Why You Need to do a Backlink Audit

You know that quality backlinks are a key component of any successful SEO strategy, helping you to get on the right side of Google and ensure your website rises in the ranks of SERPs.

However, do you know the effect that bad linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. can have on your search engine presence and your overall visibility online?

If not, then you need to keep reading.

Although cheap backlinks can increase traffic in the short term, they are ultimately bad for your brand, reducing trust and even resulting in Google penalties if they find a pattern of poor backlinks from your site.

Fortunately, if you are concerned that your site may have a few bad links, you can easily identify and remove them with the help of a backlink audit.

Not exactly sure what this is or how to carry one out?

Don’t worry, we’ve got your covered.

What is a backlink audit?

To put it simply, a link audit is an evaluation of all the links that point to your website. Allowing you to identify both the good and the bad, you will then be able to put a strategy in place to deal with any poor links that are affecting your overall SEO efforts.

Depending on the size of your website, your SEO link audit can be carried out using Google Webmaster Tools that allow you to manually review your links or you may wish to use a more automated link audit tool such as ahrefs backlink audit.

Why is a backlink audit so important for SEO?

As briefly mentioned above, a few bad links are not catastrophic for your business, although they definitely won’t do it any favors either. However, if you are unaware of how many poor backlinks you have or the negative impact that they are having on your brand, then it is definitely time for you to carry out a backlink profile audit.

Poor backlinks can lead to:

• A Google penalty
• Reduced trust in your brand
• Lower rankings
• Diminished domain authority
• Less organic trafficOrganic search traffic (sometimes called natural or unpaid search) is the traffic that's driven to a website because of unpaid placement on a search engine results page.

Furthermore, a backlink audit SEO can help you to not only identify poor links but also help you to recognize the ones that are working well for you. This gives you a unique opportunity to discover where you can gain even more high-value links.

Plus, you can even check out your competitors’ links and maybe even nab a few for yourself!

Can I carry out a backlink audit myself?

Yes, you can! Although, you may want to enlist the support of SEO experts to help you gain more high-quality backlinks once you have completed your audit so that you can see where you are going wrong.

Step 1: Find your backlinks

Using the Google Search Console, you can find all the links that are currently driving traffic to your site, both good and bad. Simply log in, click on “search traffic” and then “links to your site”.

Here you will be able to see how many backlinks you have, plus, which sites give you the most backlinks.

Step 2: Evaluate your backlinks

A key step when it comes to backlink audit and removal is that you need to analyze each individual link. You can either do this manually, if you have the time and inclination to do so, or you can choose to use a link analysis tool. You can find many of these online, some of which are free and others which offer a free trial for a limited period.

Step 3: Check for penalties

If you have a number of poor backlinks, Google may have issued one or more of your links with a link penalty. There are two types of penalties: manual and algorithmic. Both of these penalties can result in you dropping in the ranks of Google which will dramatically reduce the traffic being driven to your site.

Manual penalties result in you receiving a message from Google Webmasters, whereas algorithmic penalties need to be sought out. If one of your pages sees a vast drop in traffic, the most likely cause is an algorithmic penalty, so you will want to check for poor links.

Step 4: Create an action plan

Now that you have carried out your toxic backlink audit, now is the time to start strategizing about how you are going to build a successful link building campaign.

Firstly, you will want to remove any broken or dead links so that you can recover from Google penalties. Once this is complete, now comes the exciting part.

Obtaining quality backlinks!

Do you need help carrying out an SEO link audit? Or are you ready to start building a successful link buildingLink building is a process of acquiring links pointing to your website. These links are obtained by creating content, participating in social media or commenting on other blogs. campaign?

Get in touch today and start rising in the ranks of Google as early as tomorrow!