How do backlinks impact an SEO audit?

Backlinks significantly impact an SEO audit as they are a key factor in determining a website’s authority, relevance, and overall search engine ranking. Here’s how backlinks influence various aspects of an SEO audit and what you should look for:
1. Authority and Trustworthiness
Domain Authority: During an SEO audit, the overall domain authority of your site is assessed, which is heavily influenced by the quality and quantity of backlinks. High-authority backlinks from reputable sites boost your domain authority.
Page Authority: Individual pages with strong backlinks can also have high page authority, helping them rank better for targeted keywords.
2. Link Profile Analysis
Quality of Backlinks: The audit evaluates the quality of your backlinks, focusing on links from high-authority, relevant, and trustworthy sites.
Diversity of Backlinks: A diverse backlink profile, with links from a variety of domains, indicates a natural and organic link-building strategy, which is favored by search engines.
Anchor Text Distribution: Analyzing the anchor text used in backlinks helps identify if there’s an over-optimization for specific keywords, which can be a red flag for search engines.
3. Identification of Toxic Links
Spammy Links: The audit identifies low-quality, spammy, or irrelevant backlinks that can harm your site’s SEO. These could come from link farms, penalized sites, or irrelevant sources.
Disavow Recommendations: Based on the identification of toxic links, the audit may suggest using Google’s disavow tool to disassociate your site from these harmful backlinks.
4. Backlink Growth and Trends
Historical Data: Tracking the growth of backlinks over time helps understand the effectiveness of your link-building strategies. Sudden spikes or drops in backlinks can indicate unnatural link-building practices or loss of significant links.
Competitor Comparison: Comparing your backlink profile with competitors provides insights into their strategies and opportunities for improvement in your link-building efforts.
5. Impact on Keyword Rankings
Correlation with Rankings: The audit assesses how backlinks correlate with your keyword rankings. Pages with more high-quality backlinks typically rank better for targeted keywords.
Link Equity Distribution: Evaluating how link equity is distributed across your site ensures that important pages receive adequate link juice to improve their rankings.
6. Referral Traffic
Traffic Analysis: Backlinks that drive referral traffic are valuable as they indicate not only the link’s authority but also its relevance and effectiveness in attracting visitors.
Behavior Metrics: Analyzing user behavior metrics (bounce rate, time on site, pages per session) from referral traffic helps assess the quality and relevance of the backlinks.
Key Steps in Backlink Analysis During an SEO Audit
Backlink Inventory
Use tools like Ahrefs, Moz, Semrush, or Google Search Console to compile a comprehensive list of all backlinks pointing to your site.
Quality Assessment
Evaluate the authority of linking domains using metrics like Domain Authority (DA), Page Authority (PA), Trust Flow, and Citation Flow.
Identify and assess the relevance of linking sites to your industry or niche.
Anchor Text Review
Analyze the distribution and diversity of anchor text used in backlinks to ensure there’s no over-optimization or spammy patterns.
Toxic Link Identification
Identify low-quality or harmful backlinks using tools like Ahrefs’ Site Explorer or Semrush’s Backlink Audit tool.
Generate a disavow file if necessary and submit it to Google Search Console to disassociate your site from harmful links.
Competitor Analysis
Compare your backlink profile with top competitors to identify gaps and opportunities for acquiring high-quality backlinks.
Monitoring and Reporting
Continuously monitor your backlink profile for new links, lost links, and changes in link quality.
Generate regular reports to track the impact of backlinks on your SEO performance and make data-driven adjustments to your strategy.