Backlink Analysis

Here’s how it shows up in Moz Link Explorer:

Similarly, it’s easy to find the number of backlinks with all other SEO tools.

Total number of unique domains

The total number of backlinks is one thing, and the total number of unique domains linking to our site is another. Hundreds of backlinks coming from only a handful of unique domains isn’t a good sign.

It’s quite normal to have fewer unique domains than the total number of backlinks. However, if the difference is unnaturally large, it suggests that we acquired backlinks in bulk from websites. Bulk backlinks from a single domain are less valuable than links from diversified sources. Also, bulk backlinks from one source may signal to Google that we purchased and artificially generated the links. For this reason, Google prioritizes websites with backlinks from diverse, relevant sites over several backlinks from a single site.

If the number of unique domains linking to our site is low, focus link building efforts towards getting links from new sites instead of the ones already linking to us.

Here’s where this metric shows up in Semrush:

Domain and page authority

Look beyond the number of backlinks and unique domains pointing to us. Google also considers the quality of the links; we should too. Link quality is controlled by a number of factors, including relevance, placement, and domain authority and page authority of the source page.While there’s no metric by the name “Link Quality’’ available in backlink analysis tools, they do offer domain and page authority of the linking website. These scores will give us a fair idea of the link quality.

Here’s where we can see the metric in Semrush:

The metric tells us how many, among the total number of our backlinks, are actually valuable. When sourcing backlinks, try to go for websites with a DA of 50+.

Anchor text

Among other things, we should also consider the anchor text other sites are using to link to us. Anchor text also contributes to the quality of the backlink. Monitor and improve them from time to time.

Here’s where it appears on Semrush’s Backlink Analytics tool:

See if the anchor text relates to our website’s content. Too many exact match anchors aren’t good either. Anchor texts that seem off can also help identify spammy backlinks that can hurt our ranking. Reach out to the websites asking them to update the anchor or remove the link (if it’s spam). In most cases, websites aren’t too cooperative, in which case, disavowing the link is the practical approach (more on this later in the lesson).

Freshness of the link

Age of the backlink is a useful metric and tells us a lot of things. Backlinks that have aged a few months produce more traffic and pass on more ranking value to the referred website. At the same time, if our website only has old backlinks acquired years ago, it may signal the search engine that the site’s content might be outdated and not maintained. Search engines want to serve fresh, relevant content to their users. So both old and new backlinks bring value to our domain. Focus on generating new backlinks from high DA websites consistently over time.

Here’s where we’ll find the age information of the link on Semrush:

"First Seen" tells us when the tool first discovered the link while "Last Seen" when it last saw the link. A "First Seen" date in green is a new backlink, while a "Last Seen" date in red indicates the link is lost.

If thousands of links are generated within a few days, take it as a signal for spam. In this case the "First Seen" date will either be the same or very close for a bunch of links. Get rid of these links before Google spots the problem.

Top pages

The total number of backlinks to our domain will be pointing to different pages on our website. For most websites, the homepage receives the most backlinks. SEO tools can also show us other pages on our site, besides the homepage, that are getting the most links.

Identifying the top performing pages on our website (the ones that have the most backlinks) offers a wealth of information that can help improve our link building strategy. The two important things it tells us are:

• Which pages are performing well (and help us deduce why).

• Which pages are not performing well (and help us deduce the course of action for them).

If a specific type of content is receiving more backlinks on our website, we know that creating the same type of content will work. For example, if original infographics are gathering many backlinks, we know that we’ll have luck creating more.

Other than auditing our site’s page performances, we can also do it for our competitors. Analyzing the type of content that’s most useful to their link building strategy can help us strategize our own content creation.

To find the top pages in Semrush’s Backlink Analytics tool, open "Indexed Pages" and click the “Backlinks” column to sort the pages list by the number of backlinks. We can also sort the list by the number of referring domains.

Match the metrics on the left with their corresponding descriptions on the right.

Backlink analysis tools

Besides the Semrush Backlinks Analytics tool that we used to analyze the elements discussed above, there are many other tools that we can use for this purpose. Some of the popular choices include:

• Semrush Backlink Audit

• Ahrefs Backlink Checker

• Moz Link Explorer

• Majestic SEO

• Backlink Checker by Neil Patel

The tools listed above range in prices and features they offer. Most of them will also offer a limited set of information for free. Try out a few of these during the preliminary backlink analysis of our website to find out which one suits us best and is worth using and paying for in the long run.

How to conduct a backlink analysis

Follow the steps to conduct a backlink analysis on our domain and our competitors:

Select a tool

Select any of the backlink audit tools from the list above to conduct a backlink analysis on our site and that of our competitors. All of them are powerful resources to audit our link profile, but we’ll be using Semrush as an example.

Select sites to compare

Before beginning the audit, pick top competitors to set the benchmark we want to compare against. If we don’t already know our competitors, enter the target keyword/s into Google Search or any SEO tool (Semrush, Moz, etc) to get a list of top domains ranking for the phrase.

Get high level link profile

Enter our website into the backlink analysis tool we picked in the first step to get a high level overview of our site’s link profile. No matter which tool we use, we can see the total backlinks, referring domains, and top pages.

Here’s what the overview looks like on Semrush:

Compare with competitors high level profile

By repeating step 3 for our top competitors, we can see where they stand and the gap we have to fill. Semrush allows us to enter up to three competitors in the analysis report for a clearer comparison of the metrics.

Assess details

Backlink tools offer multiple reports to assess. Depending on what we’re assessing, we’ll find reports focused on backlinks, referring domains, anchors, top pages, and recently discovered and lost links.

We can also observe the link attributes, no follow or do follow, for our backlinks. Semrush, additionally, tells us the link placement, with tags such as content or sitewide with the anchor.

A deeper look at the tabs or individual reports will give us plenty of information on our link profile. URL of the referring domain, anchor text, and the number of backlinks from the referring domains are some useful elements to judge the credibility of the link. Spammy backlinks can do more harm than good. Thus we want them removed from our link profile.

Semrush includes a useful metric called Toxicity Score to tell us how dangerous the backlink is for our site’s ranking. The smaller the toxicity score, the better. The closer it is to 100, the more problematic it is and the more urgency to remove or disavow it.

Make improvements

The findings of our backlink analysis are the driving force for several improvements. The pages that lack backlinks, for instance, will need to be focused on for future outreach campaigns. The kind of content on our website and that of our competitors that receives the most backlinks will be prioritized for our content creation projects. Through backlink analysis, we’ll also spot some toxic backlinks or referring domains. There are two ways this problem is dealt with:

• Reach out to the referring website, asking them to have the link removed. Though this is the most straightforward solution, webmasters rarely cooperate.

• If we cannot manually remove the links or have them removed, Google offers the option to upload a disavow list to the Google Search Console. With this list, we tell Google to ignore the links from the pages or domains we include in the list. Here’s where we’ll find all the information from Google to create and upload the list of links to disavow for our site [54].

The analysis will also show we lost links. There are multiple ways this can be dealt with. We can either reach out to the referring domain, let them in on the problem, and offering them an active page on our website with similar content. Alternatively, we can redirect the broken page to another page on our website, preferably with similar content.

Test your knowledge

Drag and drop the blocks from the right to complete the steps involved in conducting a backlink analysis on the left.

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions