Backlink Audit Service

Uncover everything that's good and bad about your links with a linkbuilding audit

Link building still is, and always will be one of the most important aspects of an SEO campaign, especially in competitive niches and practically all industries within eCommerce.

Links drive trust, authority, and most of all rankings!

So at least once a year it’s a good idea to make sure that your backlink profile is in good shape, because it can be the difference between profit and loss, and is often the main reason you aren't seeing the results you desire in the SERPs.

What's the SEO benefit of having a link audit?

The benefit of having one of my link audits is that it removes the guesswork of understanding your backlink profile and how Google might be reacting to it.

If your site has seen a sudden drop in rankings and traffic (often overnight) then it's highly likely that a large algorithm update has just rolled out and you've been affected because of your backlink profile, or lack of a backlink profile.

If you've previously had some linkbuilding done for your site then there's a possibility that one of Google's algorithms has demoted you because of the quality of the links, or because your competitors have built more or better links. Only a thorough link audit will uncover any damage that may have occurred.

Here are some of the brands I've worked with

Have I been penalised because I have toxic backlinks?

It's a common misconception that Google simply overlooks bad or toxic backlinks, and I'm here to tell you that this isn't strictly true.

Whilst there is some truth that Google's algorithms might ignore a percentage of links, it cannot catch all of them due to the scale at which bad links can be built and the underhand tactics spammers deploy.

It's an uphill battle for search engines due to the importance of links when it comes to ranking in the SERPs, so it's critical that your site hasn't got damaging links pointing to it that are likely causing your rankings to drop.

This is on top of the fact that Google is handing out more and more manual penalties in recent times for bad back link profiles.

Here's what you can expect from a Digital Cornerstone backlink clean-up:

• Your entire link profile will be analysed by the most extensive link software on the market – Ahrefs WILL NOT cut it for this task
• All toxic links added to a disavow file in your Search Console
• The file will be watched to make sure it's been crawled by Google
• Next, even if Google has visited the file I will force Google to come back again to make sure all aspects of the file have been covered
• The nuclear option. If, after the disavow file has been crawled and your rankings aren't recovering after a couple of months, there is an incredibly aggressive tactic that can be released on the offending links/file to annihilate them on a granular level

Please note that the “nuclear option” is an extreme approach that will only be used if all rankings don't come back, which is rare.

What will I get back from a backlink audit?

There's a wide range of benefits to having a link audit, but the main takeaway is the roadmap that you'll receive that will detail everything that's good and bad about your backlink profile, and most importantly, where you are falling short and how to address it.

You'll essentially be buying a blueprint to skyrocket your rankings.

Who is the backlink audit for?

A backlink audit is suitable for any website, whether they're established sites that have thousands of links or brand new sites that have none and need to know what it's going to take to compete within their industry.

Essentially, a link audit is for the following:

• Old sites that have been around a while and will have collected “parasite links” throughout the years
• Sites that have seen a drop off in rankings either over time or suddenly – potentially due to a Google update
• Sites that have actively been building links and need a review of how those links might be affecting your rankings
• Brand new sites that need to know how many links and what types of links must be built in order to compete

This type of audit is for any site in any industry.

One of my backlink audits will contain the following

My backlink audits are detailed and comprehensive and will contain the following:

• Whether or not your link velocity is correct – i.e. are you building them at a fast enough rate to keep up with your competitors?
• Is your site's anchor text over or under-optimised?
• Summary analysis of your website link profile
• Domain metric overview
• Analysis of follow/no follow links
• Is the distribution of links across the domain good enough – i.e. do you have enough links to a broad spread of inner pages and not just to your home and money pages
• Topical Trust Flow evaluation
• Citation Flow evaluation
• Anchor text analysis
• Spam link analysis
• Link network checks (including tiered links)

Studying your backlink profile

Link building is a major part of digital marketing, and it’s no secret that high-quality links obtained via outreach make an enormous difference to search traffic and search engine rankings.

As an SEO consultant, I specialize in linkbuilding. I’ve been building links to my own sites for as long as I can remember via everything from content marketing to fixing broken links that point to dead pages on a webmaster’s site.

Your backlink profile will tell me if you can compete and what needs to change for you to rank.

How long will a link audit take?

Link audits don't often take too long, but it will depend on my current workload and the size of the site being audited. However, on average link audits take between 1 to 2 weeks.

Is anchor text taken into account and does it matter for SEO?

The use and distribution of anchor text from the referring domains that point to your site is a good indicator of how spammy your previous link building campaigns are, and how search engines might treat your site.

This does however very much depend on your domain authority in general and which niche you operate in.

A good link building strategy will take into account the anchor text of your competitors and what Google might be rewarding.

As a side note, your anchor text distribution should also take into account your internal links, because as great as building high authority links, and new backlinks to your site is, you won’t be getting the most out of your site unless you’re correctly funnelling link juice through to your money pages via internal links.

Although this isn’t something I offer in this backlink audit service, I can and will advise you on best practices because aside from the ranking potential they give you, they also provide a much better user experience, which is in itself a ranking factor.

Will a disavow file be submitted?

If necessary, yes I will disavow links via Google Search Console. But in all honesty, I'm not a massive fan of the disavow file because it's easy to discard good links that could actually be helping your site rank.

I’ll use a disavow tool when I’m completely sure that you have bad backlinks, are the subject of a negative SEO attack (usually in the form of super spammy backlinks from illegal sites), or have somehow build toxic backlinks from a cheap provider on somewhere like Fiverr.

The disavow file should only be used for spammy links that are clearly harmful and will hurt your site's performance, such as links from adult or pharmaceutical sites.

Unless of course, you have a manual action within your Google Search Console, in which case you have no choice but to submit a disavow or the manual action won’t be lifted.