Backlink Profile Audit

A backlink profile audit is a check of which sites link to yours and whether any of those links were created to manipulate rankings. For Google this is first of all a matter of policy: link spam is creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings. The main thing an auditor should know: in most cases Google can assess which links to trust without additional guidance, so most sites will not need the disavow tool. Below: what the links report shows, how to look for problem links without third-party "toxicity ratings" and under which two conditions disavowing makes sense.

The basis is Google's help on the Links report, disavowing links and manual actions. The general order of an audit is in the lesson on the audit system, and the policies themselves in the lesson on spam policies.

What the Links report shows

The data source is Search Console. The report consists of external and internal links; for external ones there are three tables: the most linked pages, the sites that link most and the most common link text. With caveats that are important to remember:

• It is a sample. The report isn't a comprehensive list of every link but shows a sample; tables are limited to 1,000 rows;
• It includes links found over time. Some of them may have been removed, a page may no longer exist;
• It does not show nofollow. The report does not specify whether a link is marked nofollow;
• Grouping. Sites are shown by root domain (subdomains omitted) and your site's pages by canonical URL; duplicate links are combined;
• Link text. Duplicates are combined case-insensitively; links with no text, such as image links, show the text as "(empty)".

How to look for problem links

In the help Google hints how to use the report: among the sites that link most, check that you recognize them; if you see unknown and possibly spammy sites, you might need to ask to be removed or, if all else fails, disavow them. Other checks are useful too:

• Do the top pages match what you expect: is what should get recognition getting it;
• Are there templated links: the same optimized link text in large numbers, links in footers and widgets, paid posts, forum signatures. These are examples from the link spam policy: buying and selling links for ranking, excessive exchanges, automated creation, links in widgets, footers and templates, optimized forum links. On anchors see the lesson on anchor text;
• Are there sharp spikes. The report gives no time series of links, so rely on the latest links in the export;
• Do important sites link. For a restaurant, for example: do food blogs and review sites mention it.

About "toxic" links

The familiar scheme relies on third-party service figures: a domain rating under ten, a "spam score", topic mismatch. Google uses no such concepts: domain rating and spam score are ratings of particular services, while Google has a link spam policy and a links report. A link from a little-known site or an unrelated topic is not a violation by itself. And buying and selling links is not always a violation either: it is a normal part of the economy of the web for advertising and sponsorship, and acceptable if links are qualified with rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored". See the page on qualifying outbound links and the lesson on toxic links.

When disavowing makes sense

The disavow page calls it an advanced feature to be used with caution: if used incorrectly it can potentially harm your site's performance in Google Search results. Disavowing makes sense only if both conditions hold:

1. a considerable number of spammy, artificial or low-quality links point to your site, and
2. those links have caused a manual action or likely will cause one.

The condition "a manual action or signs of a spam attack" in the familiar scheme is imprecise: both are needed. If you or a specialist you hired built bad links through paid placements or link schemes, that is the case where they can affect Google's opinion of a page or site. But Google stresses: it works hard to make sure actions on third-party sites do not negatively affect yours.

The procedure

1. Export the links from Search Console (the export button in the report) and review them. Remember it is a sample;
2. Decide whether it is needed at all. Check both conditions above and the report on manual actions;
3. Remove first. Google recommends first and foremost to remove as many spammy or low-quality links from the web as possible: contact site owners and ask them to remove the links or qualify them with nofollow;
4. Make a disavow file for the rest. A text file: one URL or domain per line, a whole domain is given with the prefix domain:; you cannot disavow a whole subpath such as example.com/en/. UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII, a .txt name, lines starting with # are ignored, up to 100,000 lines and 2 MB, URL length up to 2,048 characters;
5. Upload the file. One list can be uploaded per property, and a new one replaces the old. Only an owner can upload. Disavowed links continue to be shown in the Links report. The list applies to the property it was uploaded to and its child properties;
6. If there is a manual action, file a reconsideration request as described in the lesson on manual actions.

There is a limit people often don't know: the disavow links tool does not support Domain properties. If you have such a property, these instructions do not apply to it.

What is not in the documentation

• The concept of "toxic links" and thresholds like "domain rating below 10" or "spam score";
• The condition "a manual action or signs of an attack": there are two conditions, and both are required;
• A description of disavowing as "Google ignores the links when calculating authority": it says only that URLs and domains of questionable links are disavowed;
• Timelines like "the penalty was lifted in 6 weeks": a review takes from several days to weeks, longer for links.

Checklist

1. It is known that the Links report is a sample of up to 1,000 rows per table and does not show nofollow.
2. Unfamiliar linking sites are checked by hand, not by a third-party rating.
3. Paid links are qualified with rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored".
4. Removal of problem links is attempted first.
5. Disavowing is used only when both conditions hold.
6. The disavow file follows the format and the property is not a Domain property.
7. For a manual action a reconsideration request is filed.

Mistakes

• Disavowing every "weak" link in a row.
• Filtering by domain rating and calling the result "toxic".
• Treating the Links report as complete.
• Trying to disavow a section of a site such as example.com/en/.
• Uploading a list to a Domain property.

What comes next

Next is prioritizing fixes: how to turn the findings into a plan where what blocks display comes first.