How To Identify High Quality Backlinks[Checklist]

Hey Guys,

One of the blogs that I ignored for a while had 2.85K backlinks from 882 domains.

And I have built each link via outreach + guest posts. So link quality is also good but I've seen many websites with half the links but better ranking & traffic.

Then I thought there might be some problem with content, but I checked in fact my content was best in the SERPs. In-depth & explained beautifully.

So I started analyzing my backlinks, I'd a good overall authority of 26 DR. I had many links from DR 40-50 even 70-80.

I was confused even after having high DR domains pointing to my site why I'm not ranking higher. When I started checking 40 DR links I was a bit shocked.

Many were not having traffic, some had to decline traffic, too many backlinks.

Then I stopped outreaching and started finding which how to Identify High-Quality Backlinks.

And after doing a lot of research on this topic I created a checklist now I use to make sure I'm putting my efforts & money into a quality link.

DISCLAIMER: I've made this process as per my best SEO understanding, however, I'm not claiming this process to be 100% accurate. The purpose is to get more information about a website to decide whether it's high quality.

Identify High-Quality Backlinks[Checklist]​

1) Relevant to my niche?​

Every blog I read focused on a relevant niche, links from the same niche will have more link juice in comparison to the non-relevant niches.

Eg: suppose I have a website called SEOrocks that published content on SEO

And I want to get a link on SEOrocks

And there are 2 options

a) Neilpatel
b) Mybaby

Which one will be more effective. You know the answer.

Pretty basic but very few do it.

2) Is the page relevant to my niche or my content?​

News or general websites are a perfect example, If you want to link from these types of websites the content or page should be related to your niche.

3) Does the website has the authority?

Simple means DR or DA. But don't consider DR as the only metric to determine authority. in fact, it's a starting point.

Use it to qualify domains.

For eg you downloaded your competitor backlinks, now filter it to the 30-60 DR range.

Now from 1000 domains, you will get the best 100-150 domains. Now use the next steps to check out of this 150 which are really high quality.

4) Is the website having constant traffic?

if a website is not getting traffic or traffic is declining, something is wrong.

Some common reasons

Hit by an algorithm update or manually penalty.
Using spammy links.
PBNs
Structure change
Technical Errors

I prefer to go for websites that have an upward trend over 2 years, it means they are doing something right.

5) Does the linking page get search traffic.​

This is optional.

I like to check if the page linked is getting traffic, so it means they are ranking for keywords. Ahrefs only shows Organic traffic.


source: ahrefs

6) Healthy Anchor Text.

Check websites anchor text, the most common is branded and it's one of the sign of a healthy domain.

If you see exact match products or services name, you need to investigate deeper..

I use this checklist to decide which links to acquire.

And this is my take & of course, this can't be totally accurate but a method to get more information about a link.

Hope this helps to SEOs.

Mate you did a good job with the checklist

Simple and neat view to check the quality of backlinks. A Valuable share

Thanks for the checklist. Did it help in improvising the ranks of your site?

singhavn said:

Thanks for the checklist. Did it help in improvising the ranks of your site?

Click to expand...

Still early for the entire website but certainly it's been effective on some pages to rank in just a couple of links.

Great checklist for beginners to crosscheck

uxdrug said:

Hey Guys,

One of the blogs that I ignored for a while had 2.85K backlinks from 882 domains.

And I have built each link via outreach + guest posts. So link quality is also good but I've seen many websites with half the links but better ranking & traffic.

Then I thought there might be some problem with content, but I checked in fact my content was best in the SERPs. In-depth & explained beautifully.

So I started analyzing my backlinks, I'd a good overall authority of 26 DR. I had many links from DR 40-50 even 70-80.

I was confused even after having high DR domains pointing to my site why I'm not ranking higher. When I started checking 40 DR links I was a bit shocked.

Many were not having traffic, some had to decline traffic, too many backlinks.

Then I stopped outreaching and started finding which how to Identify High-Quality Backlinks.

And after doing a lot of research on this topic I created a checklist now I use to make sure I'm putting my efforts & money into a quality link.

DISCLAIMER: I've made this process as per my best SEO understanding, however, I'm not claiming this process to be 100% accurate. The purpose is to get more information about a website to decide whether it's high quality.

Identify High-Quality Backlinks[Checklist]​

1) Relevant to my niche?​

Every blog I read focused on a relevant niche, links from the same niche will have more link juice in comparison to the non-relevant niches.

Eg: suppose I have a website called SEOrocks that published content on SEO

And I want to get a link on SEOrocks

And there are 2 options

a) Neilpatel
b) Mybaby

Which one will be more effective. You know the answer.

Pretty basic but very few do it.

2) Is the page relevant to my niche or my content?​

News or general websites are a perfect example, If you want to link from these types of websites the content or page should be related to your niche.

3) Does the website has the authority?

Simple means DR or DA. But don't consider DR as the only metric to determine authority. in fact, it's a starting point.

Use it to qualify domains.

For eg you downloaded your competitor backlinks, now filter it to the 30-60 DR range.

Now from 1000 domains, you will get the best 100-150 domains. Now use the next steps to check out of this 150 which are really high quality.

4) Is the website having constant traffic?

if a website is not getting traffic or traffic is declining, something is wrong.

Some common reasons

Hit by an algorithm update or manually penalty.
Using spammy links.
PBNs
Structure change
Technical Errors

I prefer to go for websites that have an upward trend over 2 years, it means they are doing something right.

5) Does the linking page get search traffic.​

This is optional.

I like to check if the page linked is getting traffic, so it means they are ranking for keywords. Ahrefs only shows Organic traffic.

View attachment 203911
source: ahrefs

6) Healthy Anchor Text.

Check websites anchor text, the most common is branded and it's one of the sign of a healthy domain.

If you see exact match products or services name, you need to investigate deeper..

I use this checklist to decide which links to acquire.

And this is my take & of course, this can't be totally accurate but a method to get more information about a link.

Hope this helps to SEOs.

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing this insight, and your personal insights and discoveries, it really means a lot to all members here and it can help them learn how to avoid some mistakes and find the best possible backlinks for their own needs. I agree totally with what you have written, and I really think one of the most common mistakes while adding backlinks to the site or connecting with other sources online is that we often don't check their domain authorities and reputation so it happens that we add many links that don't have any value so we are lacking to see real results. This is really something that must be checked prior to any external like implementation. Besides, it's also necessary that links that we use belong to our niche, like you mentioned, as that's the only thing that will keep them relevant and that will help you attract only adequate visitors to your site.

This is a convenient way to check the quality of backlinks

I love your checklist.

It's great advice for scaling up the number of links you get from high-quality sites that are already linking to you.

But if I may add something to your list, I would also focus on user experience.

There are many blogs out there that have great numbers when it comes to SEO fundamentals.

They look awesome, judging from their ranking profile, but if you read their content and navigate their site, it turns out that they leave a lot to be desired.

This happens more frequently than people care to admit.

I suggest you factor in user experience.

If the backlink you're getting comes from a well-organized page and flows naturally, I would focus more of my efforts on getting links from that website.

On the other hand, if your links are coming from a site with pages that are crappy, hard to read, and not engaging, they might be tweaking their SEO profile.

The sad reality is you might be the one left holding the bag.

Great share, I would always go with niche relevant quality links than PBNS which always suck and put you website in danger.

Good list, but I'd make page traffic mandatory.

blackbeans said:

I love your checklist.

It's great advice for scaling up the number of links you get from high-quality sites that are already linking to you.

But if I may add something to your list, I would also focus on user experience.

There are many blogs out there that have great numbers when it comes to SEO fundamentals.

They look awesome, judging from their ranking profile, but if you read their content and navigate their site, it turns out that they leave a lot to be desired.

This happens more frequently than people care to admit.

I suggest you factor in user experience.

If the backlink you're getting comes from a well-organized page and flows naturally, I would focus more of my efforts on getting links from that website.

On the other hand, if your links are coming from a site with pages that are crappy, hard to read, and not engaging, they might be tweaking their SEO profile.

The sad reality is you might be the one left holding the bag.

Click to expand...

damn you have 6666 posts sir