Glossary
Check all backlinks: a glossary of the trade
Twenty-odd words people use loosely in link analysis, defined the way this site uses them. When a page here says a term, this is what it means.
Vocabulary decides arguments. Two analysts can disagree about a profile for an hour only to find they meant different things by one word. To check all backlinks without that waste, agree on terms first.
Entries are alphabetical within groups. Where a term has a rating attached, remember that our DR is our own number, round(100 · log(ref_domains + 1) / log(2·10^7)), and not Ahrefs DR or Moz DA.
Where two terms sound alike, such as nofollow and noindex, the entries below say which one touches links and which one touches pages.
Words like toxic and spammy are verdicts, not measurements. We use footprint, band and tail, because those can be tested in data. Reserve the harsh word for after you open the page.
Evidence terms
Footprint
A repeatable trace shared by sites run by the same hand: wording, rating band, targets. One footprint suggests; several together support a conclusion.
Referring domain
A distinct site that links to you, counted once however many links it sends. Steadier between tools than the raw backlink count.
Link tail
The long run of low-rated referrers beneath the famous ones. Networks hide here. See the footprint method.
Rating band
A narrow range of DR values shared by a group of domains. A weak footprint alone, a useful one beside others.
Anchor and target terms
Anchor distribution
The mix of link wordings pointing at a site: brand, bare URL, generic, exact match. Read with anchors or anchor_cloud.
Exact-match anchor
Link text that equals a search phrase you want to rank for. A trickle is normal; a flood is a signal.
Top page
The URL on a site that attracts the most links. toppages lists them. It shows what people actually cite.
Link gap
Referrers that point at your rivals but not at you. Found with intersect.
Action and defence terms
| Term | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| Disavow | A file you give Google asking it to ignore listed domains. A last resort, not routine hygiene |
| Negative SEO | Links or other signals planted to hurt a site. Real but rarer than people fear |
| Redirect chain | More than one hop between an old URL and its final page. Each extra hop is a risk |
| Refresh window | The roughly monthly interval at which our index is rebuilt |
| Chain of custody | Dated, saved raw data that lets someone else reproduce a finding |
| PBN | Private blog network: sites built mainly to link to other sites. Google's spam policies treat link schemes as violations |
| Credit | Billing unit. 1 credit is $0.0001, and $100 free credit equals 1,000,000 credits |
Where the terms are used
The defence routine leans on anchor distribution and disavow. The troubleshooting table uses redirect chain and refresh window. Costs are in the reference.
Short entries, on purpose. If a definition seems too tidy, that is a signal to test it on a real profile. Chain of custody, borrowed from evidence handling, simply means a finding that someone else can repeat.
Terms people confuse
- Backlinks versus referring domains: many links, one site
- DR, DA and Authority Score: three vendors, three formulas, never one table
- Nofollow, sponsored and ugc: link attributes Google reads as hints
- Manual action versus algorithmic demotion: only the first appears in Search Console
- Crawl and index: seeing a page is not the same as storing it
- Link scheme versus ordinary promotion: Google's spam policies target the first, not paid ads or honest outreach
- Nofollow versus noindex: the first qualifies a link, the second keeps a page out of search results