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mediumSEO Specialist interview question

How do you earn high-quality backlinks without breaking Google's guidelines?

What the interviewer wants to hear

  • Create linkable assets: original research, data, tools, expert content
  • Digital PR: pitch stories to relevant journalists
  • Build relationships, not one-off requests
  • Use unlinked brand mentions and broken link opportunities
  • Avoid paid followed links, PBNs and large link exchanges
  • Measure relevance and quality, not just quantity

Model answer

I focus on earning links by creating things people genuinely want to reference. That might be original research, such as a survey or analysis of our own data, a free tool or calculator, or expert commentary on industry news. Then I use digital PR to pitch the story to relevant journalists and bloggers, with a clear angle and ready-made charts or quotes. Over time I build relationships with writers in our space, so they come to us for expert input. I also look for unlinked brand mentions and ask for a link, and for broken links on relevant sites where our content is a good replacement. I avoid paid followed links, private blog networks and mass link exchanges, because they break Google's spam policies. I judge success by relevance and quality of linking sites, plus referral traffic and brand coverage, not just link counts.

Can you answer it under time pressure?

Take a timed medium round and get scored on every answer.

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