SEO Transmission & Drivetrain Systems 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In link building, what is a 'dofollow' link?
- A link that opens in a new browser tab
- A link that passes PageRank authority to the destination page (Correct answer)
- A link marked with rel='nofollow' that is followed by bots
- A paid link disclosed with rel='sponsored'
Correct answer: A link that passes PageRank authority to the destination page
A dofollow link (the default link type) tells search engine crawlers to follow the link and pass authority (PageRank) to the linked page.
Question 2: Which link building tactic involves creating content that other sites naturally want to reference and cite?
- Private Blog Network (PBN)
- Linkable asset / link bait strategy (Correct answer)
- Link exchange scheme
- Comment spam links
Correct answer: Linkable asset / link bait strategy
Creating linkable assets — such as original research, tools, or comprehensive guides — earns natural backlinks because other publishers find the content worth citing.
Question 3: What does 'anchor text' refer to in SEO link analysis?
- The URL slug of the linking page
- The visible, clickable text of a hyperlink (Correct answer)
- The alt attribute of a linked image
- The title tag of the destination page
Correct answer: The visible, clickable text of a hyperlink
Anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a hyperlink; it provides context to both users and search engines about the linked page's topic.
Question 4: Which Google algorithm update specifically targeted low-quality, spammy link profiles?
- Panda
- Hummingbird
- Penguin (Correct answer)
- Pigeon
Correct answer: Penguin
Google Penguin (launched 2012) devalued sites that engaged in manipulative link schemes and keyword-stuffed anchor text manipulation.
Question 5: What is the primary goal of a 'skyscraper' link building technique?
- Building links from high-rise business directories
- Creating content that improves on existing top-ranked content to attract links pointing to competitors (Correct answer)
- Purchasing links from authority domains
- Building a tall internal link silo structure
Correct answer: Creating content that improves on existing top-ranked content to attract links pointing to competitors
The Skyscraper Technique (coined by Brian Dean) involves finding link-worthy content, creating a superior version, and reaching out to sites linking to the original.
Question 6: What metric does Moz use to measure the authority of an entire domain based on its backlink profile?
- Page Authority (PA)
- Domain Rating (DR)
- Domain Authority (DA) (Correct answer)
- Trust Flow (TF)
Correct answer: Domain Authority (DA)
Domain Authority (DA) is Moz's proprietary 1–100 score predicting how well a domain will rank, based primarily on the quality and quantity of its backlinks.
Question 7: When should you use Google's Disavow Tool?
- To remove internal duplicate content
- To inform Google of low-quality or spammy backlinks you cannot get removed manually (Correct answer)
- To disavow competitor negative SEO attacks on social media
- To remove outdated pages from the Google index
Correct answer: To inform Google of low-quality or spammy backlinks you cannot get removed manually
The Disavow Tool lets site owners tell Google to ignore specific backlinks they believe are harmful and that they were unable to have removed through outreach.
SEO Transmission & Drivetrain Systems 3
In link building, what is a 'dofollow' link?