To begin auditing your backlinks, gather all inbound links to your website using tools like Google Search Console (GSC) and paid options like semrush, ahref, moz and many more. Once you have your backlinks, evaluate their quality by setting criteria such as a minimum domain rating and organic traffic. Separate links into sheets for removal or disavowing based on their quality. Remove low-quality links by contacting website owners or disavow toxic ones via Google’s tool.
You’ll also need to check for broken links and correct them by contacting linking sites or redirecting pages. Finally, improve your link-building strategy by focusing on quality backlinks, analyzing competitors, and monitoring your backlink profile regularly.
What is a Backlink Audit and How Often We Should Do It?
A backlink audit is when you check all the links from other websites that lead to your plumbing site. The goal is to find out which links are good and which ones could harm your site’s ranking. If you’re using content marketing, it’s a good idea to do a backlink audit every three months. If not, you can do it every six months or even once a year.
How often you need to audit your backlinks depends on your website type. For example, if you have a site with lots of pages and links, like a big plumbing blog or a news site, it’s best to audit more regularly.
5 Steps on Performing a Backlink Audit For A Plumbing Website
Here is the detailed process to perform backlink auditing.
1. Find All Backlinks to Your Site
Before starting, you need to gather all the links pointing to your website. Some tools may miss some links, so it’s best to collect links from several places. Start by checking Google Search Console for a list of backlinks. If you haven’t added your site yet, do so. After logging in, go to “Links to Your Site” and export the list of backlinks to a Google Sheet.
You can also use paid tools to get a more complete list. Simply log in, enter your domain, and find your backlinks. Export this information to a sheet for further review.
2. Evaluate Your Backlink Profile
Once you have your backlinks, set some rules to evaluate them. For example, you might only want links from sites with high authority or good traffic.
Links that don’t meet your standards can be marked for removal or disavowal. Remember, focusing on high quality backlinks boost your online visibility, helping your website gain credibility and attract more organic traffic.
Create two sheets:
- Link Removal Sheet for low-quality links.
- Link Disavow Sheet for harmful or spammy links.
3. Remove or Disavow Harmful Links
Now, it’s time to clean up your backlinks.
- Remove Low-Quality Links: For non-spammy but low-quality links, contact the website owners and politely ask them to remove the links. If they don’t respond, you can later move these links to your disavow sheet.
- Disavow Toxic Links: For harmful links, you need to “disavow” them. This means asking Google not to count these links when ranking your site. You can do this through a special tool provided by Google. Be very careful when using this tool, as it can affect your site’s performance if done incorrectly.
4. Find and Fix Broken Backlinks
Broken links are those that lead to pages that no longer exist, such as pages showing a “404 error.“ These can hurt your site’s performance. Use tools to find these broken links, then either ask the linking sites to fix them or redirect the old links to new pages on your site. This way, you don’t lose the benefit of those links.
5. Improve Your Link-Building Strategy
Backlink audits aren’t just for cleaning up your links; they are also a chance to improve your future strategy. Focus on getting high-quality backlinks from trusted sites through effective Plumbing Link Building Services, ensuring a strong and authoritative online presence for your business.
Conclusion
To do a backlink audit for a plumbing website, first gather all links using tools like Google Search Console or paid options. Then, check each link’s quality by setting criteria like domain authority and traffic.
Contact website owners to remove low-quality links or disavow harmful ones using Google’s tool. Finally, find and fix broken links by contacting the linking sites or redirecting them. At PlumbersPro, a Plumbing Digital Marketing Agency specialize in SEO strategies like backlink audits to improve your plumbing website’s ranking.
