Week 9 · 3–4 hours
Links, Authority, Brand Mentions & Digital PR
Understand how search engines, people and AI systems encounter brands beyond their own websites.
Your brand’s discoverability exists beyond your website. Links, references, reviews, communities and coverage form a wider evidence environment.
Learn
Complete only the named pages or lessons below. Links inside them are optional unless the task says otherwise.
Link Building for SEO
Why this: Build a sensible foundation for why links matter and what makes them useful.
Pay attention to: Relevance, editorial choice, placement and the reason somebody would reference a page.
Spam policies: link spam
Why this: Set a clear policy boundary between earned attention, advertising and manipulative link schemes.
Pay attention to: Read the link-spam section only, including how sponsored links should be qualified.
Check your understanding
You should be able to explain these without relying on course terminology.
Practise
Apply this week’s learning through a guided practical exercise.
Scenario
Find five pages that earned meaningful links or coverage.
Your task
Explain what makes each reference-worthy, who might cite it, whether the value is data, expertise, utility, novelty or newsworthiness, and whether the brand appears beyond its site. Note what independent evidence supports—or weakens—the source’s credibility.
Good work should contain
- Specific evidence of earned attention
- Audience fit
- Ethical reproducibility
- Mentions considered separately from links
- Independent reputation evidence considered
Common mistakes
- Judging only by DR
- Calling all mentions backlinks
- Suggesting spammy replication
Link & Brand Authority Analysis
Review and refine the exercise to a client-facing standard, then save the finished version as portfolio evidence.
Suggested filename 09-link-brand-authority-analysis.pdf
Skill demonstrated Off-page SEO and Digital PR reasoning
An interviewer may ask “What makes a backlink useful?”
Career task
Alongside the SEO exercise, complete one small job-readiness task each week. These tasks build towards confident junior applications.
Prepare one STAR example from your writing work about research, deadlines or adapting to a brief.
Notes
Personal notes stay separate from the questions intended for Chris.
Personal notes
Capture useful observations, definitions and reminders.
Question for Chris
Use this for uncertainties or points you want to discuss.
Finished this week?
Mark the week complete once you have finished the learning, exercise, portfolio output and career task.