Backlinks are the major component of SEO game and usually indicates the authority of your website and may highlight the trusted rankings for them in the search engines. Backlinks are one of the core factors that search engines like Google (among others) use to determine the quality, relevancy and importance of your site’s content. Founded on this backlink’s leverage, management of links is obviously a tough gig! It becomes quite critical as your website matures and they start receiving backlinks from other resources with specific reasons. Thus, there comes the essentiality of backlink management software, back link monitors and backlink managers available in the market. This article highlights the importance of backlink monitoring, the various facets and tactics involved in such a backlink profile for successful SEO.
Understanding the Importance of Backlink Monitoring
Backlink monitoring is the key to maintaining the health and well-being of your website’s SEO strategy. Search engines rate backlinks in the top 3 ranking factors, so keeping an eye on what’s going on is a must. By regularly monitoring your backlinks, you’ll ensure that your website always has relevant, quality backlinks that will help your website rank better in search results.
The first reason is to track backlinks. Cleaning up your online reputation will become meaningless if search engines like Google keep connecting your site to toxic and low-quality backlinks. Linked to any suspicious sites, your pages could face extreme penalties for potential ‘black-hat’ SEO practices. These types of links, which search engines caution against, range from ‘spammy’ sites built solely to promote links to irrelevant ones (like the one I am creating now, although I’m being self-deprecating… you get the idea). Ultimately, the only solace for this reputational insult could be the need to disavow these harmful links and prove that your site is cleaned up. Good luck! This is where a backlink monitor can help. Using a back link checker tool, you can figure out which sites are connecting to yours and which are lacking substance.
Second, tracking your backlinks helps you measure the results of your link-building campaigns. Paying attention to which backlinks are sending the most traffic or improving your site’s authority allows you to hone your strategies and acquire more links in the same space.
Lastly, watching backlinks helps you to outfox your competition. Hummingbird brings better knowledge about the backlink profiles of your competitors, and one can spot an opportunity to acquire similar links or emulate the link-building strategies. By keeping a tab on competitors, you will be progressive enough to withstand SEO changes.
Choosing the Right Backlink Management Software
As backlink management software plays a significant role in the backlink performance, you have to pay attention to the choice of tool. Although the software you choose may not be the ultimate funnel filler or sales maker, considering these tools can bring you much time saving and valuable information.
Start by evaluating the features of the backlink management software. You want to have tools to analyse your backlinks, indicating key factors such as domain authority, page authority and spam score as this verifies the standard of your backlinks which in turn helps to decide whether to keep it or disavow it. It is also very vital that the software monitor your links in real time and be notified of any changes; so you can act promptly.
Second, investigate how user-friendly and intuitive it is. Ideally, the best backlink management tools will have a clean and intuitive interface where users can run checks, gather and interpret data quickly. You’ll want to look for customisable dashboards, detailed reports and visualisations that allow you to get a quick grasp on your entire backlink profile. If the tool offers embedded tools like a backlink checker so that you can navigate your work flow across other SEO tools, all the better.
Last but not least, consider the cost and scalability of the software. Some tools have tiered packages based on the number of backlinks or domains you need to track. Make sure that the price matches your budget and that the software can scale with your needs as your website grows. Most companies offer a free trial or demo that you can take advantage of prior to signing up for a paid subscription.
Setting Up Your Backlink Monitoring Strategy
A proper backlink monitoring strategy is tailored towards exploiting the best features of your backlink management tool. This marketing tactic requires an ongoing vigil to make sure that your backlink profile is healthy, and to proactively analyse and set up an action plan.
Next, set up a schedule to check your backlinks. Being consistent will help you ensure a quick response to new developments that could become problems throwing your website’s ability to rank on Google away. For websites with hundreds or thousands of inbound links, this could be as often as daily, while a site with dozens of backlinks could be taking a monthly check. Use your backlink account to schedule e-mail alerts for the biggest changes, such as inbound links spiking or dropping in large numbers.
Secondly, rank your analysis based on the quality and relevancy of the backlinks. Not all backlinks are equal, so prioritise the ones that you believe are contributing the most to your site authority and traffic. Take advantage of the metrics provided by your backlink management software to evaluate the value of the backlinks and prioritise them accordingly. For example, backlinks from high-authority domains are more likely to be of great value, and will contribute immensely to your overall site ranking.
In summary, make sure you develop an action plan for your backlinks: list all of the toxic backlinks to your site and make a plan to disavow those links; identify all the legitimate links that you’d like to get removed or adjusted by sending emails; and create a plan for getting new good backlinks. Be sure to frequently update and refine this plan so that your backlink profile remains in good order and benefits your SEO results.
Dealing with Toxic Backlinks
Toxic links can have a very negative influence on your site – in fact it can doom your SEO efforts if you don’t address them. Toxic backlinks tend to originate from spammy sites, or irrelevant, low-quality sites. They could even get you penalised by search engines such as Google.
Then, using the backlink management tool, spot toxic backlinks. Common metrics (such as provided by the tool) that help with this include spam score, but you have to look out for patterns: links to your brand from non-relevant niches or PR-0 (no page rank) sites are a strong indicator of the bad kind of backlinks. Periodical checks help to catch the links in time.
Second, take steps to remove or disavow toxic backlinks. First, reach out to the webmaster on the sites and ask them to take down the bad links. Be polite and specific about why the link is bad for your site. If you are rejected in your link removal requests, use Google’s Disavow Tool to signal to Google that it should ignore the toxic backlinks to your site.
Finally, take proactive measures so that you don’t inadvertently earn toxic backlinks in the future. Research competitors’ backlink profiles and forge relationships with authoritative sites in your niche. Focus on white-hat SEO practices and make quality backlinks the cornerstone of your link-building strategy. Constantly check for new inbound links to your site, perform backlink audits on an ongoing basis, and make appropriate adjustments to your link-building efforts. While you may never be able to completely thwart SEO penalties, taking a proactive approach helps to keep your backlink profile healthy and ensures that your domain isn’t ever held hostage by damaging SEO practices.
Leveraging Backlink Data for SEO Improvement
With a little effort, you can dig into the backlink data and start building out the rest of your SEO strategy. Strengths and weaknesses can be spotted. Gaps in your site architecture pinpointed. Under-covered areas of your industry identified, highlighting what needs improvement and where you can get ahead.
Second, look at backlink data to see what your audience is linking to the most. By analysing the pages and content types that are getting the most high-quality backlinks, you can then replicate this success. Make similar content that is interesting for your audience, while providing valuable and relevant information. This will lead to other websites also linking to your website, while building your backlink profile and increasing the relevance and authority of your site.
Secondly, determine which of your competitors are appearing in positions one, two and three of the first page for your target keywords. With that knowledge, do an in-depth analysis of their backlink profiles to reveal where their backlinks are coming from. Are there any high-authority sites that link to all of your competitors? Could they successfully link to your site as well? Which of them are linking out to the highest number of competitors? Competitive analysis like this allows your SEO strategy to remain ahead of the game because you will continue to be aware of the shifts and holes in your competitors’ strategies.
Then, rely on backlink data to amplify your broader SEO approach. Regularly checking your backlink profile will reveal patterns and fluctuations in the authority and visibility of your site, and so adjust your content, link-building and other SEO activities accordingly. For example, a sudden drop in links from a particular niche might be an invitation to create some additional content, tailored for this group. Ongoing backlink-based optimisation keeps brand exposure fresh, and the SEO strategy aligned with trends in the digital space.
Future Trends in Backlink Monitoring and Management
Because it’s such a dynamic area, driven by search engine algorithm changes, digital marketing trends and technological advancements, keeping up-to-date with trends helps ensure your approach remains effective and reflective of today’s world.
Second, AI and machine learning are coming into play to power backlink management tools. This will allow them to more accurately and more promptly analyse large backlink portfolios, and thus provide more actionable insights. These AI-powered tools can predict the ‘power’ of inbound links and their ability to improve your rankings on SERPs, as well as recommendations for strategic backlink acquisition. Adopting a progressive approach for your backlink strategy can make it faster and more effective.
Second, mobile-first indexing and voice search are altering the way links contribute to rankings, alturing our perspectives of what quality links should look like. As the proportion of internet users with mobile access increases, reaching its peak in 2018 with more people accessing the web via mobile devices than desktops, and the growth of voice search, search engines are going to prioritise sites optimised for the mobile experience and for voice search. With this milestone, search marketers need to reorient our focus for building relevant links and producing content that caters to voice search queries.
Lastly, brand mentions and unlinked citations offer a boost as well. Search engines are starting to value brand mentions more and more as references to your brand. If you don’t have a backlink included with the mention, it doesn’t matter – the mention is being treated like an endorsement by search algorithms. Keep track of your brand mentions, and reach out to owners of sites that mention you but don’t link to you, and try to get them added as backlinks. It helps keep your site branded so that search engines reward you for those mentions.
Conclusion
To avoid problems and boost your SEO efforts, backlink monitoring plays a critical role. It not only helps you understand how your site earns links, but also helps you use that frankly terrifying information to keep your site healthy and well-linked. If you want to master the art of backlinks SEO for the long term, here’s how you can do so: Learn the basics of backlinks Understand why backlinks are important (aka, how they can improve your site and your SEO performance). Choose a backlink management software Decide what you want backlink monitoring software to help you do, and choose your software accordingly. Set up a backlink monitoring strategy Set some goals and think about all the monitoring activities that might need to take place. Manage toxic backlinks Get rid of backlinks that are irritating you, hurting your brand, or slowing down your site. Make the most of your backlink analysis data When you know where your backlinks are coming from, what you can do with them is critical to moving forward. Consider backlink management future trends Keep your eye on the industry – there’s a good chance that things will change in the next few years.
