Link Building

Backlink Quality Check: How to Evaluate Links for Best SEO Results

Posted on by Anni V

While backlinks are important in SEO, different backlinks affect performance differently. Website’s rankings can be boosted by high-quality backlinks, but low-quality and spammy backlinks can hurt the SEO efforts and even bring penalties.

These issues are the reason for conducting a backlink quality check. By analyzing the backlink profile, you can figure out which backlinks are helping you gain valuable SEO, and which ones are not. You can refer to our Step-By-Step Guide to Buying Links: Improve Your SEO Safely & Responsibly.

This guide will detail the process to evaluate backlink quality with the suggested tools and watch out for the red flags. Whether you are new to SEO or a professional, this article will help you craft a powerful backlink profile that won’t drag your website into the depths of despair.

A backlink quality check is the process of analyzing the backlinks pointing to your website to determine their value and potential impact on your SEO. This includes evaluating domain authority, its relevance, and decide its trustworthiness.

You need to focus more on backlink quality due to the following reasons:

  • Improves Rankings: Your site is considered authoritative and trustful due to the high-quality backlinks from other websites. This improves the rankings on your SEO.
  • Boosts Traffic: Credible backlinks originating from reputable sites will divert a lot of referral traffic to your site.
  • Stays Clear of Penalties: Low-grade or spammy backlinks will Google penalties which will hurt your rankings.
  • Improves Brand Reputation: Helping your brand’s reputation are backlinks from authority sources. Resepected sources will help enhance your brand’s reputation.

We will now turn our attention to the ways with which you can assess the quality of a backlink and make certain your SEO is in tip top shape.

1. Look at the Domain Authority (DA) Score

Domain Authority (DA) is a measure created by Moz and estimates the possibility of a website ranking in the search engines. The DA of a site directly impacts the usefulness of the backlink.

  • Pro Tip: Employ Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush to check the DA of the linking domains for efficiency and maximum output.
  • Los Angeles DA Example: If a site has a DA of 80 and is offering backlinks while another verifies a DA of 20, you are much better off relying on the higher.

2. Evaluate the Topic of the Domain

Website niche pages backlinking to other webpages in their industry besides the obvious will hold more weight.

  • Pro Tip: If you want to make sure your website gets the traffic it so rightly deserved, check the linking sites page to determine the type of content on the linking page.
  • Fitness Blog Example: A Health and Wellness website is far more convincing resource for Fitness bloggers compared to a Tech website.

Furthermore, engagement statistics such as bounce rate and time spent on a site reflect the behavior of users on that website.

  • Tip: Tools such as SimilarWeb or Alexa can be used for traffic and engagement reports.
  • Example: A backlink from a site that gets 100,000 visitors every month is more useful than 1,000 visitors.

The position of a link on a page is crucial. Links located in the main content of the page (editorial links) are more valuable than those located on footers, sidebars, or author biographies.

  • Tip: Make sure the link is placed within the right context and is surrounded by relevant text.
  • Example: A blog post that contains the link will always have more impact than a blog post that doesn’t.

5. Check for Nofollow Tags

Nofollow links have a tag, rel="nofollow", which means the website does not send its authority to the linkpage. Those links do not change ranking position but still can bring some traffic.

  • Tip: Nofollow links can be detected with Screaming Frog and Ahrefs tools.
  • Example: A highly authoritative page that links to you is worth it for referral traffic even with the nofollow tag.

Spammy or toxic links can damage your SEO.

These correspond to backlinks from low authority websites, link farms, or other malicious websites.

  • Note: Use Google Search Console, or Ahrefs to find and mend harmful backlinks.
  • Example: Disavowing a backlink from a site with an 80+ spam score might be useful.

7. Assess Target Anchor Texts

Here, anchor text refers to the text in a hyperlink that is clickable. It must be pertinent to the content and target keyword phrases for which you are writing.

  • Note: Do not set anchor texts that are extremely optimized (e.g., exact-match keywords) because it can lead to Google penalties.
  • Example: Have a mixture of branded, generic, and keyword anchors for an ideal backlink profile.

A diverse backlink profile (e.g., links from blogs, news sites, and directories) will look more natural to the search engine and boost your SEO.

  • Note: Ensure that your backlinks come from distinct and numerous sources and domains.
  • Example: For a well-rounded profile use links from blogs, forums, social media, and press releases.

A sudden rise in backlinks can be considered suspicious by search engines. A gradual increase in the number of links created is favorable.

  • Note: Keep track of your backlink growth over time using Ahrefs or SEMrush.
  • Example: In the event of a shocking rise in backlinks, analyze them for their relevance and credibility.

Keep in mind, SEO is never really done. Performing backlink profile audits allow you to fix problems before they mess up your rankings.

  • Tip: Make it a goal to audit your backlinks at minimum once every 3 months.
  • Example: To conduct an extensive backlink audit, Google Search Console and Ahrefs or SEMrush are good options to use.

These are some suggestions for tools that help in the assessment of backlink quality:

  1. Ahrefs: Check the spam score, domain authority, and analyze backlinks.
  2. Moz: Analyze the Domain Authority and check other link parameters.
  3. SEMrush: Conduct backlink checks and also track the growth of backlinks.
  4. Google Search Console: Look for toxic links and analyze backlinks.
  5. Screaming Frog: Crawl your website and analyze backlinks.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

A decent DA stands at 40+. For the most effect, fetch links from referring domains of DA 50+.

While nofollow links do not directly affect ranking positions, they can add traffic and variety to your promotions.

You can ignore harmful hyperlinks by submitting them for deletion through Google’s Disavow Tool.

You need to perform a backlink audit at least once every three months so that you know your profile is in good standing.

Disclaimer

This article is purely for educational reasons. Judging the quality of backlinks comes with risks and can differ due to constituents. Always reach out to a professional SEO expert when making moves.

Conclusion

Backlink quality evaluation is of utmost importance while formulating strategies for SEO. You can establish an effective SEO strategy by identifying high-quality backlinks that improve your rankings and low-quality backlinks that threaten your SEO by following the steps and employing the tools provided in this document.

Conclusively, do remember that a healthy backlink profile takes time to build. Prioritize quality, diversity, and relevance to produce impactful SEO outcomes. Begin your backlink quality assessment today and elevate your website!

With these approaches, you should now have a clear understanding of how to tackle backlink quality evaluation. For comments or extra help, don’t hesitate to contact an SEO specialist. Good luck optimizing!

Anni V

I’m a passionate marketer, writer, and blogger who specializes in making ideas effective and actionable. As the founder of Guestpost Software (GPS), I developed a sophisticated platform that automates content marketing and guest posting processes, enabling various businesses to improve their SEO ratings and develop meaningful relationships through quality content. My area of expertise is in digital marketing, link building, and brand storytelling. At GPS, my major goal is to develop revolutionary products that help businesses expand their internet visibility and achieve their primary objectives. Outside the field of marketing, I like to relish in victory, no matter how big or small, because every wins are meant for cheers, and a bit of cake!

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