Methods to Do a Backlink Audit (5 Easy Steps)

What Is a Backlink Audit?

A backlink audit is the method of analyzing the standard, amount, and relevance of hyperlinks pointing to your web site.

A complete hyperlink audit can provide you a gold mine of knowledge that may tremendously influence your search engine optimization and backlink technique.

So you may construct higher hyperlinks and beat your opponents by outranking them in search outcomes.

On this article, we’ll run by means of a easy backlink audit course of you may replicate in your personal web site.

Notice: We’ll be utilizing Semrush’s Backlink Audit, Backlink Analytics, and Hyperlink Constructing Software for this whole course of. Semrush instruments have the largest backlink database available on the market.

Let’s get began.

Step 1: Benchmark Your Backlink Profile In opposition to Rivals

This step is a should. Evaluating your self to your opponents can provide you loads of useful insights and reply necessary questions like:

• Do you’ve gotten extra backlinks and referring domains than your opponents?
• What does your hyperlink acquisition price appear like in comparison with your opponents?
• What’s your Authority Rating? How does it evaluate to your competitors?

All of this issues.

As a result of the stronger your backlink profile is, the higher you’ll find yourself rating in search outcomes. Which may translate to extra visitors to your web site.

To begin your evaluation, go to the Backlink Analytics device. Enter your area identify and click on “Analyze.”

Then, within the “Overview” tab, enter a few of your opponents’ domains and click on “Evaluate.”

You’ll discover numerous knowledge factors to see whether or not you’re trending in the appropriate route along with your hyperlink constructing technique.

What You Ought to Analyze

Within the “Overview” tab, evaluate the:

• Backlinks, Referring Domains, and Referring IPs: To estimate how large your backlink footprint is in comparison with the competitors. Usually, the upper the numbers, the stronger your backlink profile is.
• Authority Rating: To find out the standard of your web site. This high quality is measured on a scale from 1 to 100. The upper the quantity, the higher high quality the area is.

• Hyperlink Attributes: To establish linking patterns and see what quantity of your hyperlinks are “comply with” and nofollow. “Observe” hyperlinks affect your rankings as a result of they switch hyperlink fairness, however nofollow hyperlinks don’t. So, you wish to prioritize constructing “comply with” hyperlinks.

• Referring Domains: To search out out whether or not your referring domains are rising constantly. Or whether or not your referring domains progress is stagnant. And see how your progress compares to your competitors.

The evaluation above ought to reveal strengths you may capitalize on and weaknesses you’ll wish to overcome.

For instance, should you discover your hyperlink progress is stagnant and your opponents have extra backlinks than you, then begin constructing hyperlinks.

Learn our full information on hyperlink constructing methods to learn the way.

Step 2: Discover and Consider Every Backlink You Have

Now that you understand how your backlink profile stacks up towards your competitors, it’s time to dig deeper and analyze every hyperlink individually.

Why?

Some backlinks are extra helpful than others. And in case you have loads of low-quality backlinks, they’re not going to maneuver the needle in your web site.

Or worse, they may set off a guide motion penalty from Google (that means some or your whole pages gained’t seem in search outcomes). Particularly in case your web site was concerned in any hyperlink spam (hyperlinks supposed to govern natural rankings).

You need to use Semrush’s Backlink Audit device to investigate your backlinks. 

First, begin a challenge, configure the device, and click on “Begin Backlink Audit.” 

As soon as the audit is full, you’ll see an in depth report. Like this:

What You Ought to Analyze

Within the “Overview” tab, take a look at the:

• General Toxicity Rating: To see whether or not you’ve gotten a excessive rating, that means there are too many low-quality hyperlinks pointing to your web site
• Analyzed Backlinks: To search out out whether or not the quantity is larger than what you anticipated it to be, which might point out a unfavorable search engine optimization assault. Most often, you needn’t do something. Google is fairly good at ignoring link-related unfavorable search engine optimization assaults.
• Referring Domains: To see what number of domains hyperlink to your web site. A number of hyperlinks coming from a single area gained’t have a lot influence from a rating standpoint. The bottom line is to construct hyperlinks from as many distinctive and related domains as potential.

The “Overview” tab provides you a really high-level view. To delve deeper, you want to go to the “Audit” tab.

There, you’ll see all of the backlinks pointing to your web site.

From right here, take a look at:

• The URLs: To see whether or not they come from respectable web sites 
• Anchor textual content: To see whether or not the anchor textual content is related to the linked web page. Excessive-quality backlinks are likely to have anchor textual content that’s related to the linked web page’s content material, whereas low-quality backlinks are likely to have unnatural or spammy anchor textual content (i.e., one thing random).
• Authority Rating (AS) of the linking area: To gauge the reputability of the linking area, which impacts your search rankings. The next AS means a extra constructive affect on rankings. A decrease AS means a much less constructive influence on rankings.
• Toxicity Rating (TS) of the linking web page: To measure how doubtlessly dangerous the linking web page may very well be. The Toxicity Rating ranges from 0 to 100. The decrease the TS, the upper the hyperlink’s high quality. The upper the TS, the decrease the hyperlink’s high quality. You’ll be able to click on on the TS rating to see why Semrush considers a specific hyperlink as low-quality or dangerous. 

Step 3: Determine Whether or not to Disavow or Take away Dangerous Hyperlinks

The subsequent step is deciding whether or not to disavow or take away any dangerous backlinks.

Google says to do that:

• When you have a big variety of low-quality hyperlinks constructed utilizing techniques which are towards Google’s pointers
• When you’ve obtained a guide motion penalty from Google

When you’ve intentionally violated Google’s pointers and constructed an inflow of hyperlinks in ways in which violate Google’s pointers, you threat every little thing by way of search engine optimization.

You’ll obtain an alert in Google Search Console notifying you of a guide motion penalty.

You’ll be able to examine for these penalties by going to “Safety & Handbook Actions,” after which “Handbook actions” in Google Search Console. 

In case your web site hasn’t been issued any penalties, you may see a inexperienced examine mark.

Like this:

You’ll be able to take care of guide motion penalties in one in every of two methods: 

• Take away: Reaching out to linking web sites and asking them to delete hyperlinks
• Disavow: Disavowing hyperlinks utilizing Google’s Disavow device

First, attain out to web sites and see if you will get these hyperlinks eliminated.

You need to use Semrush’s Backlink Audit device for this function.

Right here’s how:

1. Go to the “Audit” tab of the device and filter for hyperlinks which have a Toxicity Rating of 60 or extra. These are seemingly going to be low-quality, dangerous hyperlinks. 

2. Examine the packing containers on the left-hand aspect. Then, click on the “Take away” button, choose “Area” or “URL,” and ship them to your “Take away” checklist.

 3. Navigate to the “Take away” tab and join your e-mail

4. Click on the “Ship” button subsequent to one of many hyperlinks

5. Write an e-mail requesting hyperlink removing. The recipient’s e-mail handle will populate routinely. If it doesn’t, you may add it manually by discovering it on their web site.

6. Click on “Ship and proceed to subsequent.”

You’ll be capable of preserve observe of your requests in Semrush and in your personal mailbox.

If the web site house owners don’t take away the hyperlinks to your web site, disavowing is your remaining choice. 

To do that, click on the “Disavow” button to ship your dangerous hyperlinks to the “Disavow” checklist. 

Subsequent, go to the “Disavow” tab, export its contents in a .txt file, after which add it to the Google disavow device.

To study extra in regards to the disavow process, try our detailed information on disavowing backlinks.

Notice: Be extraordinarily cautious when disavowing hyperlinks. Disavowing backlinks when it’s pointless can severely hurt your rankings. 

Step 4: Reclaim Your Misplaced Backlinks

This step is about ensuring you get well any hyperlinks you used to have that you just misplaced.

Constructing backlinks takes effort and time. So, it pays to reclaim them if you lose them over time.

This occurs for a lot of totally different causes:

• The writer eliminated your hyperlink from the content material
• The linking web page has been redirected to a different web page
• The writer changed your hyperlink with one thing else
• The linking web page unintentionally bought deleted 

Use Semrush’s Hyperlink Constructing device to get well your hard-earned hyperlinks. 

First, configure the device. After that, go to the “Prospects” tab and click on on “Misplaced Backlinks.” 

You’ll see hyperlinks that you just used to have.

From right here, open every hyperlink individually. You’ll be capable of see details about why your hyperlink disappeared.

For instance, if it’s returning a 404 error, it may very well be as a result of the web page was deleted. 

Then, you could possibly attain out to the web site proprietor and ask them to reinstate the web page.

A easy e-mail like this might do the trick:

Hey [Name],

Simply got here throughout your ____ web page and located it’s damaged.

Did you do that on function or was it deleted unintentionally?

In any case, having a damaged web page in your web site is just not good for UX or search engine optimization. 

So, I’d advocate reinstating the web page.

No strain should you don’t wish to achieve this, although. 🙂 It’s all as much as you. I simply thought it will be useful to achieve out and allow you to know.

Thanks,

[Your Name]

Step 5: Discover New Alternatives to Construct Precious Hyperlinks

A backlink audit is extra than simply analyzing your backlink profile and reclaiming your misplaced hyperlinks. It will possibly additionally assist you spot new alternatives to construct high-quality hyperlinks. 

There are two principal methods to do that:

1. Learning what content material varieties appeal to essentially the most backlinks to your web site. So you may double down on producing the identical sorts of content material to proceed attracting hyperlinks.
2. Researching your opponents’ hyperlink constructing methods and replicating the identical technique in your web site.

Right here’s how you are able to do each.

To take a look at what content material varieties appeal to hyperlinks to your web site, go to the “Listed Pages” tab in Backlink Analytics device in your web site.

You’ll see your most linked-to content material.

When you see that listicle-style posts are the highest hyperlink earners, create extra listicle posts.

When you see how-to guides attracting hyperlinks, create extra how-to posts.

Now, let’s go over how one can analysis your opponents’ backlinks to develop new hyperlink constructing methods.

Open Semrush’s Backlink Analytics device, enter a competitor’s area, after which click on “Analyze.” 

Then, go to the “Referring Domains” tab. 

You’ll see all of the web sites which are linking to that competitor. Like this:

Take a look at the domains that steadily hyperlink to them. Or sorts of web sites that hyperlink to them essentially the most.

For instance, should you see your competitor is getting hyperlinks from standard media shops like BBC, TechCrunch, and so forth., this in all probability means they’re placing efforts into digital PR.

You could possibly do the identical in your personal web site. And earn hyperlinks that means.

Learn our information to digital PR to learn the way. 

Construct Excessive-High quality Backlinks at Scale

In case your backlink audit reveals that you just lack sufficient high-quality hyperlinks to stay aggressive in your market, constructing extra of those hyperlinks needs to be your precedence.

You need to use Semrush’s Hyperlink Constructing Software for this.

The device routinely scans the online for related web sites you may construct hyperlinks from. Even higher, you may contact the web site house owners from the device itself.

To get began, arrange a challenge within the device.

After that, navigate to the “Prospects” tab. Right here, you’ll see web sites you may attain out to for backlinks.

Manually evaluate every prospect and click on “To In Progress” to ship the promising ones to the “In Progress” tab. 

On the “In Progress” tab, click on on the “Contact” button subsequent to one of many web sites you wish to contact.

From right here, you may craft and ship your outreach e-mail.

And be sure to comply with hyperlink constructing outreach greatest practices and provides web site house owners a robust cause to hyperlink to your web site.