Anchor Text
/ ˈæŋ.kər tɛkst /
noun
The visible, clickable text of a hyperlink. Anchor text is one of the most significant on-page signals Google uses to understand what the destination page is about. Exact-match anchors (using the target keyword verbatim) pass strong topical relevance but, in excess, read as manipulative. A natural anchor profile includes a blend of branded, partial-match, generic ("click here"), and naked URL anchors.
In practice
A site targeting "best running shoes" that receives 80% exact-match anchors risks an over-optimisation penalty. A healthy mix might be 20% branded, 15% partial-match, 10% exact-match, and 55% generic/URL.
See also: Dofollow, Link Gap
Backlink
/ ˈbæk.lɪŋk /
noun
A hyperlink pointing from one website to another. In Google's original PageRank model, backlinks function as votes of confidence — each link a signal that another site finds your content valuable enough to reference. Quality, relevance, and authority of the referring domain all influence the actual value a backlink passes. Quantity without quality is not only ineffective but actively harmful.
In practice
A single backlink from a DR 80 industry publication may outweigh 200 links from generic directories. Relevance of the linking page's topic to your own content amplifies the signal further.
See also: Domain Rating, Dofollow
Citation Flow
/ saɪˈteɪ.ʃən fləʊ /
noun
CF — Majestic
A Majestic SEO metric (0–100) that predicts how influential a URL or domain might be based purely on the number of sites linking to it. Citation Flow measures quantity; its companion metric Trust Flow measures the quality of those links. A high CF with a low TF often indicates link spam — sites that have accumulated many low-trust links.
In practice
When vetting prospective link placements, look for sites where Trust Flow and Citation Flow are reasonably close (a TF:CF ratio above 0.5 is generally considered clean).
See also: Domain Rating
Digital PR
/ ˈdɪdʒ.ɪ.t(ə)l piː.ɑː /
noun phrase
A link acquisition strategy that earns editorial backlinks from news outlets, magazines, and authority websites through genuine journalistic merit — data studies, expert commentary, newsjacking, original research, or compelling assets. Unlike transactional link building, digital PR links are editorial and therefore carry no manual action risk. It is the closest scalable equivalent to organic link earning.
In practice
A finance brand publishes an original salary data study. Picked up by The Guardian, Forbes, and a dozen trade outlets, it earns 40+ editorial backlinks from DR 70+ domains — links that cannot be replicated by any other means at that authority level.
See also: Backlink, Guest Post
Disavow
/ ˌdɪs.əˈvaʊ /
verb / noun
The act of instructing Google, via the Search Console Disavow Tool, to ignore specified backlinks when assessing a site's link profile. Used when a site has accumulated toxic or manipulative links — either through past black-hat activity or negative SEO attacks — that cannot be removed by direct outreach to the linking webmasters. Disavowal is a defensive measure, not a routine optimisation step; used incorrectly, it can strip away legitimate link equity.
In practice
After auditing a client's 12,000-link profile, you identify 900 links from link farms and adult directories. Webmaster removal requests yield 200 responses. The remaining 700 are submitted in a disavow file formatted as domain:spamsite.com, one per line.
See also: PBN, Link Audit
Domain Rating
/ dəˈmeɪn ˈreɪ.tɪŋ /
DR — Ahrefs
Ahrefs' proprietary metric (0–100 logarithmic scale) representing the overall strength of a website's backlink profile relative to every other site in the Ahrefs index. DR is a proxy for link authority, not a Google ranking factor. It is most useful as a comparative and filtering tool when prospecting for link placements — a DR 60 site is not necessarily ten times more valuable than a DR 50 site, but the directional comparison holds.
In practice
When prospecting for niche edits or guest post placements, filter for DR 40+ with organic traffic above 1,000/month to ensure the linking domain is indexed and active — DR alone does not confirm a site is alive or trusted by Google.
See also: Citation Flow, Niche Edit
Dofollow
/ duːˈfɒl.əʊ /
adj / noun
A hyperlink that does not carry a rel="nofollow" attribute, meaning search engine crawlers are permitted to follow it and pass link equity (PageRank) from the linking page to the destination. "Dofollow" is not an actual HTML attribute — it is the default state of any link lacking a nofollow, sponsored, or ugc directive. In link building, acquiring dofollow links from authoritative pages is the primary mechanism for improving organic search rankings.
In practice
A product review on a tech magazine with a standard HTML href linking to your homepage is dofollow by default. The same link on a site using WordPress with nofollow on all outbound links passes no equity regardless of the publication's authority.
See also: Nofollow, Anchor Text
Guest Post
/ ɡɛst pəʊst /
noun
An article written by an external author and published on a third-party website, typically in exchange for one or more contextual backlinks to the author's domain. When the primary motive is link acquisition rather than genuine editorial contribution, Google's guidelines consider it a link scheme. The line between acceptable and manipulative guest posting is drawn by the relevance of the placement, quality of the content, and editorial oversight of the host site.
In practice
A cybersecurity consultancy contributes a genuinely expert 1,800-word article on zero-day vulnerabilities to a reputable infosec publication. The author bio link and one in-body contextual link are legitimate. The same link embedded in a 350-word generic post on a content farm is a link scheme.
See also: Niche Edit, Digital PR
Link Gap
/ lɪŋk ɡæp /
noun phrase
The disparity between the backlink profiles of competing websites on a given keyword or topic. Identifying link gaps — domains or pages that link to multiple competitors but not to you — reveals prioritised prospecting targets. A site with a high competitor link overlap represents a warm prospect: they have already demonstrated willingness to link to your type of content.
In practice
Using Ahrefs' Link Intersect tool, you find that three competitors all have backlinks from a specific industry association, a major trade publication, and two university resource pages — but you have none. These four domains become the top targets in your outreach queue.
See also: Backlink, Domain Rating
Niche Edit
/ nɪtʃ ˈɛd.ɪt /
noun
Also called a curated link or link insertion, a niche edit is the addition of a new backlink into an existing, already-indexed piece of content on a third-party website. The advantage over a fresh guest post is that the host page has already accrued link equity and aged trust with search engines. The risk is identical to guest posting when the placement is paid-for: undisclosed paid links violate Google's spam policies.
In practice
A travel site contacts the owner of a 4-year-old blog post about "best lightweight hiking boots" (which ranks on page 1) and negotiates the insertion of a contextual link to their gear review. The page's pre-existing authority is immediately inherited by the new link.
See also: Guest Post, Anchor Text
Nofollow
/ nəʊˈfɒl.əʊ /
rel="nofollow"
A link attribute introduced by Google in 2005 (rel="nofollow") that signals crawlers not to pass PageRank through the link. Since 2019, Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a directive, meaning it may still crawl and partially credit such links at its discretion. Nofollow links remain valuable for diversifying anchor profiles, referral traffic, and brand visibility — the binary "nofollow = worthless" view is an oversimplification.
In practice
Wikipedia's external links are universally nofollowed, yet a Wikipedia citation remains highly sought after for the trust signal it implies and the referral traffic it can generate — evidence that nofollow links carry indirect value.
See also: Dofollow, Anchor Text
PBN
/ piː.biː.ɛn /
abbr. — Private Blog Network
A network of websites, usually built on expired domains with pre-existing link equity, created and controlled by a single entity for the purpose of passing artificial PageRank to target properties. PBNs are an explicit violation of Google's spam policies. When detected — through footprint analysis, hosting patterns, or WHOIS data — they result in manual actions that can entirely deindex the target site. The risk-to-reward ratio has deteriorated sharply as Google's detection capabilities have matured.
In practice
A site using 40 PBN links to rank a competitive e-commerce term may hold position 2 for 12 months before a Google quality review triggers a manual penalty — erasing rankings built on an illegitimate foundation. Recovery can take 12–18 months after the network is dismantled.
See also: Disavow, Link Audit