Today, I’m going to amusement you however to execute a backlink audit successful 13 elemental steps.

From choosing your instrumentality to identifying spammy backlinks, I’ve got it each mapped retired for you truthful you’ll beryllium capable to execute your audit successful arsenic small arsenic 30 minutes.

I’ve successfully helped countless businesses amended their hunt rankings done effectual nexus gathering and auditing.

If you privation yours to beryllium next, travel these elemental steps to amended the prime of your site’s postulation and boost your integrated rankings.

What Is a Backlink Audit?

First things first, backlinks are links to your site. So, a backlink audit is fundamentally taking a heavy dive into each the links pointing toward your pages from different sites.

In this audit, you’ll:

• See which sites you person backlinks from
• Discover which pages connected your tract person the astir backlinks
• Identify harmful backlinks
• Find caller nexus gathering opportunities
• Make a program to banish atrocious backlinks

Why Perform a Backlink Audit?

A backlink audit is an essential part of your off-page SEO efforts.

Without one, you could person a TON of harmful backlinks destroying your site’s credibility.

Think astir each that effort you enactment into your on-page SEO going to waste.

It doesn’t carnivore reasoning about, right?

Maintain a Healthy Backlink Profile

Regularly doing a backlink investigation volition assistance you support a steadfast backlink profile, arsenic you’ll beryllium capable to place and region immoderate harmful links quickly.

Even if you didn’t bargain a clump of PBN backlinks, you mightiness beryllium amazed to observe you’ve gained them unintentionally.

Google takes link spam VERY seriously, truthful if you privation to debar the dreaded manual action, get escaped of those links pronto.

Seriously, neglecting to support tabs connected your backlink illustration tin person disastrous consequences for your site’s rankings.

Failing to observe a antagonistic SEO onslaught (I’ll archer you much astir this later) could person your tract dropping down the SERPs faster than you tin accidental ‘backlink audit’.

Monitor Your Progress

Noting the results of your audit earlier a nexus gathering run volition let you to benchmark your progress, way your campaign’s success, and show however your backlink illustration changes implicit time.

So, if your nexus gathering strategy hasn’t been getting you the results you wanted (or adjacent if it has), a backlink audit volition place areas for betterment successful your strategy.

During your backlink audit, you mightiness uncover opportunities to make caller pages to physique backlinks to, oregon find ways to amended your existent pages to boost their linkability. How?

You’ll often find pages connected your tract that person people gained tons of backlinks. By examining these pages, you tin place strategies oregon elements you tin instrumentality connected different pages to summation their likelihood of being linked to.

Having a erstwhile audit to notation backmost to volition let you to way however galore caller backlinks and referring domains you’ve gained (or lost) and if your backlink illustration is looking healthier than it was during your past audit.

During the audit, you’ll beryllium capable to comparison your Toxicity Score to however it was before—if it has gone up, you mightiness request to instrumentality action.

Similarly, if you announcement you person thousands much backlinks than you did before, you’ll request to cheque them to guarantee they’re not spammy.

When You Buy a New Site

When you get a caller site, I’d suggest you bash a backlink audit consecutive away, truthful you cognize what you’re moving with.

After all, attempts to amended the site’s rankings volition often beryllium successful vain if it has a unspeakable backlink illustration afloat of 301s, PBNs and spammy links.

(Unless you’re moving with a tract successful a VERY uncompetitive niche, past you mightiness person a accidental of scoring immoderate decent rankings with a mediocre backlink profile).

To cheque a newly-acquired tract (or so immoderate tract you’re moving with) for 301 redirect issues similar chains and loops, you tin usage Semrush’s Site Audit tool.

First, make a task and adhd the domain you privation to check. Once the audit has run, spell to the Issues tab and hunt for “redirect chain”. If determination are any, you’ll spot them here:

Thankfully determination aren’t immoderate of these issues connected my site!

Keep an Eye connected Your Competitors

You’ll besides beryllium capable to support tabs connected your competitors by doing a regular backlink audit.

As with each things SEO, you ever request to beryllium 1 measurement up of the crippled to triumph erstwhile gathering (and removing) backlinks.

So however tin you usage the investigation of your competitors’ backlink profiles to your advantage?

If you spot that your rival has a caller leafage with 100 backlinks, determination indispensable beryllium something about this contented that radical love.

So, person a heavy dive into your competitor’s article, make a better piece of contented connected the aforesaid topic, and ticker arsenic the backlinks travel rolling in.

Very cool.

You’ll besides instrumentality a look astatine your competitors’ velocity (how accelerated they’re acquiring backlinks) during your audit. This gives you an thought of however rapidly you’ll person to physique backlinks if you privation to enactment ahead.

Find New Link Building Opportunities

Finally, by performing a backlink audit, you’ll beryllium capable to amended your site’s SEO show by looking for caller nexus gathering opportunities.

How?

By checking however galore backlinks each leafage connected your tract has, you’ll place which pages are lacking links. Then, you’ll cognize wherever to absorption your nexus gathering efforts.

How to Perform a Backlink Audit successful 13 Steps

Getting started with a backlink audit mightiness dependable overwhelming, but don’t worry.

I’ve breached it down into 13 elemental steps that adjacent beginner SEOs and nexus builders volition beryllium capable to follow.

Let’s get to it.

Step 1: Choose a Backlink Audit Tool

There are heaps of some escaped and paid options, and choosing the close backlink audit instrumentality volition prevention you hours of headaches.

Now, you could spell retired and propulsion a database of your backlinks manually from Google Search Console and reappraisal them that way, but this volition beryllium a VERY time-consuming process.

Instead, a paid SEO instrumentality volition marque your beingness MUCH easier by giving you invaluable insights and metrics that aren’t disposable connected Google Search Console. (But you’ll inactive request to usage Google Search Console to disavow links, if necessary).

Popular backlink audit tools see Moz, Majestic SEO, and Ahrefs, truthful consciousness escaped to usage 1 of these if you already person a subscription.

However, I similar utilizing Semrush for a implicit nexus audit, and it’s the instrumentality I’m going to usage successful this station to amusement you however you tin execute a akin audit.

Semrush has a full scope of nexus gathering tools, but for this guide, we’ll chiefly beryllium utilizing the Backlink Audit instrumentality (not surprising).

Here’s what I emotion astir Semrush’s nexus gathering tools:

Features & metrics:

• Backlink illustration toxicity score
• Number of referring domains
• Authority Score (for your tract AND your referring domains)
• Referring domains’ categories
• Top anchor texts
• Anchor substance types
• Top people pages
• Ratio of nofollow to dofollow backlinks
• Ratio of backlinks by benignant (text, image, frame, and form)

As you tin see, Semrush offers you A LOT much than Google Search Console. And, it’s each presented connected 1 easy-to-understand dashboard. (With much in-depth accusation disposable done the antithetic tabs).

Pros:

• Data: The sheer magnitude of nexus information you get with Semrush volition marque the auditing process a full batch easier than with tools similar Google Search Console and Google Analytics. With Semrush’s insights, you’ll beryllium capable to instrumentality a data-driven attack to your adjacent nexus gathering campaign.

• Authority & Toxicity Score: These metrics volition amusement you successful an instant if a backlink is apt to beryllium helping oregon hurting your site.

Cons:

• Cost: Semrush’s paid plans commencement astatine $119.95 per period astatine the little end.
• Information overload: Although I emotion however galore insights I tin summation from looking astatine Semrush’s Backlink Audit Overview page, newbie website owners mightiness find it a small overwhelming. (Hopefully, my usher beneath volition marque things easier for you.)

Step 2: Check the Total Number of Backlinks Pointing to Your Domain

So you’ve chosen your tool, present it’s clip to commencement the audit.

Let’s commencement with the basics: the full fig of backlinks your tract has.

It’s precisely what it sounds like—the wide fig of links pointing to your pages (including idiosyncratic links from domains you person aggregate links coming from.)

Nice and simple.

While this is simply a bully spot to commencement assessing your backlink profile, it’s not arsenic invaluable arsenic it mightiness archetypal seem.

Here’s why.

First, it doesn’t archer you thing astir the quality of your backlinks. (I’ll amusement you however to fig that retired later.)

Second, what you think is simply a large fig of backlinks mightiness not really beryllium capable to vie successful your niche.

However, it’s inactive worthy keeping an oculus connected this metric. If you announcement a abrupt spike (or so a abrupt dip) successful your full fig of backlinks, it could beryllium a motion of a antagonistic SEO attack. (Skip down to Step 12 to larn much astir these).

To find your full fig of backlinks, each you person to bash is plug your domain into Semrush’s Backlink Audit tool:

As you tin see, I’ve got 949k backlinks successful total. (Pretty awesome astatine archetypal glance).

But checking 1 of my main competitors, Yoast, I tin spot they person 14.3 MILLION backlinks:

Sounds similar I request to drawback up, right?

Not quite.

While the full fig of backlinks isn’t truly invaluable unsocial (apart from monitoring for imaginable antagonistic SEO attacks), it does become somewhat much invaluable erstwhile you commencement benchmarking your tract against your competitors.

But again, being competitory doesn’t conscionable travel down to the wide measurement of backlinks. I’m decidedly not going to effort and drawback up to Yoast’s 14 million+ backlinks.

There’s SO overmuch much you request to see (I’ll amusement you much successful the Backlink Gap Analysis section).

The fig of referring domains is MUCH much invaluable than the wide fig of backlinks. Looking again astatine the 2 examples above, you’ll spot my rival Yoast lone has astir 12,000 much than me.

This is overmuch little alarming than the 13.4 cardinal backlinks up of maine they are!

And, we haven’t adjacent considered the prime of the backlinks and the referring domains yet.

While you can’t rather uncover the prime of the backlinks astatine this stage, I bash similar the tool’s Overall Toxicity Score metric:

Semrush calculates this people based connected the percent of backlinks you person from potentially toxic domains vs non-toxic domains.

According to Semrush, “the wide Toxicity Score volition beryllium High if determination are much than 10% of toxic backlinks, Medium if the percent is 3-9%, and Low if it is little than 3%.”

That sounds great, but however does it determine what makes a domain ‘toxic’?

Well, the cardinal connection present is potentially. It’s not 100% accurate, but it’s a reasonably reliable indicator. Semrush uses 45 Toxic Markers to determine however toxic a domain is, including:

• Signs of nexus networks
• Signs of assemblage spam
• Manipulative links (like directory sites)
• And overmuch more

We’ll get into much item connected identifying perchance harmful backlinks later, but for now, it’s bully having your people astatine a glance.

The last happening you’ll privation to look astatine connected this leafage is your Authority Score:

As you tin see, I person a “Very bully and niche-relevant” Authority Score of 60.

I similar the dependable of that, but what does it truly mean?

Like the Toxicity Score, a batch goes into this calculation. Essentially, it boils down to 3 things:

• Organic Traffic: The estimated monthly mean postulation volume.
• Natural Profile: Signs of spam oregon manipulation successful the domain’s backlink profile.
• Link Power: Both the quantity AND the prime of backlinks the tract has.

What I emotion astir this metric is that it’s large for determining however invaluable a caller backlink could beryllium to your site: It’s not conscionable utile for keeping an oculus connected your ain score.

So person a look astatine a domain’s Authority Score earlier reaching retired to them for a backlink.

The Authority Score labels scope from ‘low authority’ to ‘industry leader.’ So a backlink from a debased authorization tract won’t bash overmuch to assistance your site, whereas an “industry leader”’s backlink should springiness it a bully boost successful rankings.

Step 3: Identify your Referring Domains and Unique Domains

As I said earlier, the fig of referring domains your tract has is wherever things truly commencement to get interesting.

The referring domains metric differs from the wide fig of backlinks successful that it’s the full fig of domains that your tract has backlinks from.

So, for example, let’s accidental you person 10 backlinks from Nerd Wallet and 5 from Investopedia (lucky you).

That means you person 15 full backlinks, but lone 2 referring domains—each linking tract is lone counted erstwhile successful this metric.

The quickest mode to find however galore referring domains you person is (perhaps not amazingly by now) by utilizing Semrush:

To instrumentality things further, click connected the Referring Domains tab, and you’ll spot however galore caller referring domains you gained (and lost) each week:

And a database of each your referring domains, with the Authority Score and the full fig of backlinks you person from each:

Pretty neat.

The referring domains metric is overmuch much utile than the wide fig of backlinks successful my opinion.

But the fig of referring domains unsocial STILL doesn’t archer the afloat story.

We tin usage filters to get a more realistic and valuable referring domain count—one that filters retired spam and junk.

I bash this by selecting Authority Score > 30, dofollow domains only, and choosing progressive domains.

This means lone live, dofollow links with a comparatively precocious authorization volition show. You tin spot I’m present lone looking astatine astir 6000 referring domains alternatively of astir 60,000:

Also, if you person thousands of backlinks from one domain, it could conscionable beryllium that that idiosyncratic LOVES you and your content. (Which is nary atrocious thing, but it’s not arsenic beneficial for SEO).

But if you person thousands of backlinks from thousands of domains, Google volition recognize that your contented is trustworthy and invaluable capable for galore sites to nexus retired to it.

Again, you’ll request to instrumentality a look astatine what your competitors are doing here.

Do they person backlinks from a wide scope of referring domains? Then you should too, truthful you tin stay competitive.

Step 3.5: Compare Your Link Velocity to Your Competitors

You’ll besides request to look astatine some your and your competitors’ link velocity at this stage.

Go backmost to the graph showing however galore referring domains you gained and mislaid each week. If your competitors are gaining 100 caller referring domains each week, you’ll privation to bash the same, ideally much (remember what I said earlier astir being 1 measurement ahead?)

But retrieve not to spell excessively assertive with your nexus gathering strategy until your tract has built up immoderate authority. If you spot that your competitors person a precocious nexus velocity (they summation a batch of backlinks, fast), it tin beryllium tempting for you to bash the same.

However, rapidly acquiring excessively galore backlinks tin look suspicious to Google and could harm a new, low-authority tract alternatively than assistance it. (I’ll archer you much astir that later).

Step 4: Perform a Competitor Backlink Gap Analysis

The adjacent happening you’ll privation to bash is execute a backlink spread analysis. Essentially, this is comparing which sites your competitors person backlinks from, but you don’t.

On Semrush’s (well-named) Backlink Gap tool, you enactment successful your domain positive up to 4 of your competitors’ domains.

You’ll past spot a array that shows you which domains your competitors person backlinks from:

In this example, you tin spot that each 3 competitors I chose (Search Engine Journal, Neil Patel, and Yoast) person links from oracle.com, stanford.edu, and time.com.

So, these are astir apt sites that I should see acquiring backlinks from, too.

A small further down the list, you’ll spot determination are sites that lone 1 oregon 2 of my competitors person links from:

For example, Neil Patel and Search Engine Journal some person backlinks from themarketingmeetup.com, but Yoast doesn’t.

Some of these could besides beryllium bully prospects, but I’d prioritize the sites that each my competitors person backlinks from.

When you’re looking astatine these gaps successful your backlink profile, you tin prevention immoderate referring domains you similar the look of.

All you person to bash is cheque the boxes to the near of each domain past deed “Export” astatine the apical close of the page:

This volition prevention each your information successful a useful spreadsheet that you tin travel backmost to aboriginal erstwhile you privation to bash immoderate link-building outreach.

Now, it’s worthy mentioning present that you’re highly improbable to lucifer each of your competitors’ authorization astatine the domain level.

Instead, you’ll privation to look at idiosyncratic pages oregon clusters of pages.

Let’s accidental you’re a vino retailer, and you’re competing with a tract similar Good Housekeeping (a precise wide domain).

Now, wrong this site, determination is simply a nutrient and portion section. Digging deeper, there’s besides a conception connected vino reviews.

The world is, your tract is ne'er going to drawback up with Good Housekeeping successful presumption of authorization oregon referring domains.

But, determination is simply a metallic lining.

Good Housekeeping has implicit 140,000 referring domains crossed the full site:

But the vino conception lone has 40 referring domains:

A overmuch much realistic people for our autarkic vino retailer.

But wait, there’s inactive more.

While 40 referring domains mightiness beryllium a bully benchmark for our vino retailer to commencement with, we inactive request to analyse these referring domains to marque definite they supply worth to our site.

Our contented inactive mightiness beryllium capable to out-rank Good Housekeeping’s vino pages with less than 40 referring domains if ours are much applicable than theirs.

Let’s excavation deeper.

Applying the filters I mentioned earlier (active domains, dofollow only, and Authority Score > 30), I spot that Good Housekeeping’s vino class lone has 4 quality referring domains:

This makes it adjacent easier for our grape-loving person to compete!

But, it’s not rather arsenic elemental arsenic looking astatine 1 competitor. You’ll request to look astatine a fewer of your apical competitors and travel the steps supra to find the mean fig of high-quality referring domains their sites person to the applicable pages oregon categories.

Step 5: Analyze Link Quality

So I said supra that you’ll privation a akin fig of backlinks arsenic your competitors to person a bully accidental of out-ranking them.

But that doesn’t mean you should scramble to summation arsenic galore links arsenic imaginable close this second.

While it’s existent that you volition request to person a akin fig of links arsenic your competitors, it won’t number for thing if your links are each low-quality. 

It works the different mode excessively (which is wherefore I said I don’t truly find the full fig of backlinks metrics useful). If your competitors person 1000 much backlinks than you do, but they’re each spammy, low-quality links, you’ll astir apt person the borderline anyway.

Basically, it comes down to this: Your backlinks’ wide authorization needs to bushed that of your competitors’ backlinks for you to person a bully accidental of out-ranking them.

But what precisely defines a ‘high-quality backlink’?

The champion prime links you tin get are from sites that:

• Are topically applicable (is the contented connected the tract related to yours? Would it marque consciousness for them to people nexus to your content?)
• Are precocious successful integrated hunt postulation and rankings (look for sites with astatine slightest 500 integrated visitors per period and ranking for hundreds of keywords in the aforesaid determination arsenic you
• Are authoritative (remember to see Semrush’s Authority Score metric)
• Are linked to often (in different words, the sites you get backlinks from should themselves person a divers backlink illustration with tons of referring domains and a precocious nexus velocity)
• Have a bully ratio of nofollow to dofollow links (I’ll archer you what the perfect ratio is soon)
• Have a balanced ratio of inbound to outbound links. If a tract has a immense fig of outbound links but overmuch less inbound links, it’s a imaginable indicator that you’re looking astatine a nexus farm. Anything implicit 2:1 successful favour of outbound links should acceptable alarm bells ringing.

Once you’ve assessed the prime of the site, you’ll request to look astatine the placement of the nexus connected the page, too.

High-quality links volition usually beryllium placed adjacent the apical of the referring leafage alternatively than hidden distant astatine the bottommost of the article.

They indispensable besides usage a applicable anchor substance surrounded by plentifulness of applicable text.

Here’s a speedy look astatine determining nexus prime connected Semrush.

From the Backlink Analytics tool, prime the Backlinks tab, and you’ll spot a database of each your backlinks:

Clicking connected my archetypal backlink, from designrush.com, I tin spot beauteous overmuch everything I request to cognize astatine a glance:

I tin spot the tract ranks for thousands of keywords and has thousands of monthly visitors, some bully signs.

While the fig of referring domains linking to this URL is rather debased (25), the domain’s Authority Score is 56, which Semrush classifies arsenic “Very bully and niche relevant” (just similar mine).

Unfortunately, I’ve mislaid this backlink, but I would’ve been blessed for it to stay!

Step 6: Check your Dofollow to Nofollow Link Ratio

The lone quality betwixt dofollow and nofollow links is however hunt motor crawlers dainty them.

Crawlers tin travel dofollow links, and they walk connected nexus foodstuff to your site. Basically, high-quality dofollow links are the ones that tin assistance boost your rankings.

But, don’t beryllium excessively speedy to discount the worth of nofollow links.

Although they don’t walk connected immoderate nexus juice, having a bully magnitude of nofollow links volition marque your backlink illustration look much earthy to Google. It signals that your tract is people acquiring backlinks from a divers scope of sources.

Although hunt motor crawlers can’t travel nofollow links (hence the name), users can. So, idiosyncratic speechmaking a leafage tin inactive click connected the nexus and onshore connected your website.

So, nofollow links inactive beforehand your contented to users, which tin pb to accrued spot AND marque exposure.

Not bad.

To cheque your dofollow to nofollow nexus ratio utilizing Semrush, scroll down connected the Backlink Analytics Overview until you scope the Link Attributes widget:

You tin spot that 81% of my backlinks are follow, portion 19% are nofollow.

A astir 70:30 oregon 75:25 divided successful favour of dofollow backlinks is seen arsenic beauteous earthy by Google, truthful I’m not excessively worried.

Remember, gathering excessively galore dofollow links astatine erstwhile could spot your tract punished with manual action. So, if you’re going to beryllium aggressively gathering links, it’s worthy reasoning astir acquiring nofollow links on with your dofollow nexus gathering strategy.

That’s not to accidental that you can’t bargain backlinks, period. While it’s technically against Google’s guidelines, your tract volition beryllium harmless as agelong arsenic you bargain and physique links appropriately.

What does this mean?

So agelong arsenic you travel the tips provided passim this nonfiction (like ensuring you usage relevant, well-placed anchors and lone bargain links from relevant, high-quality publishing sites), you’ll beryllium fine.

On the different hand, publishing low-quality, plagiarised impermanent posts connected irrelevant sites with adjacent much irrelevant anchors is apt to spot you penalized.

I’d urge taking a balanced attack to summation high-quality backlinks done a assortment of methods alternatively than solely paying for impermanent posts each the time.

Step 7: Compare the Types of Backlinks your Site Has

The 2 main types of backlinks are dofollow and nofollow, but we tin interruption these down further. Some of the astir communal types of backlinks you’ll privation to get for your tract include:

• Press releases
• Comment links
• Links from societal media posts
• Bio links
• Business illustration links
• Guest posts
• HARO (help a newsman out)
• High-quality directory links
• Editorial backlinks
• Paid backlinks (as agelong arsenic you usage the rel=”nofollow” oregon rel=”sponsored” attribute)

While not each of these volition straight payment SEO, they volition boost your marque awareness. It’s worthy having a scope of backlink types to support a natural, divers backlink profile.

Again, you tin cheque however galore of each you person with Semrush’s Backlink Analytics tool. Just scroll down to the Backlink Types widget; it should look thing similar this:

You’ll spot the immense bulk of my backlinks are successful substance form, arsenic I’d expect. Text links person overmuch much SEO worth than the different types, arsenic hunt motor crawlers can’t analyse images for relevance arsenic they tin with text.

Even if the representation has a descriptive alt text, it inactive isn’t arsenic impactful arsenic a substance link. So if you announcement you person much representation backlinks than texts, you’ll privation to instrumentality action.

Step 8: Identify Spammy and Toxic Backlinks

Spammy oregon toxic backlinks are fundamentally the other of high-quality links arsenic I described above.

As we know, Google takes nexus gathering campaigns seriously. Essentially, immoderate nexus placed with the sole intent of boosting rankings CAN beryllium considered spammy. (But if you marque definite your paid links look natural, there’s thing to interest about).

Spammy links see the likes of:

• Links from sites that aren’t indexed by Google
• Links coming from each leafage connected a website
• Backlinks from sites that are designed purely for nexus gathering purposes (link farms)
• Too galore links utilizing exact-match anchors (I’ll archer you much astir however galore is harmless later)
• Links coming from sites that are intelligibly not topically applicable to your site
• Links hidden successful websites’ footers
• Blog station remark spam links

The easiest mode to place these atrocious links is again by utilizing Semrush’s Backlink Audit tool.

From the Backlink Audit Overview page, click connected the reddish conception of your Toxicity Score:

And you’ll get a database of each the backlinks Semrush considers toxic:

You tin click connected the arrow adjacent to each link’s Toxicity Score to get a little overview of wherefore the instrumentality considers the nexus to beryllium toxic:

There is simply a hazard of getting a manual enactment from Google if you person excessively galore of these links, truthful you’ll astir apt privation to disavow them if you observe a batch of them.

While you can’t bash that straight successful Semrush (you’ll request to usage Google Search Console too), it does person a nifty diagnostic to assistance you out: The Disavow List.

Simply cheque the container to the near of immoderate backlinks you privation to disavow, past determination implicit to the close of the leafage wherever you’ll spot a tiny bluish fastener with a ellipse with a enactment done it:

Clicking this volition determination these harmful URLs to a database that you tin past export arsenic a .txt record to upload to Google Search Console. Just click the Disavow tab astatine the apical of the page, past the greenish Export to TXT button.

Once you person your disavow record with each the links you privation to disavow, caput implicit to the Google Disavow Tool (in Google Search Console).

Follow the steps the instrumentality takes you through, past upload the .txt record you exported from Semrush earlier.

If you deliberation you’ve near it excessively precocious and your rankings are suffering, you tin cheque for a manual enactment connected Google Search Console.

Scroll down to Security & Manual Actions connected the near sidebar, past click connected Manual Actions. If you’ve received specified a penalty, you’ll spot the details here:

Thankfully, my tract is safe!

A manual enactment doesn’t ever impact your full site, lone the pages that person violated Google’s Webmaster Quality Guidelines.

It occurs erstwhile a quality reviewer discovers an contented with your site. In the lawsuit of backlinks, it’ll astir apt beryllium down to an unnatural nexus gathering pattern.

To support your tract safe, travel my tips passim this usher connected identifying toxic links and alternatively focusing connected acquiring high-quality, earthy backlinks.

Step 9: See What Content Gets Linked to the Most

The adjacent happening to look astatine is your most-linked pages. What benignant of contented bash radical emotion linking to connected your site?

You’ll besides privation to cheque retired the aforesaid details for your apical competitors. If they person 100 referring domains to a leafage connected a taxable that you haven’t covered connected your site, you amended get penning 1 pronto! (Provided it’s applicable to your site, of course).

Similarly, if you announcement that immoderate of your pages don’t person a batch of backlinks, it could bespeak there’s an contented with the page. Maybe the contented is weak, lacking successful graphics, oregon isn’t unsocial capable to beryllium worthy linking to.

In different words, you’ll often find immoderate large opportunities for a contented refresh during your nexus illustration audit.

Again, analyzing your competitors is rather useful here. If you announcement the aforesaid contented connected their site, you tin swoop successful and make a amended leafage that radical volition privation to nexus to!

From the Backlink Analytics Overview page, scroll down to the bottommost and you’ll spot the Top Pages widget:

Hit View Full Report, and you’ll spot however galore backlinks each leafage connected your tract has, and however galore referring domains they’re coming from:

As you tin see, my astir linked-to pages are:

• https://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors
• https://backlinko.com/
• <https://backlinko.com/search-engine-ranking

On the different hand, clicking Domains astatine the apical volition bid the pages from slightest linked-to to astir linked-to:

You mightiness person noticed that astir of these web pages are dated 2018 and they aren’t indexed anymore (by checking Semrush’s Last Seen day successful the right-hand column), truthful I’m not acrophobic astir the information that they person nary backlinks.

If you find pages without backlinks that were past seen by Semrush overmuch much recently, these are the ones you’ll privation to effort and physique links to.

Step 10: Find (and Exploit) 404 Errors

404 errors hap erstwhile a nexus points to a leafage that doesn’t beryllium anymore. They tin travel astir erstwhile you delete a leafage from your tract without implementing a redirect first.

404s aren’t large for users, due to the fact that they onshore connected an mistake leafage alternatively of the contented they were hoping to find.

They’re adjacent worse for nexus gathering (maybe) due to the fact that each the nexus foodstuff from the referring domain is mislaid on with your web page.

So however tin you hole these errors and reconstruct the leafage authorization from your backlinks?

If you person deleted a leafage from your site, you’ll privation to acceptable up a 301 redirect to either the caller URL you created to regenerate it OR the astir applicable leafage connected your site. If there’s nary amended option, you tin 301 to the homepage instead. This volition guarantee that astir (but not ever all) of the nexus foodstuff is passed implicit from your backlink to the caller URL.

You’ll besides privation to person a look astatine your competitors astatine this stage. If you announcement immoderate dormant backlinks pointing toward your competitors’ sites, you tin effort what’s known arsenic broken nexus building.

Essentially, this involves uncovering breached links connected your competitors’ sites and reaching retired to webmasters suggesting they nexus to your contented instead.

Unlike impermanent posting, breached nexus gathering allows you to connection the webmaster thing much valuable—fixing dormant backlinks (broken links) connected their site.

Anyway, to find these dormant links connected either your ain tract oregon a competitor’s, you tin usage Semrush’s Backlink Audit tool.

Once you’ve plugged successful your (or your competitor’s) URL, unfastened the Target Pages tab, and prime the Target URL mistake box:

Luckily, I don’t person immoderate of these issues. If you bash find 404 issues connected your site, it’s clip to instrumentality action.

You’ll privation to either acceptable up a 301 redirect toward a new, applicable leafage connected your tract oregon scope retired to the webmaster of the referring tract to spot if they tin update the nexus to constituent toward the close page.

Step 11: Check Your ccTLD Distribution

Country Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLD) are domain suffixes that amusement which state a website is from. These see .co.uk for sites from the United Kingdom, and .com.au for Australian sites.

It’s applicable to your nexus illustration due to the fact that having a clump of backlinks from sites based successful a antithetic state from yours tin look suspicious to hunt engines.

Let’s accidental you person a .co.uk domain but you person loads of backlinks from Chinese sites. This is simply a beauteous beardown indicator that the links are spammy, and hunt engines volition instrumentality note!

If Google discovers that you person galore links from sites outwith your geographical area, it’ll deliberation you’re trying to manipulate your rankings done irrelevant backlinks (and I mentioned earlier however overmuch this is frowned upon).

It’s earthy that you mightiness get immoderate backlinks from sites successful different countries, but excessively galore is decidedly a informing motion and could harm your rankings, credibility, and reputation.

I volition constituent retired that astatine this stage, you don’t request to interest if you person a batch of backlinks from another state that speaks the aforesaid connection arsenic the 1 your tract is based in.

By this I mean a British company’s .co.uk tract mightiness person respective Australian (.com.au) backlinks. It’s wholly mean for English-speaking countries’ sites to prime up links from different English-speaking countries.

To find these domains utilizing Semrush, travel these elemental steps.

Open up the trusty Backlink Analytics instrumentality and scroll down until you spot the TLD Distribution and Top Countries widgets.

As you tin see, the apical TLDs my tract has aren’t country-specific, arsenic galore countries usage the .com domain suffix. So, this each looks truly natural, and I’ve got thing to interest astir here.

Looking astatine the apical countries, the overwhelming bulk of my backlinks (72%) travel from US-based sites and a further 4% from UK-based sites. Again, I’m successful the clear.

If you bash find a batch of irrelevant ccTLDs, you’ll privation to see disavowing them utilizing the tips I provided earlier.

Step 12: Identify Negative SEO Attacks

Negative SEO is fundamentally the other of SEO. >

It’s erstwhile a rival (or idiosyncratic other with malicious intentions) attempts to harm your website’s rankings. As you’ve astir apt guessed, it’s a superior achromatic chapeau maneuver and NOT 1 I would counsel anyone to try!

But, knowing what this benignant of onslaught is is important truthful you tin observe the signs of 1 aboriginal connected and instrumentality enactment earlier it takes effect.

Although Google has said that antagonistic SEO is not highly apt to work, it’s inactive worthy keeping an oculus retired for the signs.

Google’s Gary Illyes connected Real-Time Penguin, Negative SEO & Disavows

Gary has looked astatine hundreds of expected cases of Negative SEO & nary person been the crushed for a postulation driblet & “The squad is continuing to enactment connected real-time Penguin algo to marque it better” https://t.co/SJi6E7MVaN pic.twitter.com/Mvn380lJsv

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) March 8, 2019

And the champion mode to bash that is with regular backlink audits.

To identify antagonistic SEO attacks during your audit, ticker retired for:

• Sudden spikes successful the fig of backlinks you have. This suggests idiosyncratic has built a ample fig of unnatural, spammy backlinks to your site.
• Sudden dips successful the fig of backlinks you have. Opposite to the above, idiosyncratic whitethorn person been submitting fake nexus removal requests to webmasters to person your site’s backlinks taken down.
• Spammy anchor texts, and tons of them. These volition often revolve astir things similar “buy inexpensive viagra”, “get affluent quick”, “lose 10 pounds successful a week”, “play poker online”, and truthful on. Essentially, you should beryllium wary of a ample fig of anchors that aren’t applicable to your niche.
• A precocious Toxicity Score. Follow my guidance supra connected monitoring this with Semrush. If it’s higher than it was during your past nexus audit, it could beryllium a motion that idiosyncratic has built immoderate spammy backlinks to your tract successful the meantime.

See my tips successful the “Identify Spammy and Toxic Backlinks” conception supra to person immoderate harmful links you place disavowed if needed.

Step 13: Analyze Your Anchor Text Distribution

I touched connected anchor texts above, but astatine this stage, you’ll privation to look much intimately astatine them.

Anchor texts are the words utilized connected a leafage to nexus to your site.

Choosing the close ones tin beryllium hugely beneficial to your SEO, but excessively galore of the incorrect ones tin bash A LOT of damage.

Google uses anchor substance arsenic a ranking factor, truthful it’s important that you get it right!

To support your tract harmless from penalties and to get the maximum interaction from your backlinks, travel these champion practices:

• Make definite they’re relevant: The anchor substance utilized should correlate with the contented connected the leafage you’re linking to. For example, you don’t privation an anchor substance similar ‘laptops for sale’ pointing towards your leafage astir nexus gathering tips! In different words, readers should cognize what to expect erstwhile they click connected the link.
• Fit them people successful the text: Google besides considers the surrounding substance erstwhile determining a link’s relevancy. So, continuing with my illustration above, if you privation to nexus to your nexus gathering tips article, you shouldn’t bash truthful successful a reappraisal astir the champion laptops for students. Remember, your readers are conscionable arsenic important arsenic hunt engines, truthful marque definite your contented flows good for them, too.

• Avoid excessively galore exact-match anchors: Okay, truthful I did conscionable accidental supra your anchors request to beryllium applicable to the contented they’re linking to, but that doesn’t mean each azygous 1 of your backlinks should usage an nonstop lucifer anchor text. I’ll archer you much astir keeping a divers anchor substance illustration successful conscionable a minute.

• Watch retired for spammy anchors: As I noted above, thousands of spammy anchors astir gambling and different big topics that aren’t related to your contented are a large reddish emblem to Google.

In presumption of your audit, the main types of anchor substance to cognize astir are:

• Exact match
• Branded
• Blended

Each of these tin beryllium breached down into further sub-categories, but let’s support things elemental here.

Your exact match anchor texts are conscionable what they dependable like: They precisely lucifer the people keyword of the leafage they’re linking to.

If I were to physique a backlink to this backlink audit usher with an nonstop lucifer anchor text, I’d take “backlink audit.”

Branded anchors don’t subordinate to the leafage they’re linking to; instead, they subordinate to your marque sanction (no surprises there). It could beryllium either your website’s sanction oregon your web code arsenic a bare URL (either with oregon without www and/or https).

For this page, it could beryllium thing similar “backlinko.com”, “backlinko”, oregon “https://backlinko.com”.

Blended anchor texts are a small different. They usage the nonstop lucifer operation combined with much generic terms.

So, for this page, I’d take thing similar “This implicit usher to performing a backlink audit”.

But wherefore does this matter?

The ratio of anchor texts you usage varies depending connected whether you’re linking to your homepage oregon an interior page.

Having the incorrect equilibrium tin marque your site’s backlink illustration look unnatural to Google.

It’s improbable that sites volition ever people usage the nonstop lucifer anchor substance you’d similar for your page. That’s wherefore these should ever marque up the smallest percentage of your anchors.

Here’s a rough usher for your homepage anchors (many SEOs volition person varying opinions, truthful instrumentality this arsenic a starting constituent and fig retired what works champion for you and your site):

• 80%-95% branded anchors
• 10% blended anchors
• Just 5% nonstop match

These percentages are beauteous antithetic for your interior pages:

• 35%-45% branded
• 50%-60% blended
• You tin spell a small much aggressive, with astir 10% nonstop lucifer anchors for these web pages

If you’re going to beryllium gathering backlinks, I’d powerfully suggest you program retired your anchors. Have a look astatine your existing anchor texts and spot wherever determination are gaps.

Have you got loads of backlinks to your homepage utilizing nonstop lucifer keywords? Then you’ll privation to get immoderate much branded links to look much natural.

Similarly, if you’ve got mostly branded anchors going to your interior pages, you tin adhd a fewer blended and nonstop lucifer anchors, and you mightiness spot a small boost successful rankings arsenic Google realizes the relevancy of your content.

Back to your audit. Here’s what to look for erstwhile auditing your backlinks’ anchor text:

• Diversity: Do you person a batch of antithetic anchors utilized to nexus to your pages?
• Relevancy: Are the anchors utilized successful your backlinks applicable to your contented and your brand?
• Number of backlinks per anchor text: Are determination hundreds of backlinks with the aforesaid anchor text?

To cheque your anchors, it’s clip to unfastened up Semrush’s Backlink Analytics instrumentality again, but this clip you’ll privation to click connected the Anchors tab.

It’ll look a small thing similar this:

You tin spot I person a batch of branded anchors. That is, the 3 astir communal anchors that different sites usage to nexus to excavation are:

• backlinko.com
• https://backlinko.com
• backlinko

If you click connected the fig of backlinks you person utilizing a definite anchor text, it’ll amusement you each the pages connected your referring domains utilizing that anchor substance and which leafage connected your tract they’re linking to.

So, by clicking connected the fig adjacent to my ‘visual content’ anchor:

I tin spot precisely which domains are utilizing this anchor and which leafage they’re linking to:

As I’d expect, astir of these backlinks are each pointing toward my https://backlinko.com/hub/content/visual page.

If you announcement immoderate anchors that you don’t privation your tract to beryllium associated with (see my antagonistic SEO onslaught tips above), you’ll privation to analyse further.

One oregon 2 backlinks with these kinds of anchors are improbable to harm your site, but excessively galore could. So, it’s champion to travel my erstwhile proposal connected having links disavowed if they usage these spammy anchors. Chances are, they’re astir apt from spammy sites anyway.

Taking it further, you’ll privation to deliberation astir what I mentioned earlier and interruption your tract down into clusters oregon adjacent idiosyncratic pages.

You don’t privation to conscionable look astatine the full domain’s anchor texts.

For example, possibly your play tract has a conception connected covering and 1 connected play equipment.

The ratios mightiness beryllium retired of equilibrium betwixt the antithetic sections. Perhaps your covering conception has 95% branded anchors, but the instrumentality conception lone has 20%.

If that were the case, you’ll privation to physique immoderate much backlinks with nonstop lucifer anchors to your covering section, and immoderate with branded anchors to the instrumentality section.

How Often Should You Conduct a Backlink Audit?

So present you cognize however to execute a backlink audit step-by-step, the adjacent question is “how often should I bash one?”

The answer?

It depends.

Now I cognize you’re astir apt sick of proceeding this reply to each your SEO-related questions, but it’s the truth.

But I’ll assistance you retired a small by telling you what it depends on:

• The measurement of backlinks your tract has (if you person much backlinks/ get caller ones often, you’ll request to behaviour your audit much frequently)
• The size and complexity of your site, and the volume of contented you publish (bigger sites that people precocious volumes of contented volition request to support a person oculus connected their backlink profile—monthly oregon quarterly)
• The age of your site
• How competitive your niche is (ranking sites successful highly competitory niches volition beryllium a batch connected having a strong, steadfast backlink profile, truthful predominant audits volition assistance you enactment connected apical of your competition)
• Your wide SEO strategy (did you announcement a dip successful your rankings? It could beryllium due to the fact that you’ve acquired immoderate iffy backlinks—see my tips connected antagonistic SEO attacks above)
• How agelong it has been since your past audit

Remember, the much often you bash an audit, the little clip each 1 volition take. So, doing a monthly audit volition astir apt instrumentality little clip wide than waiting for six months and discovering you’ve gained loads of toxic backlinks that you present request to disavow!

You mightiness besides find it champion to bash a speedy (30-minute) audit much frequently, past instrumentality a heavy dive each quarter, six months, oregon year, depending connected what benignant of tract you’re moving with.

If you really need a circumstantial answer, I’d suggest you don’t fto much than a twelvemonth walk betwixt audits.

My champion proposal is this: find the equilibrium that works for you and your site. Consider your goals and the clip and resources you person available, and don’t get excessively caught up monitoring your backlinks constantly!

FAQs

Which Factors Do You Focus connected Most During a Backlink Audit?

The astir important things to absorption connected during a basal backlink audit are:

• The number of backlinks
• The ratio of dofollow to nofollow links
• The fig of referring domains
• Your competitors’ backlinks
• The domain authority and relevance of your referring domains

Can Backlinks Hurt Your Site?

While definite backlinks tin springiness your tract a immense boost, others tin and volition wounded it. Toxic backlinks coming from low-authority, low-quality sites tin wounded your SEO, but it’s not rather achromatic and white, truthful to speak.

Google’s algorithm has gotten beauteous bully astatine learning which backlinks to ignore, truthful the occasional spammy backlink is thing for you to suffer slumber over. But, if you observe a immense quantity of these links during your audit, it’s clip to instrumentality action.

See this: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ignore-toxic-links-32711.html

What Are Bad Backlinks?

The word ‘bad’ backlinks see things like:

• ‘Unnatural’ oregon ‘forced’ links
• Links from spammy sites, PBNs, oregon nexus farms
• Links from different sites you own
• Poor property merchandise links

How Do You Measure Backlink Success?

Monitor the pursuing metrics aft gathering backlinks to spot however palmy they person been:

• Referral traffic
• Changes successful hunt rankings
• Brand mentions
• Social shares
• Domain strength
• Number of visitors (total, new, and unique)

How Many Backlinks Is Too Many?

There’s nary specified happening arsenic ‘too galore backlinks’, but don’t deliberation this means you should physique arsenic galore arsenic possible! As with galore of the champion things successful life, it’s MUCH amended for SEO if you absorption connected prime implicit sheer quantity.

With that said, you’ll privation to physique arsenic galore high-quality backlinks arsenic imaginable if you privation to predominate the SERPs.

As I’ve mentioned successful my guide to backlinks, our hunt motor ranking correlation survey recovered that the fig of sites linking to you (not the full fig of backlinks) correlated with Google rankings much than immoderate different factor.

At the extremity of the day, if you’re successful a comparatively uncompetitive niche, it’s astir apt excessive to physique 10,000 backlinks, but that’s not to accidental it’ll bash you immoderate harm.

Also, wage attraction to however accelerated you’re gathering backlinks. For high-authority sites, there’s nary crushed wherefore you can’t physique 100 backlinks successful a day.

If you’re moving with a brand-new site? It’s going to look a small suspicious if you abruptly summation 50 links from high-authority sites overnight.

BUT (there’s ever a but!) if you’ve posted immoderate wicked contented that’s gone viral, you could good find that you people summation those 50 high-authority backlinks successful the abstraction of a day.

Once again, the lone existent reply present is “it depends!”

What Is a Common Mistake with Backlinks?

There’s nary crushed to beryllium frightened of backlinks arsenic agelong arsenic you look retired for these communal mistakes caller (and adjacent experienced) SEOs make:

• Building links from low-authority sites
• Over-using nonstop lucifer anchor text
• Getting backlinks from sites that are irrelevant to your niche
• Only getting links to your homepage
• Not acquiring a scope of backlinks (consider nexus insertions, impermanent blogging, and more)
• Using mediocre outreach methods (like sending generic, spammy emails)

Sources: 

• Bad Backlinks – Neil Patel
• Backlink Audit – Linkbuilder.io
• How to bash a Backlink Audit – Semrush
• Google Ignores Toxic Backlinks – Search Engine Round Table
• Guide to Backlink Auditing – Devrix
• How Often Should You Do a Link Audit? – Moz
• How Many Backlinks Should a Site Have? – LinkedIn
• How to Measure the ROI of Building Backlinks – Devrix
• Common Backlinking Mistakes – 9 Sail
• Link Velocity – Ahrefs
• Nofollow vs Follow Links – Semrush
• What is Negative SEO? – Ahrefs
• What is Anchor Text – Yoast
• Anchor Text Ratios – The Hoth
• How to Disavow Links – Semrush

The station How To Do a Backlink Audit successful 13 Easy Steps appeared archetypal connected Backlinko.