SEO jargon gets in the way of clear decisions. This glossary defines the terms we use across our posts and on unfairlinks.com, in plain language. Each entry links to a longer article if you want more detail.

Brand and service terms

Unfair Links

An SEO service for agencies and marketers that places localized backlinks on hand-built sites tied to real local businesses with live Google Business Profiles. Each link is matched to your page's country, language and niche. Currently in beta. See the overview of Unfair Links.

"Unfair" (as in the name)

Unfair in the competitive-advantage sense: an edge competitors can't simply copy. It doesn't mean rule-breaking, spam or anything illegal. More in why "unfair" means advantage.

Beta

The current stage of the service. The team is refining the setup and gathering data before public launch. You can leave an email to be told when it opens. See the beta waitlist.

Entity and local terms

Entity

A real-world thing a search engine can recognize and connect information to, such as a business, place or person. A local business with a consistent name, location, reviews and history is a strong entity. A bare domain with nothing behind it is not. More in why local entities matter.

Google Business Profile (GBP)

Google's free listing for local businesses. It shows the business on Maps and in local results, along with reviews, hours and location.

GBP-matched backlink

A link placed on a site connected to a business with a live Google Business Profile, chosen because that business fits your page's market. This is the core of what Unfair Links provides. See GBP-matched backlink.

Local relevance

How believable it is that a link belongs where it is: the right country, language and local context for the page it points to.

Market and language match

Pairing a page with a linking site from the same country and language. A Swedish page linked from a Swedish site reads as natural. The same page linked from a generic English site reads as random. See market and language match.

Niche matching

Pairing a page with a linking site in the same or a closely related line of business, such as home services with home services. See niche matching.

Quality and scoring terms

Fit score

A number shown before you buy that sums up how well a candidate site matches your page across market, language, niche and entity strength. On the Unfair Links homepage, the example match scores 96 and is labelled "Excellent match." See fit score.

Trust tier

A label on the Unfair Links match card (for example "Tier 1" or "Tier 2") that gives a quick read on a candidate site's relative trust level. It describes the candidate site you're looking at. It isn't a step in a link-building process, and the homepage doesn't publish how it's calculated.

Link quality vs link volume

The idea that one well-fitted link from a real entity usually does more than many generic placements. See link quality vs link volume.

Live and indexed

A link is "live" when it's on the page and "indexed" when the search engine has crawled and stored that page. An unindexed link is unlikely to count for much. See live and indexed.

Footprint and infrastructure terms

Footprint

Any shared pattern that ties a group of sites together, like the same IP block, the same registrant details or the same template. A strong footprint makes it easy for sites to be grouped and discounted. See footprint.

IP diversity

Sites running on different network addresses rather than one shared block. With modern CDNs, this is normal for ordinary websites.

Private WHOIS

Domain registration with the owner's details hidden. It's been the default with most registrars for years, so it isn't unusual.

Custom build

A site designed and themed on its own, rather than cloned from a template shared across many sites.

Terms people confuse with us

Unnatural links

Search engine language for links made to manipulate rankings, typically automated, irrelevant or deceptive. It's not what "unfair" refers to. See unnatural links.

PBN (private blog network)

A group of sites owned by one party and used to link out. The term is associated with lazy 2010-era networks that were easy to detect. See PBN myths.

Directory link

A listing in a site made up of business listings. Usually low in relevance and value. See directory spam.

Guest post

An article placed on someone else's blog, usually with a link. Quality ranges widely. See guest posts compared.

Unauthorized deep linking

Linking to or embedding another site's inner content in a way its owner hasn't allowed. It has no connection to Unfair Links.

If a term you need isn't here, it probably belongs in a future update. In the meantime, the overview is the best place to start.