{"id":4431,"date":"2022-11-28T12:01:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T12:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/?p=4431"},"modified":"2022-11-28T12:05:46","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T12:05:46","slug":"a-quick-8-step-backlink-audit-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/a-quick-8-step-backlink-audit-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"A Quick 8 Step Backlink Audit Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you want your SEO efforts to pay off, <em>and we mean really pay off, <\/em>double down on research and analysis.<\/p>\n<p>Many businesses dive headfirst into SEO campaigns without building a strong foundation first.<\/p>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t have a good understanding of where you currently stand, your SEO efforts will fall flat on their face.<\/p>\n<p>Before you launch <em>any<\/em>\u00a0strategy, run an audit to get a complete picture of your current profile.<\/p>\n<p>The same goes for link building.<\/p>\n<p>Before you rush to launch a campaign, run a comprehensive and complete backlink audit to get a good grasp of your backlink profile.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re confused about how to do a backlink audit, stick around.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re breaking everything down in our backlink audit guide.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s begin!<\/p>\n<h1><strong><b>What is a <\/b><\/strong><strong><b>Backlink Audit<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>?<\/b><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4433\" src=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/backlink-audit.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"870\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/backlink-audit.png 870w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/backlink-audit-300x144.png 300w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/backlink-audit-768x368.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A backlink audit is the process of identifying and analyzing the quality of all the links currently pointing to your website.<\/p>\n<p>As a small or mid-sized business, you&#8217;ll have a decent number of backlinks at any given time.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps dozens, hundreds, or even thousands.<\/p>\n<p>An audit will help you get a complete list of <em>all the links <\/em>pointing to your site.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll be able to segment your backlinks into:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Toxic\/harmful backlinks<\/li>\n<li>Spammy backlinks<\/li>\n<li>Unnatural backlinks<\/li>\n<li>Low-quality backlinks<\/li>\n<li>Regular backlinks<\/li>\n<li>High-quality backlinks with high domain authority (DA)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Why is this so important? <\/em><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s simple.<\/p>\n<p>A thorough backlink audit will help you take the right course of action, not just randomized action.<\/p>\n<p>Your link building campaign will be more specific and targeted, not generalized.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll know <em>exactly<\/em>\u00a0which backlinks are harming your business. As a result, you can take action to remove them and avoid getting penalized by Google.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll also know which backlinks are adding value to your business. You can use this information to build strong link-building partnerships.<\/p>\n<p>A clean backlink profile will go a long way in helping you enjoy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/how-to-rank-higher-on-google-in-2020-for-small-businesses-and-startups\/\"><u>great rankings<\/u><\/a>\u00a0and stay in Google&#8217;s good books.<\/p>\n<p>As you rank higher on Google SERPs, the traffic and conversions will come flooding in.<\/p>\n<p><em>Knock knock, who&#8217;s there? <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Consistent, sustainable, long-term business growth.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s understand how we turn this goal into reality!<\/p>\n<h1><a name=\"_Toc120205790\"><\/a><strong><b>How to Do a Backlink Audit<\/b><\/strong><\/h1>\n<h1><a name=\"_Toc120205791\"><\/a><strong><b>Step 1: Find the Right Tool<\/b><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Before you kick things off, find an advanced tool that helps you run a comprehensive audit.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#?modal_active=none\"><u>Google Webmaster Tools<\/u><\/a>\u00a0will give you a complete list of your backlinks.<\/p>\n<p>However, you&#8217;ll have to review them manually.<\/p>\n<p>This can be <em>very<\/em>\u00a0taxing, especially if you have a lot of backlinks.<\/p>\n<p>Opt for an advanced tool that automates the process.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll end up saving a lot of time, energy, resources, and money.<\/p>\n<p>At Search Berg, we use a cutting-edge backlink audit tool to get a complete picture of your backlinks.<\/p>\n<p>Our backlink search and analysis processes are automated.<\/p>\n<p>However, we believe that advanced backlink evaluation requires human attention, intelligence, and expertise.<\/p>\n<p>We automate the process <em>as much as possible<\/em>, and turn to manual evaluation halfway through.<\/p>\n<p>Our experts manually check each backlink&#8217;s value, relevancy, and overall potential.<\/p>\n<p>We remove toxic links, identify link penalties, analyze anchor text, develop link building partnerships, and check a lot of other boxes off the list.<\/p>\n<p>By combining the power of automation with human judgment, we achieve the most powerful results possible.<\/p>\n<h1><a name=\"_Toc120205792\"><\/a><strong><b>Step 2: Do Pre-Audit Competitor Research<\/b><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>You cannot run a backlink audit without benchmarking your performance against your top competitors.<\/p>\n<p>Every industry has very unique SEO practices in place.<\/p>\n<p>The more niche your industry, the more nuanced the SEO approach.<\/p>\n<p>Before you run an audit, get a good grasp of where your competitors stand.<\/p>\n<p>This will help you analyze your backlinks through a comparative lens.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s say you run a small tech support business.<\/p>\n<p>As you run a backlink audit, you identify 12 high-DA backlinks.<\/p>\n<p><em>Pretty impressive, right?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>You may think you&#8217;re on the right track and ease up on your link-building efforts for a bit.<\/p>\n<p>Pre-audit competitor research will help you <u>be as realistic as possible<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p>If your top two competitors have earned 20 and 35 high-DA backlinks, respectively, you&#8217;ll be able to develop a contextual link-building campaign.<\/p>\n<p>This helps reduce the risk of complacency.<\/p>\n<p>As you get a reality check, you&#8217;ll understand where you stand and what needs to be done.<\/p>\n<p>At Search Berg, we do competitor research for our clients.<\/p>\n<p>Our experts will produce a complete overview of your top competitors&#8217;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Backlinks<\/li>\n<li>Referring domains<\/li>\n<li>Referring IPs<\/li>\n<li>Referring subnets<\/li>\n<li>DA (domain authority) score<\/li>\n<li>PA (page authority) score<\/li>\n<li>Types of backlinks<\/li>\n<li>Backlink history<\/li>\n<li>Ongoing backlink partnerships<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Use this information to understand your own site&#8217;s link profile and head in the right direction accordingly.<\/p>\n<p>Competitor research will help you do the most reasonable evaluation possible.<\/p>\n<h1><a name=\"_Toc120205793\"><\/a><strong><b>Step 3: Identify Your Backlinks<\/b><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>The real work begins.<\/p>\n<p>Now that you have all the pre-audit insight you need, it&#8217;s all systems go!<\/p>\n<p>Identify all the external links that are sending traffic to your site.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re just starting off, you can use Google&#8217;s free <a href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\/about\"><u>Search Console<\/u><\/a>\u00a0tool for this.<\/p>\n<p>However, we strongly recommend working your way up toward a robust paid app.<\/p>\n<p>Search Console is designed to help you work on your site and improve it for your audience.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4273\" src=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Google-Search-Console-GSC.png\" alt=\"Google Search Console (GSC)\" width=\"993\" height=\"372\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Google-Search-Console-GSC.png 993w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Google-Search-Console-GSC-300x112.png 300w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Google-Search-Console-GSC-768x288.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 993px) 100vw, 993px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Start by logging into your dashboard.<\/p>\n<p>Once you&#8217;re done, click on &#8220;Search Traffic&#8221; and &#8220;Links to Your Site&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Google will give you a number of all the external links that are currently pointing to your site.<\/p>\n<p>Make sure you explore valuable categories like &#8220;Who Links the Most&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Work with an expert to ensure that you&#8217;re correctly analyzing all the data provided to you.<\/p>\n<p>While Search Console isn&#8217;t the most comprehensive tool, it does fetch accurate and up-to-date information.<\/p>\n<p>For a more nuanced analysis, switch to a paid app.<\/p>\n<p>However, Search Console is a pretty good starting point for beginners.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended Read: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/backlink-quality-vs-quantity-whats-more-important-in-2021\/\"><u>Backlink Quality vs. Quantity: What&#8217;s More Important?<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><a name=\"_Toc120205794\"><\/a><strong><b>Step 4: Evaluate Your Backlinks<\/b><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Backlink search is important, but backlink evaluation is the meat of the matter.<\/p>\n<p>Excellent evaluation will help you restore a healthy backlink profile and achieve link-building success.<\/p>\n<p>You have three options here:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4434\" src=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Evaluate-Your-Backlinks.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"870\" height=\"775\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Evaluate-Your-Backlinks.png 870w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Evaluate-Your-Backlinks-300x267.png 300w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Evaluate-Your-Backlinks-768x684.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Your best bet is to use a combinative approach.<\/p>\n<p>Start with automatic evaluation.<\/p>\n<p>Follow this up with a complete analysis of each individual link.<\/p>\n<p>At this stage, you should ask the following questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How many unhealthy\/dead backlinks do I have?<\/li>\n<li>What is my link velocity, i.e., how frequently is my site gaining backlinks?<\/li>\n<li>What is my link churn, i.e., how frequently is my site losing backlinks?<\/li>\n<li>How many low-quality backlinks do I have? Should I disavow them?<\/li>\n<li>What is my nofollow to dofollow link ratio?<\/li>\n<li>What is my referring pages to referring domains ratio?<\/li>\n<li>Which high-DA sites are linking to my competitors but not me?<\/li>\n<li>Which platforms have I earned the most backlinks from?<\/li>\n<li>Are any anchor texts spammy?<\/li>\n<li>What is my CTLDs distribution, i.e., which countries do I get most of my backlinks from?<\/li>\n<li>Has my site been hit by a negative SEO attack?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For expert evaluation, consult a team of professionals. They&#8217;ll break your backlink profile down systematically and create a powerful action plan accordingly.<\/p>\n<h1><strong><b>Step 5: Disavow Toxic Backlinks<\/b><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4435\" src=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Disavow-Toxic-Backlinks.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"870\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Disavow-Toxic-Backlinks.png 870w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Disavow-Toxic-Backlinks-300x174.png 300w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Disavow-Toxic-Backlinks-768x445.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once you&#8217;ve evaluated your backlinks, it&#8217;s time to take action.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on the results, you&#8217;ll be required to take specific measures.<\/p>\n<p>Start by disavowing toxic backlinks.<\/p>\n<p>This is a little tricky to do.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s important to note that you don&#8217;t have to manually disavow every toxic backlink.<\/p>\n<p>Google has made it very clear that backlinks should only be disavowed if a) you have way too many spammy, low-quality, or artificial links pointing to your site and b) the links have or will cause a manual action on your site.<\/p>\n<p>If this is not the case, <u>leave things be<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p>Google is pretty smart.<\/p>\n<p>It actively crawls and indexes web pages, so you can rest assured that action will be taken without your intervention.<\/p>\n<p>If your backlink profile satisfies the two conditions discussed above, reach out to the website owner and request link removal.<\/p>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t always easy.<\/p>\n<p>In many cases, the website owner cannot be reached, or the link cannot be found.<\/p>\n<p>Under these circumstances, removal isn&#8217;t an option anymore; you&#8217;ll have to disavow the links.<\/p>\n<p>Send the toxic backlink to the disavow list and export it to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/webmasters\/tools\/disavow-links-main\"><u>Google Disavow<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This advanced feature <u>must be used with care<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p>Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/2648487?hl=en\"><u>Google&#8217;s guidelines<\/u><\/a>\u00a0to successfully complete the process.<\/p>\n<p>You need time, patience, and expertise for this.<\/p>\n<p>The guidelines are hyper-specific and can easily make newbies feel frustrated.<\/p>\n<p>Work with professionals who have done this ample times before.<\/p>\n<p>Google has explicitly stated that misuse of this feature can potentially harm your site&#8217;s performance on Google SERPs.<\/p>\n<p>When used correctly, this tool will help you clean up your backlink profile and enjoy better link building performance.<\/p>\n<h1><a name=\"_Toc120205796\"><\/a><strong><b>Step 6: Check for Penalties<\/b><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>The word &#8220;penalization&#8221; should make every business shudder.<\/p>\n<p>The last thing you want is to get on Google&#8217;s bad side.<\/p>\n<p>If you get penalized, your own rankings will suffer.<\/p>\n<p>Google <strong><u>does not<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0take kindly to defaulters, no matter what the surrounding circumstances may be.<\/p>\n<p>Be careful, and be on your best behavior.<\/p>\n<p>Check for the two most common link penalties:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4436\" src=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/manual-penalties-and-algorithmic-panalties.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"870\" height=\"767\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/manual-penalties-and-algorithmic-panalties.png 870w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/manual-penalties-and-algorithmic-panalties-300x264.png 300w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/manual-penalties-and-algorithmic-panalties-768x677.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Both penalties affect rankings and traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, recovery is possible.<\/p>\n<p>Start by checking for manual penalties.<\/p>\n<p>If you have any, you&#8217;ll receive a message from Google Webmasters.<\/p>\n<p>Automatic penalties are a little more difficult to detect since there&#8217;s no official notification from Google.<\/p>\n<p>However, there will be one clear sign: a significant drop in organic traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Following an algorithmic penalty, your traffic will look something like this:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4437\" src=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/manual-penalties-and-algorithmic-panalties-traffic.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"870\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/manual-penalties-and-algorithmic-panalties-traffic.png 870w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/manual-penalties-and-algorithmic-panalties-traffic-300x138.png 300w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/manual-penalties-and-algorithmic-panalties-traffic-768x354.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Of course, the drop can also be natural.<\/p>\n<p>However, a drop this significant doesn&#8217;t just happen naturally.<\/p>\n<p>If it does, you&#8217;ll <em>know<\/em>\u00a0that you&#8217;ve done something wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps one of your products malfunctioned and resulted in a scandal that led to mass boycotting.<\/p>\n<p>Or maybe your site was temporarily down.<\/p>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t recall something happening, the drop is most likely because of an algorithmic penalty.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s no way to know for sure, so guesswork will have to enter the picture.<\/p>\n<p>Start by checking for bad links.<\/p>\n<p>If you recently paid for backlinks, the culprit is looking you in the eye.<\/p>\n<p>Google has stated time and time again that paid backlinks are a big no.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re guilty of exchanging some cash for link juice, you&#8217;re definitely dealing with an algorithmic penalty.<\/p>\n<p>You don&#8217;t have a choice; get the links removed.<\/p>\n<p>You can also modify them by adding a rel=&#8221; nofollow&#8221; attribute, so they don&#8217;t pass PageRank.<\/p>\n<p>Once you&#8217;ve removed non-compliant links, submit a <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/35843\"><u>reconsideration request<\/u><\/a>\u00a0ASAP.<\/p>\n<p>You won&#8217;t be able to get every paid backlink removed, as discussed earlier in this blog.<\/p>\n<p>If that&#8217;s the case, simply disavow the links.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping track of both manual and algorithmic penalties isn&#8217;t just important; it&#8217;s imperative.<\/p>\n<p>Many businesses don&#8217;t perform backlink audits.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, they never find out about algorithmic penalties.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll potentially lose a ton of traffic and blame it on an incompetent SEO team.<\/p>\n<p>Stop scapegoating and start finding the root cause of these critical SEO issues.<\/p>\n<p>A thorough backlink audit\u00a0should be your starting point.<\/p>\n<h1><a name=\"_Toc120205797\"><\/a><strong><b>Step 7: Find New Link Building Opportunities<\/b><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4438\" src=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Link-Building-Opportunities.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"870\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Link-Building-Opportunities.png 870w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Link-Building-Opportunities-300x138.png 300w, https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Link-Building-Opportunities-768x354.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Backlink audits are excellent because they help you discover new link building opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>The more high-DA backlinks you collect, the better your SERP rankings!<\/p>\n<p>Use the results from your audit wisely.<\/p>\n<p>If your competitors have generated high-DA backlinks from some of the biggest names in your industry, these platforms are <em>clearly<\/em>\u00a0open to referencing SMB content in their work.<\/p>\n<p>Draft some kickass emails and start building link building partnerships!<\/p>\n<p>Your audit will also reveal some interesting insights.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps certain high-DA platforms have stopped linking to you.<\/p>\n<p>This is a great opportunity to reach out to them, ask what went wrong, and briefly explain how your content will add value to their work.<\/p>\n<p>Avoid spamming these platforms.<\/p>\n<p>A well-crafted, professional, succinct email will do the trick!<\/p>\n<h1><a name=\"_Toc120205798\"><\/a><strong><b>Step 8:\u00a0Improve Your Link Structure<\/b><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Once you&#8217;ve gotten rid of toxic backlinks, handled penalizations, and made efforts to develop link building partners, it&#8217;s time to pay close attention to your link structure.<\/p>\n<p>Your backlink audit is pretty much useless if you don&#8217;t rework your link profile.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t skimp on this!<\/p>\n<p>Start by improving your domain authority (DA) and page authority (PA).<\/p>\n<p>The simplest way to do this is by earning more high-quality backlinks.<\/p>\n<p>And that will only happen when your content quality is *chef&#8217;s kiss*.<\/p>\n<p>Stop thinking about link building for a second and switch gears entirely.<\/p>\n<p>SEO success is contingent on <strong><u>consistent quality<\/u><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>No, we don&#8217;t mean churning out a great blog here and there.<\/p>\n<p>We mean producing <em>consistently spectacular content<\/em>\u00a0that satiates the Google algorithm and gives your audience exactly what they&#8217;re looking for.<\/p>\n<p>Your goal is to rank high on Google SERPs, so much so that high-DA brands notice your existence.<\/p>\n<p>Once your rankings improve organically, you&#8217;ll start developing new backlink partnerships.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a quality game.<\/p>\n<p>Play it wisely, and link juice will automatically start pouring into your link-building glasses.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to prioritizing quality, start improving your internal linking strategy.<\/p>\n<p>Users should be able to navigate your website as smoothly as possible.<\/p>\n<p>When they&#8217;re reading a blog, they should be taken to other relevant internal pages contextually.<\/p>\n<p>Link to previous work to improve user experience.<\/p>\n<p>Avoid stuffing links.<\/p>\n<p>When done in moderation, internal linking will improve your link structure without getting you penalized.<\/p>\n<p>We also recommend incorporating high-ranking keywords in the anchor text.<\/p>\n<p>Turn mentions into links, start guest blogging (no paid backlinks, please), publish skyscraper content, become a reputable source for reporters and bloggers, and release diverse types of content.<\/p>\n<p>When combined, these strategies will help you enjoy a powerful link structure, spectacular rankings, high traffic, and ample backlinks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Keep in Mind:<\/strong>\u00a0Link-building strategies vary from business to business.<\/p>\n<p>Work with link building experts to run a successful backlink audit and create an individualized action plan for your business.<\/p>\n<p>Your link-building campaign should be as specific as possible!<\/p>\n<p>Run away from one-size-fits-all plans.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, work on a custom strategy that takes your business from Point A to Point B, Point B to Point C, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>The more systematic, strategic, and targeted your approach, the better.<\/p>\n<p>An expert team will help you get there!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended Read: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/blog\/10-advanced-link-building-tips-and-tricks-to-boost-your-seo\/\"><u>10 Advanced Link Building Tips and Tricks to Boost Your SEO<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><strong><b>Your Backlinks Are Buzzing!<\/b><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Ready to start building high-DA backlinks? Potential backlinks are buzzing with excitement!<\/p>\n<p>In this blog, we helped you understand how to do a backlink audit. Now it&#8217;s time to put this backlink audit guide\u00a0into action.<\/p>\n<p>Our experts are here to help! We&#8217;ll perform a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchberg.com\/backlink-audit\/\"><u>comprehensive backlink audit<\/u><\/a>\u00a0for your business.<\/p>\n<p>Our team checks off <em>all the boxes<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>From removing toxic and spammy backlinks to identifying new link building opportunities to performing competitor research, we handle it all.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s get you out of the notorious link building rut and back on track!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you want your SEO efforts to pay off, and we mean really pay off, double down on research and analysis. Many businesses dive headfirst into SEO campaigns without building a strong foundation first. If you don&#8217;t have a good understanding of where you currently stand, your SEO efforts will fall flat on their face. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-link-building","category-seo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Quick 8 Step Backlink Audit Guide - SearchBerg Marketing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Struggling to figure out how to do a backlink audit? 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