How to Identify Toxic Backlinks for a Website?
Backlink Detox: Master the Art of Identifying and Banishing Toxic Backlinks!
How to Identify Toxic Backlinks for a Website?
Backlink Detox: Master the Art of Identifying and Banishing Toxic Backlinks!
Every website owner wants their site to stand out online and attract the right visitors. But lurking beneath the surface are hidden dangers that can hurt your website’s reputation and search engine ranking. These dangers come in the form of “bad backlinks,” also known as toxic backlinks.
This comprehensive guide walks you through the essential steps of a backlink audit. You’ll learn why backlinks matter, how to do a backlink audit using different tools, and how to identify toxic backlinks and remove it. With this knowledge, you can protect and enhance your website’s credibility and performance.
Table of Contents
The Importance of Backlinks
Backlinks are essentially votes of confidence from other websites pointing to yours. High-quality backlinks tell search engines like Google that your website is trustworthy and relevant, boosting your ranking and visibility.
However, not all links are created equal. Like counterfeit currency, toxic backlinks can harm your website’s reputation and ranking. These often come from spammy websites, have irrelevant or manipulative anchor text (clickable text), or lead to broken pages. Google views these as red flags, potentially downgrading your website’s ranking and visibility.
Identifying Toxic Backlinks through Backlink Audit
Think of a backlink audit as a security check for your website. It looks at all the links coming to your site, finding any possible problems and places where you can make things better. With this info, you can take the necessary action to keep your website safe and make sure it stays high in search results, bringing in visitors.
Backlink Audit Tools
Several tools can help you audit your backlinks, each with its strengths. Here are some popular options:
Semrush: Powerful and versatile, offering more than just audits.
Ahrefs: Known for detailed data and user-friendly interface.
Moz Link Explorer: Free limited version, great for beginners.
Majestic: Focuses on discovering new links and historical data.
Select the tool that fits your budget, what you need, and how skilled you are with technology. Some tools let you try them out for free, so take your time to look around and find the best one for you!
In this blog, we will tell you how to run a backlink audit and identify toxic backlinks with the help of Ahrefs and Semrush. Tools like Ahrefs and Semrush can help you recognize potential threats and successfully eliminate them. Both platforms offer comprehensive backlink audits, but the process differs slightly.
Finding Spammy Backlinks Using Ahrefs
Step 1: Access Ahrefs:
Visit the Ahrefs website in your browser by typing www.ahrefs.com in the search bar.
Step 2: Choose an Ahrefs Plan:
Ahrefs offers various plans with different features and limits. For checking backlinks, the Lite plan should be sufficient. To use the Backlink Checker, you’ll need to create an account and subscribe to a plan. This will help you have full access to your website’s backlinks profile.
Step 3: Enter the Target URL:
Once you have made an account on Ahrefs and subscribed to a plan, the next step is to study your website’s backlink profile. In the search bar at the top, paste the URL of the website you want to check for spammy backlinks. Ensure you only analyze your website or one for which you have permission.
Once you have entered the URL of your website in the search box and hit search, you will get the view below.
Step 4: Access Backlink Data:
Click the backlinks number shown in the overview profile, and it will open the detailed backlink profile of your website.
Step 5: Access Backlink Data:
Click the backlinks number shown in the overview profile, and it will open the detailed backlink profile of your website.
Step 6: Identify Spammy Backlinks and Analyze:
Next, you will click on the DR to arrange them in ascending order. This will show you the websites with the lowest DR. These websites may be spammy or unrelated to your website’s niche, which is not good for your website and contributes to toxicity.
You will have to assess your backlinks based on the following factors:
Domain Rating (DR): Lower DR indicates lower quality sites potentially contributing to toxicity.
Anchor Text: Unnatural keyword stuffing or irrelevant phrases are red flags.
Backlink Status: Broken links create a poor user experience and might be harmful.
Website Content: Review the linking website’s content for spammy or low-quality characteristics.
Step 7: Take Action (Cautiously):
You must take relevant action once you have successfully filtered out and identified the spammy and toxic backlinks. If the links you have found are irrelevant to your website’s niche or are spammy, then you will have to proceed to disavow the link.
It is suggested that you do not hurry to disavow backlinks based solely on Ahrefs’ ratings. Research each suspicious link individually and make an informed decision when disavowing toxic links, as this can potentially harm your website, leading your website’s Google ranking to plummet in seconds.
Contact Removal: If a link seems harmful, politely contact the linking website owner requesting link removal. Explain the issue and potential harm to their site.
Disavow with Google Search Console: If contacting fails, consider disavowing the link using Google Search Console as a last resort. Use this cautiously, as disavowing a legitimate link can harm your SEO. Further in the blog, you will learn how to disavow links with the help of Google Search Console.
Finding Toxic Backlinks Using Semrush
If you have chosen Semrush as a tool to assess your website’s backlink profile, then here’s a step-by-step guide on how to find toxic backlinks using Semrush’s Backlink Audit tool:
Step 1: Sign Up and Choose a Plan:
Visit Semrush website: www.semrush.com
Create an account and choose a plan that includes the Backlink Audit tool. Free trial options are available for testing. To run a backlink audit, you will need to subscribe to a pro plan.
Once you have created an account and subscribed to a plan, your window should look like this.
Step 2: Enter your Website’s URL in the Search Box:
Next, you will enter your website’s URL in the search box and obtain a domain overview of your website.
Step 3: Start the Backlink Audit:
Click the “Backlinks” menu, then select “Backlink Audit.”
Enter your website’s domain name in the “Target Domain” field.
Select the desired audit scope (entire website, specific subdomain, etc.).
Click “Start Backlink Audit”. The backlink audit would take some time to complete.
Step 4: Review the Overview Report:
Once the audit finishes, check the overview report.
Note: You can also connect your Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or Majestic accounts for additional data, which is completely optional.
Step 5: Dive into the “Audit” Report:
Navigate to the “Audit” report section.
Focus on backlinks flagged for review, indicated by a red exclamation mark. Pay attention to the “Toxicity Score” assigned to each link. Higher scores warrant closer scrutiny.
Step 6: Evaluate Each Backlink:
Analyze each flagged backlink based on various factors:
Toxicity Score (TS): Higher scores indicate higher potential harm (scale 0-100).
Toxic Markers: See specific indicators used to calculate the TS (“Dangerous” or “Potentially dangerous”).
Anchor Text: Look for unnatural keyword stuffing or irrelevant phrases.
Referring Domain Authority Score (AS): Lower AS might suggest a less reputable source.
Backlink Status: Broken links can harm user experience.
Step 7: Make a Decision
After evaluating and analyzing each backlink, use your judgment and the provided information to categorize each. Make two categories “Whitelist” for valuable or harmless backlinks you wish to keep and “Remove List” for identified toxic backlinks requiring removal.
Step 8: Remove (If Necessary)
The next step is removing the backlinks necessary to maintain your website’s credibility and performance. Semrush offers a Disavow tool, which comes at an additional cost, to submit identified toxic links to Google for potential exclusion.
Alternatively, consider contacting the linking website owner directly requesting link removal, or you can disavow the links you wish to be removed through Google Search Console.
Verification Before Disavowal
Remember: It’s important to be cautious when disavowing backlinks because it can harm your website if done incorrectly. Don’t just trust automated tools blindly. Take the time to check each flagged link manually, and make sure to document why you’re disavowing it before you proceed.
Disavowing Toxic Backlinks:
Once you find bad backlinks, it’s time to do something about them. Here’s how you can deal with toxic backlinks:
Contact the Linking Website: Politely request link removal, explaining the issue and its potential harm to their site. This approach can be effective and collaborative.
Disavow with Google Search Console: If contacting the owner fails, use Google Search Console to disavow the links. This tells Google to ignore its influence on your ranking. Use this option cautiously, as disavowing legitimate links can damage your website.
Visit https://search.google.com/search-console/disavow-links to submit the toxic backlinks you have identified and wish to disavow.
Proactive Measures
It’s important to avoid future problems by creating good backlinks from trustworthy websites related to yours. Monitor your online reputation and stay updated on SEO best practices to maintain a healthy backlink profile.
Conclusion
Backlink audits are like security checks for your website, helping keep it safe and improve its ranking on search engines. By learning the basics, using the right tools, and taking action, you can make sure your website does well online. Just remember, SEO is something you need to keep doing over time. But if you stay alert and take the right steps, your website can attract the right people and do great online.
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