How to conduct an SEO backlink Audit
Conducting an SEO link audit helps you understand which backlinks are supporting your rankings and which could be tarnishing them. Backlinks can account for up to 50% of the weight in determining the success of a page in Google’s rankings. With backlinks being so crucial, it’s important to know which links are helping and which might be holding you back.
If you are unsure on where to begin, you’re in the right place. Here you will learn how to conduct a comprehensive backlink audit and why it is a must when looking to improve your website’s SEO performance. A thorough audit will show you exactly which links are boosting your authority, and which ones could be dragging your rankings down.
What is a Backlink Audit?
Backlink quality is becoming overlooked in the SEO industry. Yet backlinks remain one of the most influential factors in how Google evaluates your site’s authority and trustworthiness. This is why it’s so important to know the answer to the question ‘What is a backlink audit ?’
An SEO link audit (also known as a backlink audit or link profile audit) is the process of analysing a page’s backlinks and assessing their quality based on three main factors:
- Relevance to your content and industry
- Authority of the referring domain
- placement of the backlink within the content
Conducting a link audit is a great way to single out problems in your backlink profile. These could be negatively impacting the SEO of your site and could open you up to linking opportunities to boost your rankings.
Why perform a link audit?
A link audit can be beneficial for numerous reasons. It can identify bad links, open up new linking opportunities, and be the key to improving your backlink profile. By identifying low-quality links within your backlink profile, you can make positive changes to boost the SEO of your website.
Step 1: Choose a Link audit tool
To start your link audit, you first need to choose a tool to assist you. When choosing a tool, it’s important to ensure it will identify low-quality links in your profile and provide insights on your competitors. The software should assess different factors like Domain Rating (DR), link relevance and anchor text distribution. This will make it easier to understand the quality of your links. If you are looking for a basic link audit, then focusing on spammy and broken links would suffice. But if you’re looking for a more in-depth technical audit to improve your SEO, then a comparison of your performance vs competitors will reveal new linking opportunities for the future to improve your profile.
Step 2: Check for toxic or spammy backlinks
Once you have your chosen link audit tool, you can begin to undergo your backlink investigation. A great way to start is by analysing your backlink profile and identifying any spammy or low-quality links you think are holding you back. Links can negatively affect your authority for a number of reasons, the most common being spammy/poor content and broken links. Some of these low-quality links can be corrected with changes, like an update to content or anchor text. But for worse offenders, it can be beneficial to try and remove the link by contacting the domain owner. Alternatively, you can disavow the links via Google Console.
Step 3: Identify lost backlinks and reclaim them
A broken backlink is a link that doesn’t work or no longer exists. Broken backlinks can negatively affect your SEO as they hinder the user experience on your site and can lead to penalties from Google. Conducting your link audit will allow you to identify these broken links so you can repair them.
A broken backlink can occur when your link is no longer accessible or the URL has been entered incorrectly. If the target URL is incorrect, then you will need to contact the domain owner and ask them to amend it. If you cannot get in contact with the site owner, then you can disavow the link. If your backlink is broken because the link is no longer accessible, this means the page the link was on may have been deleted or the website is down. To fix this, you will need to bring up the issue with the domain owner.
Step 4: Check for manual actions
A manual action is a penalty issued by Google after they have reviewed your site, which can negatively impact your SEO. Manual actions are usually imposed if you have broken Google’s website quality guidelines. Low-quality content, spammy links, and keyword stuffing are some of the many reasons why your site may be given a manual action. If you want to see the full list, you can check the guidelines on Google’s website. It can be beneficial to check if you have had any manual actions issued due to poor quality links, so you can address the issue and request a reconsideration by Google.
Step 5: Benchmark yourself against competitors
Now you have gotten rid of the dead weight in your backlink profile, it’s time to build high-quality links to push your site through the rankings. A great strategy to improve your backlink profile is by conducting another link audit on your competitors and benchmarking yourself against them. Adapting your backlink strategies by using your competitors’ efforts will help you identify gaps in your own profile and uncover untapped opportunities. This could mean targeting the same high-authority sites or earning placements on relevant blogs.
Summary
As the demand for SEO continues to grow, it’s important to conduct regular backlink audits to ensure your site is staying competitive in your industry and that you’re not falling behind. Following these steps, along with your own research into your industry’s demographic, will put you well on your way to a healthier backlink profile and higher rankings.
