It’s no secret that backlinks are the backbone of any SEO campaign. For a website to be seen as a source of authority – and for it to shoot up those search engine rankings – it needs to acquire links on other sites that point back to its featured content. However, a spontaneous strategy of gaining backlinks isn’t enough; you need to know both the quantity and quality of these links.
That’s where an SEO backlink profile plays an integral role.
What Is a Backlink Profile?
What is a backlink profile, exactly? What does your backlink profile measure? These are questions we regularly see from those getting to grips with SEO backlink profiles. So, let’s clear things up.
Your backlink profile is made up of the inbound links that directly point to your website. However, this collection isn’t simply about knowing the number of backlinks you possess. In terms of what does your backlink profile measure overall, it also covers characteristics like:
- Domain quality
- Relevance
- Anchor text
- Types of links
Understandably, a strong SEO backlink profile is one that consists of high-quality links. For example, a single backlink from an authoritative outlet like BBC will be worth a lot more than hundreds of links from low-ranking sites.
Yet, as the backlink profile meaning above dictates, it’s not about a single link. It’s about a collection of links. That’s why the aim is to gather as many backlinks as possible from the best websites.
How Do You Check Backlink Profile?
Before you go out there and expand your backlink profile, it’s important to perform a backlink profile audit. To carry out this backlink profile audit, you will first need to utilise an appropriate SEO tool.
There’s a wide assortment of backlink profile analysis tools available to use, including SEMRush and Ahrefs. These provide you with the in-depth details required to understand your backlinks.
To check backlink profile correctly, these are the main points to cover:
Total Backlinks
When performing a backlink profile analysis, the first aspect you will inspect is the total number of backlinks you have acquired. Generally, the more backlinks you have, the better your site will perform from a search engine ranking perspective.
Still, it’s not simply a numbers game. Even if you have built up more backlinks than a competitor, this doesn’t necessarily mean you will outrank their website for relevant keywords – backlink quality matters, and that quality tends to come from websites that have high authority.
Domain Authority
Speaking of quality and authoritative linking websites, this is where domain authority comes into the equation. Also known as ‘Domain Rating’, the Domain Authority is a metric used to estimate the overall reputation that a website possesses.
Grab a few backlinks from websites with a high Domain Authority score, and your site will rocket up the search result pages. If you manage the opposite, however, and pick up links from sites possessing rock bottom DA scores, this could cause your ranking to plummet.
Say your site is linked by questionable, low-quality, or spammy web pages – and Google’s crawlers spot this. They could suspect you’ve attempted to falsely boost the strength of your backlink profile or bought the links via unethical means – a big no-no in the SEO world. Your website may be penalised if Google finds out, meaning your search rankings may suffer heavily as a result.
Linking Domains
How many linking domains are associated with your website? The answer will play a major role in the performance of your backlink collection.
As an example, say you have acquired 500 backlinks for your site. Pretty impressive, right? Now, let’s say these 500 backlinks have been obtained from just five websites, aka linking domains. That drops the impressiveness factor by a significant degree, as it signals only five sites across the entire internet view your content as valuable and worth sharing with their audience.
Therefore, when it comes to backlink profile SEO factors, one of the biggest is the total unique linking domains you have for your site.
Topical Relevance
A natural backlink profile is another important element. Collect backlinks from sites that have no relevance to your industry, and search engines might examine this as suspicious activity on your part.
Suppose your business sells an original line of cosmetics. For a natural backlink profile, you will want to see your content being shared on beauty blogs, makeup tutorial platforms, cosmetic stores, etc. – platforms that are all topically relevant to your business.
Anchor Text
Last but not least, another point to remember when you check backlink profiles is to analyse the anchor text used.
Admittedly, you typically won’t have any control over the anchor text; this is at the discretion of the webmaster that’s linking to your content. Nevertheless, search engines will use the anchor to understand your content.
The more diverse your anchor text signals are, the better – although they generally have to remain relevant to your brand/content.
Monitoring Your Backlink Profile SEO: Tips
You know the backlink profile meaning. You understand how to check your SEO backlink profile. Now, it’s the next step – knowing what to look for when monitoring your collection of backlinks.
Continually monitoring your backlink profile is essential. Take your eye off the ball, and that profile you worked so hard to build could be tarnished – quickly.
Here’s what to account for when monitoring your backlinks:
- Spam links: Spammy links can appear without warning. One reason could be a devious competitor using a negative marketing campaign against your website. Once you identify these spam links, it is advised you disavow them ASAP.
- Negative mentions: If you discover any negative mentions, you shouldn’t simply ignore them. By responding with urgency, you could take control of the situation – and possibly get the backlink mention removed with a well-judged response.
- Positive mentions: Monitoring isn’t just about spotting bad links. If you find any positive mentions, leverage this to your advantage. One way may be to share the feedback with your audience or reach out to the webmaster that mentioned your site/brand and request a change to the anchor text.
With monitoring as part of your process, you can spot any situations – good or bad – and stay on top of them to optimise your backlink profile.
Need Help with Your Backlink Profile?
If you need help with your SEO backlink profile, our experts have you covered. As one of the UK’s leading digital marketing agencies with decades of experience in the SEO game, our knowledgable specialists know all there is to creating, monitoring and polishing up a killer backlink profile that keeps sites on top of Google’s search pages. If you want your website to acquire an epic backlink profile plush with quality links from high-authority domains – which will see your search rankings skyrocket – don’t hesitate to contact our friendly team today.
