What is Editorial coverage?
Short answer
An article a publication chose to write, with no payment involved — the opposite of a paid placement, however similar the two can look.
The distinction is invisible on the page when there is no label, and decisive everywhere it matters: Wikipedia notability, verification applications, and the judgement of anyone who researches you properly.
Earned coverage cannot be bought, only made more likely — by doing something worth writing about and making it easy to find.
Why it matters
Agencies routinely blur the two. If a service promises "features in major publications" at a fixed price, it is selling placement, not coverage.