Ten practitioners who specialize in different dimensions of link acquisition answered one question: what does effective link building look like today? Their perspectives span agency strategy, content creation, media relations, outreach execution, technical opportunity identification, competitive analysis, measurement, and risk management. Link building is the practice of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own with the goal of improving search engine rankings. Search engines interpret backlinks as endorsements: when a credible site links to your page, it signals that your content merits reference. Google’s original PageRank algorithm formalized this concept by treating links as votes, with each vote weighted… What is Link Building: 10 Expert Perspectives on Earning Links That Build Authority

A backlink is a hyperlink from one website pointing to another website. When Site A publishes a page containing a link to Site B, that link is a backlink for Site B and an outbound link for Site A. Search engines interpret backlinks as signals of credibility and relevance: when authoritative, relevant sites link to your content, it suggests your content has value worth referencing. This interpretation made backlinks one of the most influential factors in search engine ranking algorithms since Google’s founding. Understanding backlinks matters because they remain central to how search engines evaluate which pages deserve visibility, how… What is a Backlink: 10 Expert Perspectives on Links That Build Authority

Page authority is a metric developed by SEO software companies to estimate an individual web page’s ability to rank in search engine results. While domain authority measures overall website strength, page authority evaluates specific pages based on factors like the quantity and quality of backlinks pointing directly to that page, the authority of linking pages, and other signals that correlate with ranking performance for individual URLs. The score typically ranges from 1 to 100, with higher numbers indicating stronger ranking potential. Like domain authority, page authority is a third-party metric not used by Google in its algorithms. It serves as… What is Page Authority: 10 Expert Perspectives on Measuring Individual Page Strength

Domain authority is a metric developed by SEO software companies to estimate a website’s overall ability to rank in search engine results. The score typically ranges from 1 to 100, with higher numbers indicating greater ranking potential based on factors like backlink profile strength, linking domain diversity, and other signals that correlate with search visibility. Domain authority is not a Google ranking factor and is not used by search engines in their algorithms. It’s a third-party metric created to help SEO practitioners compare websites, assess competitive landscapes, and track site strength over time. Understanding what domain authority actually measures, what… What is Domain Authority: 10 Expert Perspectives on Measuring Website Strength

Keyword difficulty is a metric estimating how hard it would be to rank on the first page of search results for a specific keyword. Most SEO tools express this as a numerical score, typically from 0 to 100, where higher numbers indicate more competitive keywords requiring greater effort, authority, and resources to rank for. The metric synthesizes various signals including the strength of currently ranking pages, their backlink profiles, domain authority levels, and content quality. Understanding keyword difficulty matters because it helps prioritize which keywords to target: pursuing impossibly competitive terms wastes resources, while identifying achievable opportunities focuses effort where… What is Keyword Difficulty: 10 Expert Perspectives on Assessing Ranking Competition

Keyword research is the process of discovering, analyzing, and selecting the search terms people use when looking for information, products, or services relevant to your content or business. The practice involves identifying which queries have sufficient search volume, assessing how difficult ranking for those terms will be, understanding what intent each query carries, and determining which terms align with your strategic goals. Done well, keyword research reveals the actual language your audience uses, the questions they ask, and the opportunities where your content can realistically earn visibility. Done poorly or skipped entirely, it means creating content for queries nobody searches… What is Keyword Research: 10 Expert Perspectives on Finding What People Search For

A long-tail keyword is a specific, multi-word search phrase that typically has lower search volume than broader head terms but carries clearer intent and faces less competition. When someone searches “running shoes,” that’s a head term with massive volume and ambiguous intent. When someone searches “best waterproof trail running shoes for wide feet under $150,” that’s a long-tail keyword revealing exactly what the searcher wants. The term “long-tail” comes from the statistical distribution of search queries: a small number of head terms generate high individual volume while a vast number of specific queries each generate low volume but collectively represent… What is a Long-Tail Keyword: 10 Expert Perspectives on Specific Search Queries

A keyword is any word or phrase that a user types into a search engine when looking for information, products, services, or answers. From the search engine’s perspective, keywords are the raw input that triggers the retrieval and ranking process. From a website owner’s perspective, keywords represent the queries they want their pages to appear for when users search. The concept seems simple, but keywords sit at the intersection of user intent, content strategy, technical optimization, and competitive positioning, making them far more nuanced than they initially appear. Ten people who research, analyze, and optimize around keywords. One question. Their… What is a Keyword: 10 Expert Perspectives on the Foundation of Search

Search intent is the underlying purpose behind a query, the reason someone types particular words into a search engine and what they hope to accomplish by doing so. When a user searches for “best running shoes,” they intend to evaluate options before purchasing. When they search for “Nike store hours,” they intend to visit a specific location. When they search for “how to tie running shoes,” they intend to learn a technique. The same topic, running shoes, carries entirely different intents depending on how the query is framed. Understanding search intent matters because search engines prioritize results that match what… What is Search Intent: 10 Expert Perspectives on Understanding Why People Search

A SERP, or search engine results page, is the page displayed by a search engine in response to a user’s query. When someone types a search into Google, Bing, or another search engine, the SERP is everything they see: organic listings, paid advertisements, featured snippets, knowledge panels, image carousels, video results, People Also Ask boxes, local packs, and dozens of other possible elements. Understanding SERPs matters because visibility in search depends entirely on appearing within these pages and capturing attention among competing results. Ten people who study, design, and optimize for search results pages. One question. Their answers reveal how… What is a SERP: 10 Expert Perspectives on Search Engine Results Pages in 2025

Organic traffic refers to visitors who arrive at a website through unpaid search engine results rather than through advertising, direct visits, social media, or referral links. When someone types a query into Google, clicks a non-ad result, and lands on your page, that visit counts as organic traffic. This traffic source matters because it represents people actively searching for what you offer, costs nothing per click, and compounds over time as pages maintain or improve their rankings. Ten people who analyze, generate, and optimize for organic traffic. One question. Their answers reveal why this metric matters and what it actually… What is Organic Traffic: 10 Expert Perspectives on Earning Visitors Through Search

A search engine is a software system that crawls the web to discover content, stores that content in a massive index, and retrieves relevant results when users submit queries. Google, Bing, and other search engines process billions of queries daily by matching user intent against indexed pages and ranking results by predicted relevance and quality. Understanding how search engines work is foundational to understanding why SEO practices exist and what they’re actually optimizing for. Ten people who build and study search systems. One question. Their answers reveal what happens between the moment you type a query and the moment results… What is a Search Engine: 10 Expert Perspectives on How Search Actually Works

SEO is the practice of earning visibility in search engines by creating content that matches what people are looking for and making sure search engines can find, understand, and trust it. That definition hasn’t changed in twenty years, but what it takes to execute has transformed dramatically, especially in 2025 as AI reshapes how search results are generated and displayed. Ten people who work in search every day. One question. The answers reveal where SEO stands right now and where it’s heading. A. Wells, Content Writer When someone types a query into Google, they’re not looking for content, they’re looking… What is SEO: 10 Expert Perspectives on Search Optimization in 2025