Link building glossary: authority, equity, and off-page SEO terms explained for Wix

Off-page SEO, and link building specifically, has its own extensive vocabulary. Understanding these terms enables you to evaluate link quality, diagnose backlink profile issues, communicate link building strategies clearly, and avoid the common mistakes that lead to Google penalties. This lesson covers every major link building and off-page SEO term with practical Wix application.

Backlink

An inbound hyperlink from one website pointing to a page on your Wix site, widely considered one of the most influential ranking factors in SEO. Backlinks function as votes of confidence, signalling to Google that your content is valuable and trustworthy. Not all backlinks are equal: links from high-authority, topically relevant sites carry far more ranking weight than links from low-quality or unrelated domains.

Link Equity (Link Juice)

The value or authority that flows from one page to another through hyperlinks. Link equity accumulates on pages that receive many high-quality inbound links and can be passed to other pages through outbound links. The amount of equity a link passes depends on the authority of the linking page, the number of other outgoing links on that page, and whether the link is followed or nofollowed. Internal linking strategy for your Wix site is largely about directing link equity toward priority pages.

Follow Link vs Nofollow Link

A follow link (dofollow) passes link equity from the linking page to the linked destination. A nofollow link (rel="nofollow") instructs crawlers not to pass link equity and was originally introduced to combat comment spam. Google updated its nofollow treatment in 2019 to treat it as a "hint" rather than a strict directive. Two additional attributes were added: rel="sponsored" for paid links, and rel="ugc" for user-generated content.

Referring Domain

A unique domain that links to your Wix site. Having many backlinks from a single domain counts less than having backlinks from many distinct referring domains. Diversity of referring domains is a key metric in evaluating backlink profile strength. When building links for your Wix site, prioritise earning links from new, unique domains over acquiring multiple links from domains that already link to you.

Anchor Text

The visible, clickable text of a hyperlink that provides topical context to search engines. Exact-match anchor text (using the target keyword) passes strong topical relevance, while branded, generic, or naked URL anchors create a natural-looking link profile. Over-optimised anchor text patterns with excessive exact-match anchors can trigger algorithmic or manual penalties. A balanced, varied anchor text profile is best practice for your Wix site's backlink portfolio.

Digital PR

A link building strategy that earns backlinks through media coverage, press mentions, and editorial references from news sites and publications. Digital PR for Wix site owners might involve creating original research, expert commentary on industry trends, newsworthy campaigns, or infographics that journalists and bloggers want to reference. Digital PR links from high-authority news sites are among the most valuable backlinks you can acquire.

Guest Posting

Writing and publishing an article on another website in exchange for a backlink to your Wix site. When done on genuinely relevant, high-quality publications with real audiences, guest posting is a legitimate and effective link building tactic. Avoid mass guest posting on low-quality blog networks created purely for link building, as this violates Google's link spam policies.

Broken Link Building

A link building technique that involves finding broken links (404 errors) on other websites that point to dead content your Wix site could replace, then contacting the webmaster to suggest your content as a replacement. This approach offers genuine value to the linking site by helping them fix broken links, making it a highly ethical and effective link acquisition method.

Disavow

The process of formally requesting that Google ignore specific backlinks pointing to your Wix site, performed through Google's Disavow Links tool in Search Console. Disavowing is appropriate when a site has accumulated toxic, spammy, or manipulative backlinks contributing to a manual penalty. Use disavow cautiously: incorrectly disavowing legitimate links can harm rankings. Google advises attempting to remove links directly first.

Link Farm

A network of websites created specifically to generate large numbers of backlinks to a target site with no genuine editorial purpose. Link farms are a black hat tactic explicitly targeted by Google's Penguin algorithm. Modern iterations, including private blog networks and paid link schemes, continue to be aggressively penalised. Never purchase links or participate in link exchange schemes for your Wix site.

Private Blog Network (PBN)

A network of websites secretly owned or controlled by a single entity for the purpose of building backlinks to a main site to manipulate rankings. PBNs are a high-risk black hat tactic explicitly prohibited by Google's link spam policies. Google has become increasingly sophisticated at identifying PBN footprints, and sites caught using them face severe ranking penalties including complete de-indexing.

NAP Citations (for Local SEO)

Local business mentions (Name, Address, Phone number) across directories and websites that contribute to local SEO authority. While not traditional backlinks, NAP citations are a crucial off-page signal for Wix local business sites. Ensuring your NAP data is consistent and accurate across all major directories including Yelp, Yell, Thomson Local, and industry-specific directories strengthens local ranking signals significantly.

Link Reclamation

The practice of finding and recovering lost backlinks that previously pointed to your Wix site. Link reclamation opportunities include broken backlinks where the target page no longer exists (create a redirect or restore the page), unlinked brand mentions (contact the publisher to add a hyperlink), and changed URLs (implement 301 redirects to reconnect lost link equity). Regular link profile monitoring identifies these opportunities.