Glossary
Link building glossary
43 terms you'll run into in link building and email outreach, defined in a sentence or two without jargon. Open any term for a longer explanation, an example and related tools.
A
- Anchor text
- The clickable words of a link. Search engines use it as a hint about what the linked page is about. What Anchor text means in practice
B
- Backlink
- A link from another website to yours. Also called an inbound or incoming link. What Backlink means in practice
- Bounce (email)
- An email that couldn't be delivered. A hard bounce means the address doesn't exist; a soft bounce is temporary. What Bounce means in practice
- Branded anchor
- Anchor text that uses your brand or company name. The most common anchor type in natural link profiles. What Branded anchor means in practice
- Broken link building
- Finding links on other sites that point to pages that no longer exist, then suggesting your similar page as a replacement. What Broken link building means in practice
C
- Catch-all address
- A domain set up to accept mail for any address, so verification tools can't confirm whether a specific mailbox exists. What Catch-all address means in practice
- Citation
- A mention of your brand, product or data on another site, with or without a link. What Citation means in practice
- Cold outreach
- Contacting someone you have no prior relationship with, in this case to ask for a link or mention. What Cold outreach means in practice
- Contextual link
- A link placed inside the body of an article, surrounded by related text, as opposed to a footer, sidebar or author bio. What Contextual link means in practice
- Crawl
- When a search engine bot visits a page to read it and follow its links. A link has no effect until the linking page is crawled. What Crawl means in practice
D
- Digital PR
- Earning coverage and links from news and media sites, usually with data, research, expert commentary or a newsworthy story. What Digital PR means in practice
- Disavow file
- A text file submitted through Google Search Console listing domains or URLs whose links you want Google to ignore. What Disavow file means in practice
- DKIM
- DomainKeys Identified Mail. A signature added to outgoing email that lets the receiving server confirm it came from your domain and wasn't altered. What DKIM means in practice
- DMARC
- A DNS policy that tells receiving servers what to do with email that fails SPF or DKIM checks, and where to send reports. What DMARC means in practice
- Dofollow link
- A normal link with no rel attribute that limits it. Informal name for a link that can pass ranking signals. What Dofollow link means in practice
- Domain Rating (DR)
- Ahrefs' 0–100 score for the strength of a site's backlink profile, on a logarithmic scale. What Domain Rating means in practice
E
- Editorial link
- A link the site owner chose to add on merit, without payment or a reciprocal arrangement. What Editorial link means in practice
- Email warmup
- Gradually increasing how many emails a new mailbox sends each day, so providers build trust before you reach full volume. What Email warmup means in practice
- Exact-match anchor
- Anchor text identical to the keyword you want to rank for. Normal in small amounts; a high share looks engineered. What Exact-match anchor means in practice
F
- Follow-up
- A second email to someone who hasn't replied. One or two thoughtful follow-ups help; more than that annoys people. What Follow-up means in practice
G
- Generative engine optimization (GEO)
- Making your brand and pages more likely to be cited or recommended in AI-generated answers from tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews. What Generative engine optimization means in practice
- Guest post
- An article you write for another site, usually with an author bio link. Fine as genuine contribution; risky when done at scale for keyword links. What Guest post means in practice
L
- Link equity
- The ranking value a link is thought to pass from one page to another. Sometimes called link juice. What Link equity means in practice
- Link farm
- A network of sites that exist mainly to link to each other or sell links. Links from them are ignored at best and harmful at worst. What Link farm means in practice
- Link insertion
- Adding a link to an article that's already published. Most listicle and resource-page outreach is a request for one. What Link insertion means in practice
- Link prospecting
- Finding and qualifying the pages you'll ask for a link. Usually the step that decides whether a campaign works. What Link prospecting means in practice
- Link reclamation
- Recovering links that should point to you but don't: links removed in a rewrite, broken by your own URL changes, or mentions that never linked. What Link reclamation means in practice
- Link velocity
- How quickly a site gains or loses backlinks over time. Sudden spikes from low-quality sites can look unnatural. What Link velocity means in practice
- Listicle
- A list-format article, like "12 best note-taking apps for researchers". One of several common targets for product link outreach, alongside comparison pages, resource pages and how-to guides. What Listicle means in practice
- Lost link
- A backlink that existed and has since been removed, nofollowed or broken, often after an article is rewritten. What Lost link means in practice
M
- Manual action
- A penalty applied by a Google reviewer, shown in Search Console, for example for unnatural links. What Manual action means in practice
N
- Naked URL
- A link where the anchor text is the URL itself, such as margin.example. What Naked URL means in practice
- Nofollow
- A rel="nofollow" attribute asking search engines not to treat the link as an endorsement. Google treats it as a hint. What Nofollow means in practice
O
- Outreach domain
- A separate domain used only for sending outreach, so deliverability problems never affect your main company email. What Outreach domain means in practice
P
- PBN (private blog network)
- A group of sites controlled by one party and used to create links to a target site. Against Google's spam policies. What PBN means in practice
R
- Reciprocal link
- Two sites linking to each other. Natural in moderation; excessive link swap schemes are against Google's policies. What Reciprocal link means in practice
- Referring domain
- A unique website that links to you. Ten links from one site count as one referring domain. What Referring domain means in practice
- Resource page
- A curated page of links to useful tools, guides or sites on a topic. Built to link out, which makes it a good target for free resources. What Resource page means in practice
S
- Sender reputation
- How mailbox providers rate a sending domain and IP, based on bounces, spam complaints, engagement and history. What Sender reputation means in practice
- SPF
- Sender Policy Framework. A DNS record listing the servers allowed to send email for your domain. What SPF means in practice
T
- Toxic backlinks
- Low-quality or manipulative links pointing to your site, such as paid, PBN or spam links. A term from SEO tools; Google says it ignores most of them. What Toxic backlinks means in practice
U
- Unlinked mention
- A page that names your brand or product without linking to it. Asking for the link is one of the easiest wins in outreach. What Unlinked mention means in practice
See these terms in use: the guide to getting backlinks in 2026 and the best-of list guide put most of them in context, and the white-hat checklist turns them into checks.
Related
Link outreach email templates
19 short templates for listicles, alternatives posts, guest posts, link insertions, resource pages, broken links, unlinked mentions, media and podcast pitches, journalist requests, follow-ups and paid-link or swap replies, each with a worked example.
White-hat link building checklist
A printable checklist covering your site, prospect selection, the pitch, sending hygiene and what to do after a link goes live.
How to choose sites to pitch
A scoring worksheet for deciding whether a post is worth an email: relevance, editorial signals, traffic, link placement and red flags.
SaaS and AI directories list
Startup, SaaS, AI and MCP directories we checked by hand in October 2026: which are free, which need a badge, which need an account. Filter it or download the CSV.
See where your next links could come from.
Paste your URL. The agent finds lists, comparison pages, resource pages and guides where your product fits, checks each site and finds the editor to contact. Free, no card.
