- A backlink audit is a periodic review of the links pointing to your site, to see what helps and what is missing.
- Sort your links by relevance, the linking page’s real traffic, and anchor text to find the ones that count.
- The biggest wins are usually lost links worth reclaiming and competitor links worth replicating.
- Run one each quarter, or before and after a campaign.
You cannot improve what you have not measured. With about 66% of pages carrying no referring domains at all (Ahrefs), knowing exactly where your links come from is the first step to building more of the right ones. A backlink audit gives you that picture. For the standard each link should meet, see what makes a high-quality backlink.
What a backlink audit is
A backlink audit is a structured review of every domain linking to your site. The goal is not a vanity count. It is to understand which links are relevant and trusted, which have been lost, and where the next opportunities are.
The five steps
1. Export every referring domain from a backlink tool. 2. Sort by relevance to your niche. 3. Check the linking page’s organic traffic, since traffic signals trust. 4. Review your anchor text mix for natural variety. 5. Flag links that have been lost or broken so you can win them back. The ultimate link building guide shows how this feeds an ongoing campaign.
Tools you can use
Google Search Console shows a free sample of your links and is the source straight from Google. A dedicated tool such as Ahrefs or a similar index gives deeper data on referring domains, traffic, and anchors. Either way, focus on relevance and real traffic rather than raw totals.
What to do with what you find
Turn the audit into action: reclaim lost links by reaching out to sites that dropped them, replicate the best links your competitors have earned, and brief new outreach around the gaps. If you would rather have a team run the audit and act on it, that is exactly what our link building service does.
Send us your site and we will reply with a free audit of your backlink profile and the first opportunities we would go after.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I run a backlink audit?
Quarterly works for most sites, plus a check before and after any major campaign so you can measure the impact.
Do I need to disavow links I find?
For most sites, no. Google is good at ignoring low-value links on its own, so disavowing is reserved for specific cases rather than routine cleanup.
What is the single most useful column to sort by?
The linking page’s organic traffic. A page that already earns search visits is one search engines trust, and that trust carries through its links.
