Off-Page Authority FAQ & Glossary: Every Term Explained
Off-page authority comes with its own dense vocabulary, and a lot of it gets used loosely or incorrectly even by people who work in SEO daily. This glossary defines the terms that actually matter, grouped by category, in plain language rather than marketing-speak.
Where a term has evolved with AI search, we’ve noted the shift rather than pretending the definition is frozen in place.
Core Link Terminology
A backlink is any link from one website pointing to another. Not all backlinks carry equal weight — relevance, the linking domain’s own authority, and the context surrounding the link all factor into how much it actually influences rankings.
A referring domain is a unique website linking to yours, regardless of how many individual links come from it. Ten links from one domain count as one referring domain, which is why referring domain growth is generally a more meaningful metric than raw backlink count.
Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. Over-optimized anchor text — the same exact keyword phrase used repeatedly across many links — is one of the clearest footprints search engines’ spam detection looks for, so natural variation matters.
A nofollow link includes an attribute telling search engines not to pass ranking credit through it, while a dofollow link (the default, unmarked state) does. Google has stated it treats nofollow as a “hint” rather than an absolute rule, and nofollow links still contribute real value through referral traffic, brand exposure, and entity reinforcement even without direct ranking credit.
Local and Citation Terms
A citation is any online mention of a business’s name, address, and phone number (commonly abbreviated NAP), typically on directories like Yelp, industry-specific listing sites, or data aggregators. Citations don’t need to include a clickable link to matter — consistency of the NAP data itself is the signal.
NAP consistency refers to keeping that name, address, and phone information identical across every platform where it appears. Inconsistencies — an old suite number on one directory, an abbreviated street name on another — dilute the confidence search engines place in the data.
A Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the free listing that powers local pack results and Google Maps visibility. It functions as both an on-page and off-page asset since it lives outside the business’s own website but directly influences how the business is represented in search.
Digital PR and Outreach Terms
Digital PR is the practice of earning media coverage and links through pitching journalists, contributing expert commentary, or creating newsworthy content — distinct from traditional link building, which often involves directly requesting a link rather than earning coverage.
HARO (Help a Reporter Out) was the long-standing platform connecting journalists with expert sources; it has since been succeeded by Connectively. Qwoted is a similar platform used to find and respond to journalist source requests. Both function as ongoing pipelines for earning genuine editorial mentions and links.
Link earning describes links that come naturally because content or expertise is genuinely valuable, as opposed to link building, which implies actively requesting or constructing the link. In practice, most sustainable off-page strategies blend both — you build the conditions (outreach, relationships, positioning) that make earning more likely.
Newsjacking means tying a pitch or piece of content to a current news event to increase its relevance and timeliness for journalists actively covering that story.
Authority and Measurement Terms
Domain Authority (DA) and Domain Rating (DR) are third-party metrics from Moz and Ahrefs respectively, estimating a domain’s overall link-based strength on a 0–100 scale. Neither is a Google-published metric, and both should be treated as directional indicators, not precise scores Google itself uses.
Domain relevance refers to how topically connected a linking domain is to the site it links to. A moderately authoritative but highly relevant domain often outperforms a high-authority but unrelated one in practice, which is why relevance chasing has increasingly replaced pure authority chasing among experienced practitioners.
Brand mentions (sometimes called unlinked mentions) are references to a business’s name without an accompanying hyperlink. Search engines are widely understood to associate unlinked mentions with a brand’s overall entity strength, even without a clickable link to crawl.
Co-citation occurs when a brand is mentioned alongside other reputable brands or sources in the same piece of content, reinforcing topical and category association even without a direct link.
E-E-A-T and Trust Terms
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — the framework Google’s quality rater guidelines use to describe what separates genuinely helpful content and sources from thin or unreliable ones. Off-page signals (who links to you, who mentions you, what reviews say about you) are a major input into the “authoritativeness” and “trustworthiness” components specifically.
Author authority refers to the reputation and track record of a specific named individual, established through bylines, credentials, speaking engagements, and citations of their work elsewhere — distinct from the domain’s authority as a whole.
AI Search and Entity Terms
An entity, in search engine terms, is a distinct, uniquely identifiable thing — a person, business, organization, or concept — that a search engine can recognize and connect data points to, independent of any single web page. Off-page mentions across credible sources are one of the primary ways an entity’s profile gets reinforced.
The Knowledge Graph is Google’s structured database of entities and the relationships between them. A strong, consistent off-page footprint increases the likelihood a business or person is represented accurately within it.
An AI Overview is Google’s AI-generated summary shown above traditional organic results for certain queries, often synthesizing information from multiple sources rather than linking to just one. Being cited as a source within an AI Overview functions as a new, distinct visibility metric alongside traditional rankings.
Share of voice in an AI or generative search context refers to how often a brand or entity is mentioned across AI-generated answers relative to competitors, regardless of whether a specific link is clicked.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between a citation and a backlink?
A citation is a mention of a business's name, address, and phone number, which may or may not include a clickable link. A backlink is specifically a hyperlink from one site to another. Citations matter primarily for local search consistency; backlinks matter for both local and broader authority signals.
Is Domain Authority the same metric Google uses to rank sites?
No. Domain Authority is a third-party metric created by Moz (and Domain Rating is Ahrefs' equivalent) to approximate link-based strength. Google has never confirmed using either metric directly; they're useful as directional, comparative tools, not as literal ranking factors.
Do unlinked brand mentions actually help SEO?
Most practitioners and available evidence suggest they contribute to entity strength and brand association, even without passing traditional link equity. They're not a replacement for links, but consistent unlinked mentions across credible sources help search engines and AI systems build confidence in who a business is, which matters especially as AI search leans more heavily on entity recognition.
What replaced HARO?
HARO was succeeded by Connectively after a platform transition. Qwoted is a separate, similarly functioning platform. Both connect journalists seeking expert quotes with sources who can provide them, and both remain active digital PR channels.
Why does domain relevance matter more than raw authority now?
Search engines have become better at evaluating context, not just link volume or the linking domain's overall strength. A highly relevant link from a moderately authoritative, topically connected source tends to hold up better over time than a high-authority link from an unrelated domain, which can look purchased or manipulative.
How does AI search change how off-page authority is measured?
Traditional metrics like referring domains and DR still matter, but visibility inside AI Overviews and AI-assistant answers has become an additional layer worth tracking — measured by whether and how often a brand is cited as a source, not just where it ranks in a traditional results list.
Terry has 30+ years in software and SEO. He’s the founder of Salterra Digital Services and SEO Spring Training, host of the Roundtable SEO Mastermind, and lead instructor at SEO University — teaching the exact tactics his team uses on client work.
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