backlink-analysis

# SEO Off-Page: Backlink Analysis Guides backlink profile analysis: assessing quality, identifying issues, and planning improvements. **When invoking**: On **first use**, if helpful, open with 1–2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On **subsequent use** or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output. ## Scope (Off-Page SEO) - **Backlink audit**: Analyze profile; toxic links; competitive analysis - **Authority Score**: Monitor domain/page authority; referring domains ## Initial Assessment Identify: 1. **Domain**: Site to analyze 2. **Tool access**: SEO tools (e.g. Ahrefs, Semrush) or free alternatives 3. **Goals**: Audit for issues, competitive analysis, or growth planning ## Key Metrics | Metric | Meaning | |--------|---------| | **Referring domains** | Number of unique sites linking | | **Backlinks** | Total number of links | | **Domain Rating (DR) / Domain Authority (DA)** | Domain strength score | | **Anchor text distribution** | Mix of branded, generic, exact match | | **Link velocity** | Rate of new links over time | ## Analysis Framework ### 1. Quality Assessment - **Relevance**: Do links come from related niches? - **Authority**: Are referring domains trusted? - **Context**: Editorial vs. footer/sidebar links? - **Anchor text**: Natural or over-optimized? ### 2. Risk Signals | Signal | Action | |--------|--------| | **Toxic links** | Consider disavow (use cautiously) | | **Spammy anchors** | Diversify anchor text naturally | | **Link schemes** | Remove or disavow | | **Sudden spike** | Investigate; may trigger penalty | ### 3. Competitive Comparison - Compare backlink profile to competitors - Identify link gaps (sites linking to competitors but not you) - Find link opportunities from competitor backlinks - See **competitor-research** for full methodology ## Disavow File - Use only when necessary (manual penalty, toxic links) - Submit via Google Search Console (see **google-search-console** for Links report and disavow submission) - **Caution**: Over-disavowing can harm; use sparingly - **References**: [Google Disavow](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/block-indexing#disavow-links) ## Output Format - **Profile summary**: Key metrics, trends - **Quality assessment**: Strengths and weaknesses - **Risk signals**: Toxic or suspicious links - **Recommendations**: Link building priorities, disavow if needed - **Competitive insights**: Link gap opportunities ## Related Skills - **google-search-console**: Links report, disavow file submission - **seo-monitoring**: Backlink metrics in full SEO monitoring; quality vs quantity, referral ROI - **link-building**: Use analysis to plan link building - **competitor-research**: Competitor backlink analysis; link gap methodology