What is Backlink Audit? Unveiling the Essentials of SEO Health Check

A backlink audit is a process of evaluating the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to a website.

So why are they important, and how do they impact your SEO? Let's look at it in detail.

What are Backlinks?

Backlinks are links from other websites to your own website. They are an important part of SEO or search engine optimization. Backlinks can help improve your website's ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).

However, not all backlinks are created equal. Some backlinks are more valuable than others.

High-quality backlinks come from websites that are relevant to your own website and that have a good reputation.

Low-quality backlinks come from websites that are not relevant to your own website or that have a bad reputation.

Why Use Backlink Audits?

A backlink audit can help you identify any harmful or low-quality backlinks that may be pointing to your website. Once you have identified these backlinks, you can take steps to remove them or disavow them.

Removing or disavowing harmful backlinks can help improve your website's search engine ranking. It can also help protect your website from penalties by Google.📗

If you are serious about improving your website's SEO, then you should consider performing a backlink audit on a regular basis.

This can be done by removing harmful backlinks, building new backlinks, and optimizing the anchor text of the backlinks.

• Identify harmful backlinks: A backlink audit can help you identify any harmful backlinks that may be pointing to your website.📙

Harmful backlinks can be from websites that are penalized by Google or that are considered to be spammy. These backlinks can damage your website's ranking in search engines.

• Improve your website's ranking: A backlink audit can help you identify opportunities to improve your website's ranking in search engines.
• Protect your website from penalties: A backlink audit can help you protect your website from penalties by Google.📘

Google penalizes websites that receive backlinks from spammy or low-quality websites.

How to do a Backlink Audit?

You can do backlink audits with SEO tools in just seconds. The knowledge you are getting is definitely a game-changer for your SEO.

With backlink audits, you can learn;

• The quality of the backlinks: Backlinks from high-quality websites with relevant content are more valuable than backlinks from low-quality websites with irrelevant content.
• The number of backlinks: The more backlinks a website has, the higher it is likely to rank in search engines.
• The diversity of the backlinks: A variety of backlinks from different websites is more beneficial than many backlinks from the same website.
• The anchor text of the backlinks: The anchor text is the text that is used to link to the website. Relevant anchor text can help to improve the website's ranking in search engines.

There are a number of tools that can be used to perform a backlink audit. Some of the most popular tools include Ahrefs, Seomator, and Semrush.

Let's use the Seomator's free backlink checker tool example to see how easy it is to do backlink audits:

First, you have to go to the SEOMator website and sign in to your account. Then;

• Click on the "Backlink Audit" tab.
• Enter the URL of your website and then click on the "Start Audit" button.

• SEOMator will scan your website for backlinks. Once the scan is complete, SEOMator will display a list of backlinks.

• You can then analyze the backlinks to identify any harmful or low-quality backlinks.

How to get Backlinks?

Before we discuss removing harmful backlinks that were identified in your backlink audit, let's talk about the how to get backlinks.

Here are some ways you can promote your website and get backlinks from other sites to prove you are worth the read to Google.

1) Create high-quality content

This is the most important factor for getting backlinks. When you create valuable and informative content, other websites are more likely to link back to it. Make sure your content is well-written, informative, and relevant to your target audience.

How?

• Know your audience and their interests. Try to include their tone and keep their interests in mind.
• Research in-depth but try to include the important parts. If people wanted a professional article they will look for it. Make user-friendly content.
• Try to appeal as much as visually as possible. Use images, videos, and other visuals to break up your text and make your content more visually appealing.
• Make sure your content is consistent in terms of style, tone, and quality.⭐

This will help you create a brand identity for your content that will make your audience more likely to trust and engage with it.

2) Outreach and Guest Posting

Reach out to relevant websites or blogs in your industry and offer to write a guest post for them.

In exchange, you can include a backlink to your website within the article. This is a great way to get backlinks from high-quality websites and showcase your expertise to a new audience.

3) Build Relationships

Connect with influencers, industry experts, and other website owners in your niche. Building relationships can lead to opportunities for collaborations and backlink opportunities.

Engage with them through social media, participate in discussions, and provide value to establish meaningful connections.

4) Directory Submissions

Submitting your website to relevant directories can help you acquire backlinks. Look for reputable directories in your industry and submit your website with the appropriate category.

5) Broken Link Building

Find websites in your niche that have broken links on their pages. Reach out to the website owner or webmaster and offer a replacement link to your relevant content.

This not only helps them fix broken links but also provides you with an opportunity to gain a backlink.

6) Social Media Promotion

Promote your content on social media platforms to increase its visibility. If your content is engaging and valuable, it may get shared by others, potentially leading to backlinks.

How to Remove Harmful Backlinks?

Removing backlinks is no hard work. You can do it nice and easily, let's look at some ways how you can do it.

1. Contact the website owner. If you know the website owner, you can contact them and ask them to remove the link to your website.
2. Use a disavow tool. A disavow tool is software that can help you tell search engines that you don't want to be associated with certain websites.
3. Wait. Harmful backlinks can lose their value over time, so you may not need to do anything to remove them.

Here are the steps on how to use a disavow tool:

1. Go to Google Search Console and sign in to your account.
2. Click on the "Manual Actions" tab.
3. Click on the "Disavow Links" button.
4. Click on the "Create a new disavow file" button.
5. Enter the URLs of the websites that you want to disavow.
6. Click on the "Save" button.
7. Download the disavow file.
8. Upload the disavow file to your website's root directory.
9. Submit the disavow file to Google Search Console.

It may initially seem mind-boggling, but rest assured, it's actually quite simple. Let's take a visual approach to understand it better.

Watch Cris Marrano's video on How To Remove Bad Backlinks From Your Website.

How to Avoid Dangerous Backlinks?

Here are some tips for preventing harmful backlinks:

• Create high-quality content. The best way to prevent harmful backlinks is to create high-quality content that people want to link to.
• Avoid link-building schemes. There are many link-building schemes that can get you penalized by search engines. Avoid these schemes and focus on building natural backlinks.
• Monitor your backlinks. It's important to monitor your backlinks for any harmful links. You can use a backlink checker tool to do this.

Final Words

Backlink audits are important because it can help you improve your backlink game and will eventually lead to better SERP results. You can use the free SEO backlink checkers provided by popular tools such as Ahref's, Semrush, and SEOmator.

You have to analyze your backlinks and identify toxic backlinks correctly to fix them later. Harmful backlinks could be removed by using Google Search Console very easily, or you could just wait and see.

To get backlinks, you have to provide the user with quality content, and you must check your broken links and give the information to the website owner to fix them. There are many other ways for you to ensure your backlink health, you just have to go over a few steps.

Backlink Audit Related Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Backlink Audit?

A backlink audit is a process of examining the backlinks pointing to a website to assess their quality, relevance, and potential impact on search engine rankings.

Why is a backlink audit important?

A backlink audit helps identify harmful or low-quality backlinks that could negatively affect a website's search engine performance. It allows website owners to take corrective actions to improve their backlink profile.

How does a backlink audit work?

A backlink audit involves using specialized tools to analyze the backlink profile of a website. It assesses factors such as the quality, quantity, diversity, and anchor text of the backlinks to determine their impact on SEO.

What are the benefits of conducting a backlink audit?

Conducting a backlink audit helps improve search engine rankings, protect against penalties, and identify opportunities for link building and optimization. It ensures a healthy and authoritative backlink profile.

How often should a backlink audit be performed?

It is recommended to conduct a backlink audit on a regular basis, especially after significant changes to the website or when experiencing a decline in search rankings. This helps maintain a strong backlink profile.

Can I perform a backlink audit manually?

While it is possible to manually review and evaluate backlinks, it can be time-consuming and challenging. Specialized SEO tools are often used to automate the process and provide comprehensive insights.

What actions can be taken based on the results of a backlink audit?

Depending on the findings, actions may include removing harmful backlinks, disavowing spammy links, reaching out for link removal, improving anchor text distribution, or implementing a link-building strategy.

Should I hire an SEO professional for a backlink audit?

While it is possible to perform a backlink audit independently, hiring an experienced SEO professional can provide expertise and ensure a thorough analysis of the backlink profile.