For you to create a strong backlink profile you need to do link management—which starts with backlink analysis.
Backlink analysis is a process of evaluating the quality and quantity of links that point to a website from other sites.
It helps you to determine how these links impact the search engine rankings of the website and what can be done to improve the backlink profile.
But how do you do this? In this article, we’ll take you through:
- What are backlink analysis tools?
- Which tool gives backlinks data?
- How to use the Backlink Checker Tool?
- How to find backlinks for a website?
Let’s get started with the first question.
Why should you conduct a backlink analysis?
No one wants to shoot in the dark.
But when you have a website, build (or not) links, and do not conduct a backlink analysis, you’re shooting in the dark, and that has detrimental effects on your SEO campaign and digital presence for your business.
When you conduct a backlink analysis, you get a chance to see the kind of links your site has which gives you the overall health score of your site and tells you the site’s ability to rank well in search engine results.
For example, when you identify negative, spammy, or bad links on your site, you have a chance of removing them and instead build links that can help your SEO.
Additionally, when you do a backlink analysis for your competitors, you also get a chance to outsmart them in the SERPs for your target keywords.
…and this means more business opportunities for you.
But how do you do a backlink analysis? You need powerful SEO tools that can help you automate the process and do so within a short time.
That’s what we’ll talk about in the next section.
What are backlink analysis tools?
There are tons of SEO tools available for backlink analysis. But in this section, we’ll pick the best tools that you can select from when conducting backlink analysis.
These tools can help you analyze your website’s backlink profile, identify areas for improvement, and track your progress over time.
They can also help you keep an eye on your competitors’ backlink strategies and identify new link building opportunities.
Let’s take a look.
#1. Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free backlink checker tool for backlink analysis.
While not as extensive as dedicated backlink tools, Google Search Console provides some insights into the backlinks Google has discovered for your site.
It allows you to see:
- Top metrics, like your total links, and
- Referring domains.
#2. Ahrefs
This is a good tool for backlink analysis because of its extensive backlink index.
Ahrefs offers comprehensive backlink analysis, including metrics like:
- Referring domains
- Anchor text
- Domain rating
- and It also provides insights into competitors' backlink profiles.
It also allows you to export the data for further analysis quickly.
#3. SEMrush
SEMrush offers backlink analytics. It allows you to analyze your own and competitors' backlink profiles. It provides data on referring domains, anchor text, and more.
On top of that, it allows you to compare your backlink report to three competitors at a time and use the graphs for a visual understanding of the data.
#4. Moz
Moz is a backlink tool with a domain authority score and a spam score.
It helps you understand link quality and potential opportunities for link building.
The "Spam Score" feature provides insights into links that may be damaging your SEO efforts and how to avoid them.
The other feature is the "Discovered and Lost" dashboard which shows you the linking domains you've gained and lost within a specific period.
Which tool gives backlinks data?
Certainly, the tools we’ve discussed above offer varying features, data accuracy, and pricing plans.
What they do is to help marketers, SEO professionals, and website owners like yourself to:
- Understand your backlink profile
- Evaluate competitors
- Identify link building opportunities, and
- Monitor changes in your backlink profile.
Choosing the right tool depends on your specific needs, budget, and the depth of analysis required.
How to use the Backlink Checker Tool?
Using a backlink checker tool is a straightforward process.
Let’s dive into a step-by-step guide to backlink analysis using the backlink checker tool:
Step #1: Get on this page (https://smallseotools.com/backlink-checker/).
Step #2: In the space provided, enter your URL. This can be the main domain pointing to the site's homepage or the URL of a particular page like a product page or blog post URL.
You can choose whether the tool should show external links pointing to all pages on the domain or to that single page owning the URL you entered e.g. the one we’ve entered below.
Step #3: Click on the “Check Backlink” button. Once you've completed the steps above, the tool will show you the results immediately.
With this tool, you'll be able to:
- Discover and track backlinks where they are coming from
- Perform a backlink analysis and audit for any site
- Research your best-performing content
- See which keywords or pages are bringing you the most links
- Find your competitors’ most valuable backlinks and examine their backlink profiles to spot patterns and possible link building opportunities.
Additionally, this tool is integrated with Ahrefs and provides the following information:
- URL of the particular web page that is linking back to your website.
- The exact anchor text used in the link back.
- Ahref Domain Rating of the domain linking back to your site.
- Link Type (that is, whether it is Nofollow or Follow).
- Ahrefs URL Rating of the website that is linking back.
Finally, the backlink checker allows you to:
- Ahref rank of your site
- Ahrefs DR score of your site (Domain Rating)
- The total number of backlinks to your site
- The total number of referring domains to your site
- Organic keywords
- Organic traffic
- The number of Dofollow links on your site
- The number of Nofollow links on your site
- The total number of referring IP’s
Next.
How to find backlinks for a website?
Finding backlinks is a fundamental aspect of website backlink analysis. Here is a step-by-step guide to finding backlinks to analyze.
Step 1. Choose the sites you want to analyze
Selecting the sites you want to analyze is an important initial step in conducting a backlink analysis. Here's a breakdown of how to approach this selection process:
- Conduct a thorough analysis of your backlink profile.
- Choose direct and indirect competitors within your industry or niche. Focus on businesses or websites that offer similar products, services, or content to yours.
- Look for authoritative sites or industry leaders. These could be influential blogs, publications, or organizations that set trends or provide valuable information within your niche.
- Identify sites that consistently rank well for keywords relevant to your business.
Step 2. Choose a Backlink Analysis Tool
Select a reliable backlink analysis tool like Ahrefs, Moz, SEMrush, or Majestic SEO. These tools provide extensive data on backlinks and are user-friendly for analysis.
Step 3: Analyze Your Own Backlink Profile
- Enter your domain into the chosen tool's search bar.
- Review metrics like total backlinks, referring domains, anchor text distribution, domain authority, and spam score.
- Identify high-quality and low-quality backlinks.
- Check for broken or lost backlinks that need fixing or replacing.
Step 4: Analyze Competitors' Backlink Profiles
- Enter competitor domains into the tool to view their backlink profiles.
- Look for their most linked-to content and the types of websites linking to them.
- Assess the quality of their backlinks and identify potential opportunities.
- Compare your backlink profile with competitors to find gaps or strengths.
Step 5: Understand Link Quality and Diversity
Assess the quality and diversity of backlinks:
- Evaluate the authority of linking domains (domain authority, Trust Flow, etc.).
- Check the relevance of linking domains to your niche.
- Analyze the diversity of sources linking to your site and competitors.
Step 6: Anchor Text Analysis
- Look for patterns in anchor text usage.
- Ensure a diverse mix of anchor text (branded, exact match, partial match, generic).
- Avoid over-optimized anchor text, as it can appear unnatural to search engines.
Step 7: Identify New Link Building Opportunities
Based on the analysis, find potential areas for link building:
- Find sites linking to your competitors but not to your site. Consider reaching out to them for link opportunities.
- Identify high-authority sites relevant to your niche that might be open to collaboration or guest posts.
Step 8: Monitor Changes Over Time
- Set up alerts or notifications to track new backlinks, lost backlinks, or changes in competitor strategies.
- Keep the analysis updated to adapt your link-building strategies accordingly.
Step 9: Refine Your SEO and Link Building Strategy
Use the insights gained from the analysis to refine your SEO and link-building strategies:
- Create valuable content that naturally attracts backlinks.
- Focus on building relationships with relevant and authoritative sites.
- Continuously optimize your strategy based on the data and results.
Final Thoughts
Following the steps above, and everything else we’ve discussed in this article gives you a leg up in the competition and also understanding your site’s SEO score.
You can choose to use any of the tools we’ve discussed here and leverage their power to undertake a comprehensive link profile assessment.
That’s a wrap.
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