From the Host: Jeremy Rivera on Link Building & Digital Authority
Link building is the topic where I’ve seen more mythology, more bad advice, and more wasted budget than any other area of SEO. It’s also the area where the gap between what practitioners who actually do this work know versus what gets published in beginner guides is widest. The guests I’ve brought onto this show to talk about links — from white-hat digital PR to grey-hat tactics — have given me a more complete picture of how authority actually gets built online than any single framework could. The thread connecting all of them: relevance and trust signals compound. Shortcuts don’t.
“From Spanish waiter to seven-figure link building agency — the mathematical foundations, trust signals, and strategic frameworks behind effective links.”
— Alejandro Meyerhans, CEO of his link building agency
Why Link Building Still Matters — And Why Most People Do It Wrong
Google has tried to devalue links for years. Penguin, manual penalties, the shift toward E-E-A-T — and yet every credible SEO study of ranking factors still puts backlink authority near the top. The reason: links remain the most reliable third-party signal of trust and relevance that search engines have. What’s changed is the quality threshold. Low-quality links don’t just fail to help anymore — they can actively hurt.
The practitioners on this page have built link programs at every scale, from solo affiliate sites to seven-figure agencies to enterprise accounts. What they share is a commitment to links that actually mean something: earned through real relationships, genuine content, and sustainable outreach.
Episodes on Link Building & Digital Authority
The Science and Strategy of Link Building with Alejandro Meyerhans
Alejandro Meyerhans — CEO, Link Building Agency | From Spanish waiter to seven-figure agency founder
Alejandro built one of the most methodical link building agencies in the industry by approaching links the way a scientist approaches an experiment — with mathematical foundations, clear trust signal frameworks, and a refusal to build anything he wouldn’t want pointing at his own site. This is the most technically rigorous episode on link acquisition I’ve recorded.
Building Relevant Links & Agencies with Bradley Benner
Bradley Benner — Founder, Semantic Links & Semantic Mastery
Bradley built his brand around rank-and-rent SEO and white-label agency services, and his framework for building relevant links at scale — without destroying quality in the process — is one of the most practical I’ve heard. His take on what separates a scalable link program from one that collapses under its own weight is directly applicable to both agencies and in-house teams.
Transforming Your SEO and Digital PR Strategy with James Brockbank
James Brockbank — Managing Director, Digitaloft
James leads one of the UK’s top digital PR agencies and has watched the gap between SEO link building and earned media PR close faster than almost anyone predicted. His frameworks for earning links through genuine media coverage — rather than chasing placements — represent where the discipline is heading. If you’re still thinking about link building as outreach and anchor text, this episode will reset your frame.
Julian Goldie on Building Authority via YouTube & Converting Content
Julian Goldie — YouTuber & SEO Agency Owner
Julian built a YouTube channel that drives real SEO authority by turning content creation into a link and citation flywheel. His argument that video is the most underutilized distribution channel for SEO-focused content creators — and his specific framework for turning YouTube authority into agency growth — is one of the most actionable channel-specific strategies on the show.
Building a Link Building Empire with Joe Davies of FATJOE
Joe Davies — Founder, FATJOE | One of the UK’s largest white-label SEO and content agencies
Joe built FATJOE into a leading white-label link building operation by obsessing over quality at volume — a combination most agencies say is impossible. His take on what link building looks like when it’s your entire business, what most SEOs get wrong about link quality, and how the service model actually works at scale is a masterclass in building a sustainable link program.
Link Building, Authority & the Metrics That Actually Matter with Kasra Dash
Kasra Dash — Link Building Specialist
Kasra breaks down what separates links that actually move rankings from links that look good in a report — and the gap between those two categories is wider than most clients realize. His authority-building frameworks focus on compounding signals over time rather than hitting arbitrary DA thresholds, and his take on which metrics actually matter is a direct challenge to how most agencies report on link work.
Building Profitable Affiliate Sites & What Actually Works in SEO with Edd Dawson
Edd Dawson — Affiliate Site Builder
Edd has built and sold profitable affiliate sites and approaches SEO with a results-first methodology that cuts through conference-talk theory. His practical, revenue-focused view on what link building actually requires for affiliate sites — where every link decision has a direct P&L consequence — is refreshingly direct and immediately applicable.
Grey Hat SEO, Parasite Pages & What Google Won’t Tell You with Charles Floate
Charles Floate — Affiliate SEO & Link Builder
Charles operates on the edges of what Google publicly endorses — and his testing has produced some of the most specific insights into how link signals actually work that you’ll find anywhere. This isn’t a guide to doing what Charles does; it’s a window into the mechanisms underneath link building that helps you understand the full spectrum of what’s possible and why the rules exist.
Timothy Malmros on Black Hat SEO, Drop Domains & the Canonical Trick
Timothy Malmros — Former Gambling Affiliate SEO Turned Investigator
Timothy’s career in gambling affiliate SEO gave him front-row access to the tactics the industry whispers about, and his investigative work into how the canonical trick works — and why Google keeps losing the spam war — is one of the most revealing technical conversations on link and domain authority I’ve had. Understanding how manipulation works makes you a better ethical practitioner.
Killer SEO Quotes on: Link Building
A curated collection from across the Unscripted SEO interview library
The sharpest quotes on link building strategy, site authority, parasite SEO, and what actually moves rankings — pulled from across more than 80 episodes. If you want the distilled wisdom on link building from the full library, this is the fastest path to it.
Jeremy’s Key Takeaways: Link Building & Digital Authority
- Relevance beats raw metrics. A DA 40 link from a topically relevant, editorially earned page will outperform a DA 80 link from an irrelevant directory every time. Domain authority is a proxy, not a goal.
- Links that can’t be explained editorially are a liability. If you can’t explain why a site linked to you — in terms of their audience’s interest — it’s a risk. Earned links that make sense to a human reader are the safest long-term investment.
- Digital PR and link building have converged. The best link programs today look more like PR campaigns than outreach spreadsheets. Media coverage, data studies, original research — these earn links that manual outreach can’t replicate.
- Understanding grey hat makes you a better white-hat practitioner. Knowing how manipulation works — drop domains, canonical tricks, parasite pages — helps you identify risks in your own profile and understand the mechanisms your competitors may be exploiting.
- Volume without quality destroys faster than it builds. A hundred low-quality links can trigger a penalty that takes months to recover from. Slow, intentional link acquisition compounds. Bulk acquisition decays.
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