Backlink checker →
- Black hat SEO
- Tactics that try to manipulate rankings in ways that break search engine policies, such as buying followed links, PBNs, cloaking or automated link building. They can work briefly but risk being ignored or penalized. Toxic backlinks guide →
- Branded anchor
- Anchor text that uses a brand or company name, such as "HrefClub". Branded anchors are the most common type in natural link profiles. Anchor text analyzer →
- Broken link building
- Finding links on other sites that point to dead pages, then suggesting your own relevant page as a replacement. It works because you're helping the site owner fix a problem. Broken link building guide →
C
- Canonical URL
- The version of a page you want search engines to treat as the main one when several URLs show the same or similar content. It's set with a rel="canonical" link and helps consolidate link signals onto one URL.
- Citation
- In local SEO, any online mention of a business's name, address and phone number, with or without a link — for example in directories, maps and review sites. Consistent citations support local rankings. Local link building guide →
- Citation Flow
- A Majestic metric from 0 to 100 that estimates how influential a URL or site might be based on the quantity of links pointing to it. It's usually read alongside Trust Flow. Domain authority guide →
- Contextual link
- A link placed inside the main body text of a page, surrounded by relevant content. Contextual links are generally considered more valuable than links in footers, sidebars or author bios. Niche edits guide →
- Crawl budget
- Roughly, how many URLs a search engine is able and willing to crawl on a site in a given time. Google says it's mainly a concern for very large or fast-changing sites; most sites don't need to worry about it.
D
- Digital PR
- Earning coverage and links from news and industry sites by giving journalists something worth writing about — original data, expert commentary, a story or a useful tool. How to get backlinks →
- Disavow
- Asking Google to ignore specific links to your site by uploading a disavow file in Search Console. Google says most sites don't need it; it's meant for cleaning up manipulative links you can't get removed, especially after a manual action. Disavow file generator →
- Dofollow link
- SEO shorthand for a normal link with no nofollow, sponsored or ugc value in its rel attribute, so it can pass ranking signals. There's no actual rel="dofollow" attribute. Dofollow vs nofollow →
- Domain Rating (DR)
- Ahrefs' 0–100 score for the relative strength of a domain's backlink profile. Like DA, it's useful for comparing sites but isn't a Google metric. Domain authority guide →
E
- E-E-A-T
- Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness — the qualities Google's search quality rater guidelines ask raters to assess. It's a framework for what helpful content looks like, not a single ranking score.
- Editorial link
- A link a site owner or writer chose to add because it genuinely helps their readers, without payment or a trade. Editorial links are what search engines intend backlinks to represent. How to get backlinks →
- Exact-match anchor
- Anchor text that exactly matches the keyword the target page wants to rank for, such as "cheap car insurance". A high share of exact-match anchors is one of the clearest signs of manipulative link building. Anchor text analyzer →
- External link
- A link that points from one domain to a different domain. Your outbound external links are someone else's backlinks. What are backlinks? →
F
- Footprint
- A repeated pattern that reveals sites or links are connected or manufactured — shared ownership details, identical templates, the same hosting, matching anchor text or links appearing in batches. Three-way link exchange footprints →
G
- Generic anchor
- Anchor text that says nothing about the destination, such as "click here", "this article" or "website". A normal part of any natural anchor mix. Anchor text guide →
- Google Search Console
- Google's free tool for site owners. It shows search performance, indexing status, a sample of links to your site and any manual actions, and it's where the disavow tool lives.
- Grey hat SEO
- Tactics that sit between white hat and black hat — not clearly banned, but closer to manipulation than to earning links purely on merit. Many link exchange and outreach practices fall here depending on how they're done. Link exchange guide →
- Guest post
- An article you write for another site, usually with a link back to yours. Google's spam policies flag large-scale guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchors as link spam, so relevance and restraint matter. Guest posting guide →
H
- HARO
- Short for Help a Reporter Out, a service that sends journalists' requests for expert sources to subscribers. The name is now used for any journalist-request service where answering well can earn a link from a news site. Free backlinks that work →
- Hreflang
- An attribute that tells search engines which language or regional version of a page to show to which users. It's used on multilingual and multi-country sites to avoid the wrong version ranking.
I
- Index
- A search engine's database of pages it has crawled and may show in results. A page that isn't indexed can't rank, and a link on a non-indexed page is unlikely to pass value.
- Internal link
- A link from one page to another on the same site. Internal links help search engines discover pages, understand site structure and spread link equity from strong pages to others.
L
- Link bait
- Content created specifically to attract links, such as original research, a controversial take, a free tool or a striking visual. When it's genuinely useful it's just good content; when it's only a gimmick, the links rarely last. How to get backlinks →
- Link building
- The practice of getting other websites to link to yours, through outreach, content, PR, partnerships and communities. It's one of the core parts of off-page SEO. How to get backlinks →
- Link equity
- The ranking value a link can pass from one page to another, influenced by the linking page's authority, relevance, placement and rel attributes. Often called "link juice". What are backlinks? →
- Link exchange
- An arrangement where site owners link to each other's sites. Google's spam policies list excessive link exchanges ("link to me and I'll link to you") as link spam, so the pattern and scale matter. Link exchange guide →
- Link farm
- A site or group of sites that exists mainly to link out to other sites, with little real content or audience. Links from link farms are low value at best and a spam signal at worst. Toxic backlinks guide →
- Link insertion
- Adding a link to an article that's already published, instead of writing a new post. Also called a niche edit; if it's paid for, Google's policies require it to be marked sponsored or nofollow. Niche edits guide →
- Link juice
- Informal name for link equity — the ranking value a link passes to the page it points to. What are backlinks? →
- Link reclamation
- Recovering links you've lost or should already have: fixing broken links to your moved pages, redirecting dead URLs that still have backlinks, and asking for links on unlinked mentions. Free backlinks that work →
- Link scheme
- Google's umbrella term for links intended to manipulate rankings, including buying or selling followed links, excessive link exchanges, PBNs and automated link building. These are now covered under link spam in its spam policies. Buying backlinks: an honest look →
- Link velocity
- The rate at which a site gains and loses backlinks or referring domains over time. Google hasn't published a safe rate; spikes become a concern when paired with exact-match anchors or unrelated sites. Link velocity explained →
- Linkable asset
- A page built to be worth citing — original data, a calculator or tool, a definitive guide, a template. It gives outreach something to point to besides your sales pages. How to get backlinks →
M
- Manual action
- A penalty applied by a human reviewer at Google when a site breaks its spam policies, such as "unnatural links to your site". It appears in Search Console and is lifted by fixing the issue and filing a reconsideration request. Toxic backlinks guide →
N
- Naked URL
- Anchor text that's just the URL itself, such as "hrefclub.com" or "https://example.com/guide". Naked URL anchors are common and natural. Anchor text guide →
- NAP
- Name, Address, Phone number — the core business details that local citations and directory listings should show consistently. Local link building guide →
- Niche edit
- A link added to an existing, already-indexed article on a relevant site. Value depends heavily on the page's quality and whether the link fits the content naturally. Niche edits guide →
- Nofollow
- A rel="nofollow" value telling search engines a link shouldn't be treated as an endorsement. Since March 2020 Google treats it as a hint rather than a strict rule. Dofollow vs nofollow →
- Noindex
- A robots meta tag or X-Robots-Tag header that tells search engines not to include a page in their index. Links on noindexed pages are unlikely to help the sites they point to. Backlink checker →
O
- Open PageRank
- A free, openly available domain authority metric calculated from public link data. HrefClub Authority (0–100) is based on Open PageRank data and refreshed monthly. Domain authority guide →
- Orphan page
- A page with no internal links pointing to it, so visitors and crawlers can only find it through a sitemap or external link. Orphan pages tend to be crawled less and rank worse.
- Outreach
- Contacting site owners, editors and journalists to suggest your content, a fix or a collaboration that results in a link. Good outreach is short, personal and gives the recipient a reason to say yes. How to get backlinks →
P
- PageRank
- Google's original algorithm for measuring a page's importance from the links pointing to it, treating each link as a vote. Google still uses PageRank internally, though it no longer shows public scores. What are backlinks? →
- Partial-match anchor
- Anchor text that includes the target keyword along with other words, such as "our guide to cheap car insurance quotes". More natural than exact match, but still worth keeping in proportion. Anchor text guide →
- PBN (private blog network)
- A group of sites, often built on expired domains, controlled by one person or company to link to their money sites. Google's spam policies list PBNs as link spam. Toxic backlinks guide →
- Penguin
- A Google algorithm first launched in 2012 to target manipulative link building and keyword stuffing. It later became part of Google's core algorithm and works by devaluing spammy links rather than demoting whole sites. Toxic backlinks guide →
R
- Reciprocal link
- When two sites link to each other, often by agreement. Occasional reciprocal links are normal; systematic swaps are an easy-to-spot link exchange pattern. Link exchange guide →
- Reconsideration request
- A request, filed in Search Console, asking Google to review your site after you've fixed the problem behind a manual action. It should explain what you found, what you removed or disavowed, and why it won't recur. Toxic backlinks guide →
- Referral traffic
- Visitors who arrive at your site by clicking a link on another site. A useful sign that a backlink is real and read, whatever its rel attribute.
- Referring domain
- A unique website that links to yours. Ten links from one site count as one referring domain, which is why referring domains are a better measure of link growth than raw backlink counts. What are backlinks? →
- rel="sponsored"
- A link attribute Google introduced in September 2019 for ads, affiliate links and any link given in exchange for payment or value. Marking paid links this way keeps them within Google's policies. Link HTML generator →
- rel="ugc"
- A link attribute for user-generated content such as comments and forum posts, introduced by Google in September 2019. Like nofollow, it's treated as a hint. Dofollow vs nofollow →
- Resource page
- A page that curates helpful links on a topic, like "best tools for new gardeners". Pitching a genuinely useful page for inclusion is one of the more reliable outreach tactics. Free backlinks that work →
- Robots.txt
- A text file at the root of a site telling crawlers which paths they may or may not crawl. It controls crawling, not indexing — a blocked URL can still be indexed if other pages link to it.
S
- SERP
- Search engine results page — the page of results you see after a search, including organic listings, ads and features like featured snippets.
- Sitewide link
- A link that appears on every page of a site, typically in the header, footer or sidebar. Google's spam policies mention widely distributed footer and template links, and sitewide keyword links are a common spam pattern. Toxic backlinks guide →
- Skyscraper technique
- Finding content in your niche that has earned many links, publishing something clearly better, then contacting the sites that link to the original. It works best when the new page is genuinely an upgrade. How to get backlinks →
- SpamBrain
- Google's AI-based spam-prevention system. Google says it uses SpamBrain to detect spam, including sites buying links and sites used to pass outgoing links, and to neutralize those links automatically. Buying backlinks: an honest look →
- Sponsored post
- Content a site publishes in exchange for payment. Links in sponsored posts should carry rel="sponsored" or nofollow; buy them for audience and traffic rather than ranking value. Buying backlinks: an honest look →
T
- Three-way link exchange
- A link swap routed through a third site — B links to A, and C links to B — so no two sites link to each other directly. Also called an ABC link exchange. It hides the reciprocal pattern but not other footprints. Three-way link exchange explained →
- Tiered link building
- Building links to the pages that link to you, in layers, to push more value toward your site. The lower tiers are usually low-quality or automated links, which makes it a classic link scheme. Toxic backlinks guide →
- Topical relevance
- How closely the linking page and site relate to the subject of the page they link to. A relevant link from a modest site often does more than an unrelated link from a big one. Link exchange guide →
- Toxic backlink
- An informal term for links that look manipulative or come from spammy sites. Google says it ignores most of these on its own; they're mainly a concern when there's a large deliberate pattern or a manual action. Toxic backlinks guide →
- Trust Flow
- A Majestic metric from 0 to 100 estimating how trustworthy a site is, based on how closely it's linked to a set of manually reviewed trusted seed sites. A Trust Flow far below Citation Flow can hint at low-quality links. Domain authority guide →
U
- Unlinked mention
- A mention of your brand, product or name on another site without a link. Asking the author to add a link is one of the easiest ways to earn a backlink. Free backlinks that work →
W
- White hat SEO
- Optimizing within search engine policies — useful content, sound technical SEO and links earned on merit. Slower than shortcuts, but the results tend to last. How to get backlinks →
X
- XML sitemap
- A file listing the URLs you want search engines to crawl, often with last-modified dates. It helps discovery, especially for new or large sites, but doesn't guarantee indexing.
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