What is a link audit?
A link audit is the process of analyzing and reviewing all links that point to your website. The positive and negative effects of these links on your website are evaluated - because not every backlink has to be a good, high-quality link and beneficial for you as a company.
How is a link audit related to SEO & Google ranking?
Backlinks are the recommendations of the Internet.
If a domain points to your website, this is a backlink for your site. However, caution is also advised - because not every backlink is a good backlink!
SEO (Search Engine Optimized) is based on 4 pillars and all have their place in online marketing: The right technology, optimized content, a focus on customers and strengthening the backlink profile. Backlink Building is a mostly underestimated SEO measure in the off-page area. However, companies should pay particular attention to this, because if handled correctly, link building can be an excellent lever for your website in the Google ranking. Therefore, this should definitely find a place in your company's marketing strategy mix.
Why is a link audit useful?
First of all, link building is about strengthening your own website and optimizing your website performance in order to ultimately outperform your competitors with whom you are fighting for the same keyword in the Google ranking. Each key figure of the link audit has its justification and becomes meaningful in connection with the competition.
With so-called link audit tools, you can quickly and easily get an overview of your own link profile. Depending on which tools are used, the names of the metrics or the focus may change. In the following section, you will learn about the most important metrics:
- Domain Rating
- Trust
- Power
Why should a link audit be carried out regularly?
You can generate backlinks by registering in company directories or providing content to other websites in exchange for links. But be careful which links you generate - not all links are the same.
In addition, there is also natural link building to watch out for and, in the worst case, your domain can also fall victim to Blackhat SEO and this needs to be checked. The link audit looks at each link in your backlink profile individually, evaluates it based on several factors and also checks for possible risks of a (penalty) with regard to the Google Penguin update.
For an SEO agency, tracking the backlink profiles of clients is a continuous and standardized task. The Google Search Console notifies the domain owner when links clearly violate the guidelines. Since 2021, it has been possible to exclude bad links via the Disavow tool in the Google Search Console.
Use an SEO tool to give yourself an advantage.
You can also carry out a link audit for your competitors and analyze their backlinks. In the best case scenario, you will discover ideal opportunities to strengthen your own backlink profile.
Which link audit tools can I use?
I can highly recommend these tools for your link audits:
- ahrefs
- Majestic
- LRT
- SEMRUSH
- XOVI
- Google Search Console
Conclusion
Even though it can generally be said that backlinks have a positive effect on your Domain Authority and subsequently have an influence on the Google ranking, this should always be treated with caution. If you only focus on more visibility and more traffic on your website, it is easy to overlook bad backlinks or risk a penalty from the Google Penguin update with some links. In your marketing mix, in addition to focusing on technology, content and usability as SEO measures, building backlinks should always be combined with enough time to slowly but steadily strengthen your backlink profile with high-quality, good links.
This means that you can always keep an eye on your backlink profile by regularly analyzing it with the help of the link audit and your website will become stronger and stronger thanks to the link juice.
