Having a strong online presence can increase visibility and boost sales for a company, and it has become an essential part of most digital marketing strategies. Businesses look to rank well on search engines such as Google to put their services and products in front of more viewers, which can potentially lead to more traffic and conversions in the long run.

Many business owners and marketing managers know what SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is and understand the importance of showing up on Google. But how does it actually work, and what are some concrete steps you can take to make sure your website has sufficient page authority to rank well and eventually outperform competitors?

One area that SEO specialists focus on when it comes to building a strong website is backlinks. When they are of high quality, they play a pivotal role in signalling to search engines that a site is credible and relevant to searchers, while low quality backlinks can cause damage to your site. If you are taking your first steps in learning about off-site SEO, you can start with this guide.

Today, we look at what backlinks are and their importance in SEO. We will also uncover how to conduct a backlink audit, how to choose the right tools for an audit, and how to optimize and improve the backlink profile of your website based on audit results. 

What is a backlink?  

Backlinks, also known as incoming or inbound links, are links created when one website links to another. They are important in SEO as they act like votes of confidence, indicating a site’s popularity with users. This means search engines such as Google are more likely to give prominence to a site with more backlinks than to another site with fewer. They also play a vital role in a site’s discoverability, as both users and search engine crawlers are likely to follow links from external sites. That said, not all types of backlinks are created equal.  

Good links typically come from trusted sources that are relevant to a website, take the Internet user where they expect to go, and are visible to both people and search engine crawlers. Conversely, bad links may be hidden on-page, have a pattern of over-using specific keywords, or come from sites that are not reputable.

To check your website’s backlinks, you can conduct a backlink audit. 

What is backlink auditing, and why does it matter?

A backlink audit is a specific SEO practice that focuses on analyzing all the links coming to a website, and their quality. The main goal of the backlink audit is to identify future steps to optimize a website. This includes analyzing existing links, and whether they are good, harmful, or irrelevant.  

Another goal of the backlink audit is to uncover factors contributing to a website’s poor ranking. This includes identifying the quality of links and their diversity, reviewing any historical changes of linking, comparing links with competitors, and checking links for any penalties.

As backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors for search engines, the quality, relevance, and quantity of backlinks remain the three pillars of a successful backlink strategy.

Choosing the right tools for auditing

Currently, numerous tools are available online for businesses to conduct a comprehensive audit analysis, many of which are paid services. However, one of the most valuable tools is actually free: Google Search Console. This web service allows users to submit and check sitemaps, crawling errors, and optimize their website’s visibility. It also provides insights into backlinks, links with redirection, most mentioned pages, and frequently referred resources.

When it comes to paid tools for conducting a backlink audit, MediaGroup recommends using Ahrefs and Majestic. These tools, among others, excel at parsing backlinks and evaluating their quality, allowing for a thorough analysis of a website’s link profile.

When choosing the right tool to use, make sure to first consider the size and scope of the project undertaken. Using paid tools may not be necessary for smaller websites, with Google Search Console alone being sufficient.

Another thing to remember is that while a tool – free or paid – serves as an instrument for data collection, an SEO specialist should still conduct overall website analysis. The size and complexity of the project should, therefore, play a role in deciding what SEO tool should be used so that resources are utilized effectively to give the most accurate analysis.  

How to gather information and collect data

When gathering information and collecting data, it is essential to analyze each resource the website has links from. When analyzing backlinks, using batch analysis tools for SEO factors such as domain authority, traffic, location, and spam score can be valuable in the initial stages and help identify potentially toxic backlinks.

Another important element to consider is quantity, as performing a quality analysis is redundant if a website has no backlinks. Generally, a backlink profile with many good links correlates with higher authority.

Businesses should also keep in mind how competitors are doing and the rate at which they are adding backlinks. If competitors are gaining thousands of links per month while the business’s own website link profile increase only by hundreds or fewer, this is definitely something to review.

The diversity of backlinks, such as those relevant to a business’s niche, is another essential point when conducting backlink analysis. A website's overall theme and niche and the resources from where the backlink is obtained must align with each other. Otherwise, the link may be considered spam. Resources created solely for backlink exchange, such as PBNs or directories, are also considered spam and should not be used to link to one’s website.  

Analyzing results

Link building is not only about creating a link. It also involves producing helpful content for users. Only then does a backlink become useful to a website. Analyzing results can help businesses detect issues regarding their website’s link profile, so they know what to adjust and improve moving forward.

When analyzing results, it is vital to identify potentially toxic backlinks and get rid of them. Toxic backlinks are incoming links that can negatively affect a website’s visibility in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). They usually refer to links placed on external sites for SEO purposes, rather than for the benefit of the users. Some examples of toxic backlinks include spammy sites, links from unrelated sites, links from sites with potentially dangerous content, and more. This means search engines can penalize a website that has poor-quality links.

If you have toxic links, one solution is to write directly to the website owner and ask them to remove the backlink. If that is not possible, another method is to disavow the link. This is the process of asking search engines to ignore specific backlinks, so they will no longer impact a site’s SEO.   

Optimizing and improving backlink profile based on audit results

Backlinks should focus on the quality of the content, which means linking to or creating content that is valuable for users and can meet their needs. One way Google evaluates whether a piece of content is valuable is through the E-E-A-T lens. This acronym stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. With the additional ‘E’, Google now prioritises firsthand or life experience regarding a page’s topic. Another way to improve a website’s backlink profile is to build partnerships with other websites and conduct outreach continuously. This is a long-term process, but if done well, it may truly elevate a website’s ranking.

When it comes to what the priority is when creating a backlink strategy, we recommend paying attention to toxic links first, since they can result in penalties from search engines. Therefore, it is vital to remove them immediately from the backlink profile. The next step is to work on broken links that are not harmful but ineffective. After cleaning the website of any harmful and detrimental backlinks, the focus should then be on prioritizing high-quality link creation.

Monitoring and further follow up  

Although most people may think creating backlinks is a one-and-done job, the truth is that one must continuously monitor their website’s backlink profile. Doing regular backlink analysis helps to prevent toxic links from appearing, so businesses can react quickly and remove any that crop up.

Nevertheless, doing huge monthly audits can be extremely time-consuming for most businesses. Which is why we suggest doing full backlink audits only once every quarter. We also recommend using certain SEO tools that can track websites and highlight new backlinks and the SEO factors that show up, making it easy for users to recognize whether a link is toxic.

The bottom line

Overall, implementing a successful backlink audit is a long-term process. Backlink analysis is not completed after simply analyzing a website’s current situation. Instead, it requires the ongoing actions of SEO specialists to continually optimize a website. As backlinks are considered one of the most important ranking factors in search engines, every website owner needs to pay special attention to this area.

Contact MediaGroup for an SEO consultation 

If you are running an online business and looking to increase your digital authority, MediaGroup encourages you to start your backlink audit and optimize your backlink profile as soon as possible. As an international agency, we have a diverse team of experienced SEO off-page specialists who can audit your website and provide the relevant recommendations to improve your backlink profile. Contact us today for a free consultation.