Welcome to the first part of our June series of the digital marketing alphabet from A to Z, where I shall be sharing story behind every alphabet term, origins, and evolution behind the world of digital marketing. In this series, I shall be breaking down each term from A to Z, how they have transformed the way we market and connect the audiences.

Today, I am writing about A to D: First Four foundational terms that are essential for any digital marketer to understand. Let us get into it!

Part 1: Unlocking the Story Behind A to D

Anchor Text: A Key Element in the Digital Marketing Alphabet

Anchor text refers to clickable text in a hyperlink that guides to another web page and used for SEO practices as a ranking signal for Google. It helps in collecting information on the link destination or information about the context. Anchor text has become a powerful signal for search engines, making it an important point for SEO strategies.

The anchor tag is written like in this HTML:

<a href= “https: //www.example.com” > click here to visit example <a>

When HTML was first developed in the year between 1980s-1990s, linking was a key feature of making the web an interactive space. This was key factor for search engines to determine the relevance of a page based on the keywords in the link.

Working to Anchor Text Today

Anchor text remains a crucial element in SEO and digital marketing, but it is no longer about using keywords in every link. Here are some key insights into how anchor text works now:

1. Exact Match: Uses the target keyword
2. Partial Match: A variation of the keyword
3. Branded: Uses brand names
4. Generic: Phrases like “click here.”
5. Naked URLs: The raw web address

Best Practices for Digital Marketing

1. Internal Linking: Use anchor text to link relevant pages within your site.
2. External Linking: Ensure external links are to authoritative sources with clear, descriptive anchor text.
3. Balanced Strategy: Avoid over-optimization and spammy tactics; focus on user experience and content relevance.

Backlink: The Backbone of SEO Authority

Backlinks are links that connect two or more links with each other. Websites with strong backlinks are ranked higher by search engines. Backlinks are one of the oldest and most influential ranking factors in search engine optimization (SEO).

Backlinks began with page rank algorithm in the late 1990s, which treated backlinks as votes of trust and authority. The more quality backlinks a page had, the higher it ranked. In the early 2000s, SEO focused on getting as many backlinks as possible often through spammy tactics. In 2012, search engines changed the game, penalizing low-quality links and prioritizing relevance, authority, and natural link profiles.

Modern Use in Digital Marketing

1. SEO rankings: Still a top-ranking factor
2. Referral traffic: Brings relevant visitors from trusted sources
3. Brand credibility: Boosts trust and authority.
4. Networking: Builds industry relationships through guest posts, mentions, and PR.

Best Practices

1. Earn links naturally with quality content
2. Avoid link buying or spammy exchanges
3. Diversify your sources
4. Use relevant anchor text

Content Freshness:  The C Relevant of Freshness

Content freshness is the practice of regularly creating and updating new content to keep your website attractive and engaging for target audience. It became an important part to stay updated and freshness with news, trends, or product reviews or any other thing you want to know. In digital marketing, C is for Content Freshness because staying relevant is just as important as being found.

Initially, search engines ranked pages mainly by keywords and backlinks. But over time, they recognized that updated, timely content often better meets user intent especially for fast-changing topics. Now, freshness is a ranking factor, particularly for time-sensitive searches.

Modern Use in Marketing

1. Improves SEO rankings for trending or news-driven topics
2. Boosts engagement as users prefer up-to-date information
3. Enhances trust and authority by showing your content is maintained
4. Increases crawling frequency by search engines

Best Practices

1. Regularly update old posts with new stats, links, and insights
2. Add timestamps
3. Focus on topics where freshness matters Use Google Search Console to find outdated content losing traffic

Domain Authority (DA)

Domain authority is a search engine ranking score that predicts how likely a website will rank on SERPs. Higher DA indicates better ranking. A key indicator of how strong and trustworthy your site appears to both search engines and your audience.

Domain Authority (DA) is a metric developed by Moz to predict how well a website will rank on search engines. It scores domains on a scale of 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater ranking potential. Over time, other platforms like Ahrefs (Domain Rating) and SEMrush (Authority Score) introduced similar metrics, but DA remains the most recognized.

Modern Use in Marketing

1. Assess backlink quality: High-DA sites provide more SEO value
2. Competitive analysis: Compare your DA against others in your niche
3. Outreach & PR: Pitch content to high-authority domain
4. Track growth: Use DA trends to evaluate long-term SEO efforts

Best Practices

1. Earn quality backlinks from reputable sites
2. Create valuable, link-worthy content
3. Improve site structure and user experience
4. Avoid spammy link-building tactics that could lower your authority

Wrapping it UP

These four terms represent just a small fraction of the complex and exciting world of digital marketing. Understanding them is a great place to start for anyone looking to level up their marketing game. Digital marketing is all about finding the right combination of strategy, creativity, and data to share thoughts in this digital world.

If you are new to digital marketing, do not feel burdened as it is a continuous learning journey, and each term will make you understand more deeper about the industry and staying ahead in competitive market.

Stay tunes for Part 2 of digital marketing alphabet series, where I shall be sharing story behind next terms starting from E to H.