Link Building & Off-Page Flashcards

What does 'link velocity' refer to in SEO?

Answer: The rate at which a site acquires new backlinks over time

Link velocity measures how quickly a website gains new backlinks, and an unnaturally sudden spike can trigger Google's spam filters.

Which of the following is an example of a 'nofollow' use case as intended by Google?

Answer: Paid sponsored links in a blog post

Google's guidelines require that paid or sponsored links use the rel='sponsored' or rel='nofollow' attribute to avoid passing PageRank artificially.

What is the primary SEO risk of participating in a private blog network (PBN)?

Answer: Manual or algorithmic penalty for unnatural link schemes

PBNs violate Google's Webmaster Guidelines as a link scheme and can result in a manual action or algorithmic penalty that tanks rankings.

In the context of link building, what is 'broken link building'?

Answer: Finding dead external links on other sites and suggesting your content as a replacement

Broken link building involves identifying dead links on third-party pages and pitching your relevant content as a replacement, benefiting both parties.

Which metric best indicates the quality of a linking domain's overall authority?

Answer: Domain Rating (DR) or Domain Authority (DA)

Domain Rating (Ahrefs) and Domain Authority (Moz) are composite scores that estimate a domain's overall backlink strength and authority.

What is 'anchor text over-optimization' and why is it risky?

Answer: Having an unnaturally high proportion of exact-match keyword anchors

An anchor text profile dominated by exact-match keywords looks manipulative to Google and can trigger Penguin-related penalties.

What is the purpose of a 'link reclamation' campaign?

Answer: Recovering unlinked brand mentions or fixing lost/broken links pointing to your site

Link reclamation involves finding unlinked mentions of your brand or previously earned links that broke, then requesting they be converted to or restored as active backlinks.