backlink-analyzer

# Backlink Analyzer **Audit your link profile, find toxic links, and uncover competitor backlink opportunities** — this skill evaluates the authority and quality of every referring domain, generates a disavow file for harmful links, and surfaces high-DA link building prospects your competitors already have. **How to start**: `Analyze backlink profile for [domain]` or `Find link building opportunities by analyzing [competitor domains]` **System role**: Monitoring layer skill. It turns performance changes into deltas, alerts, and next actions. > **[SEO & GEO Skills Library](https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills)** · 20 skills for SEO + GEO · [ClawHub](https://clawhub.ai/u/aaron-he-zhu) · [skills.sh](https://skills.sh/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills) ## When This Must Trigger Use this when the conversation involves any of these situations — even if the user does not use SEO terminology: Use this whenever the task needs time-aware change detection, escalation, or stakeholder-ready visibility. - Auditing your current backlink profile - Identifying toxic or harmful links - Discovering link building opportunities - Analyzing competitor backlink strategies - Monitoring new and lost links - Evaluating link quality for outreach - Preparing for link disavow ## What This Skill Does 1. **Profile Analysis**: Comprehensive backlink profile overview 2. **Quality Assessment**: Evaluates link authority and relevance 3. **Toxic Link Detection**: Identifies harmful links 4. **Competitor Analysis**: Compares link profiles across competitors 5. **Opportunity Discovery**: Finds link building prospects 6. **Trend Monitoring**: Tracks link acquisition over time 7. **Disavow Guidance**: Helps create disavow files ## Quick Start Start with one of these prompts. Finish with a short handoff summary using the repository format in [Skill Contract](https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills/blob/main/references/skill-contract.md). ### Analyze Your Profile ``` Analyze backlink profile for [domain] ``` ### Find Opportunities ``` Find link building opportunities by analyzing [competitor domains] ``` ### Detect Issues ``` Check for toxic backlinks on [domain] ``` ### Compare Profiles ``` Compare backlink profiles: [your domain] vs [competitor domains] ``` ## Skill Contract **Expected output**: a delta summary, alert/report output, and a short handoff summary ready for `memory/monitoring/`. - **Reads**: current metrics, previous baselines, alert thresholds, and reporting context from [CLAUDE.md](https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills/blob/main/CLAUDE.md) and the shared [State Model](https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills/blob/main/references/state-model.md) when available. - **Writes**: a user-facing monitoring deliverable plus a reusable summary that can be stored under `memory/monitoring/`. - **Promotes**: significant changes, confirmed anomalies, and follow-up actions to `memory/open-loops.md` and `memory/decisions.md`. - **Next handoff**: use the `Next Best Skill` below when a change needs action. ## Data Sources > **Note:** All integrations are optional. This skill works without any API keys — users provide data manually when no tools are connected. > See [CONNECTORS.md](https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills/blob/main/CONNECTORS.md) for tool category placeholders. **With ~~link database + ~~SEO tool connected:** Automatically pull comprehensive backlink profiles including referring domains, anchor text distribution, link quality metrics (DA/DR), link velocity, and toxic link detection from ~~link database. Competitor backlink data from ~~SEO tool for gap analysis. **With manual data only:** Ask the user to provide: 1. Backlink export CSV (with source domains, anchor text, link type) 2. Referring domains list with authority metrics 3. Competitor domains for comparison 4. Recent link gains/losses if tracking changes 5. Any known toxic or spammy links Proceed with the full analysis using provided data. Note in the output which metrics are from automated collection vs. user-provided data. ## Instructions When a user requests backlink analysis: 1. **Generate Profile Overview** -- Key metrics (total backlinks, referring domains, DA/DR, dofollow ratio), link velocity (30d/90d/year), authority distribution chart, profile health score. 2. **Analyze Link Quality** -- Top quality backlinks table, link type distribution, anchor text analysis (brand/exact/partial/URL/generic), geographic distribution. 3. **Identify Toxic Links** -- Toxic score, risk indicators by type (spam, PBN, link farms, irrelevant), high-risk links to review, disavow recommendations (domain-level and URL-level). 4. **Compare Against Competitors** -- Profile comparison table (referring domains, DA/DR, velocity, avg link DA), unique referring domains, link intersection analysis, competitor content attracting most links. 5. **Find Link Building Opportunities** -- Link intersection prospects, broken link opportunities, unlinked mentions, resource page opportunities, guest post prospects, priority matrix (effort vs impact). 6. **Track Link Changes** -- New and lost links for last 30 days with DA, type, anchor, dates. Net change and links to recover. 7. **Generate Backlink Report** -- Executive summary, strengths, concerns, opportunities, competitive position, recommended actions (immediate/short-term/long-term), KPIs to track. > **Reference**: See [references/analysis-templates.md](https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills/blob/main/monitor/backlink-analyzer/references/analysis-templates.md) for complete output templates for all 7 steps above. ### CITE Item Mapping When running `domain-authority-auditor` after this analysis, the following data feeds directly into CITE scoring: | Backlink Metric | CITE Item | Dimension | |----------------|-----------|-----------| | Referring domains count | C01 (Referring Domain Volume) | Citation | | Authority distribution (DA breakdown) | C02 (Referring Domains Quality) | Citation | | Link velocity | C04 (Link Velocity) | Citation | | Geographic distribution | C10 (Link Source Diversity) | Citation | | Dofollow/Nofollow ratio | T02 (Dofollow Ratio Normality) | Trust | | Toxic link analysis | T01 (Link Profile Naturalness), T03 (Link-Traffic Coherence) | Trust | | Competitive link intersection | T05 (Profile Uniqueness) | Trust | ## Validation Checkpoints ### Input Validation - [ ] Target domain backlink data is complete and current - [ ] Competitor domains specified for comparison analysis - [ ] Backlink data includes necessary fields (source domain, anchor text, link type) - [ ] Authority metrics available (DA/DR or equivalent) ### Output Validation - [ ] Every metric cites its data source and collection date - [ ] Toxic link assessments include risk justification - [ ] Link opportunity recommendations are specific and actionable - [ ] Source of each data point clearly stated (~~link database data, ~~SEO tool data, user-provided, or estimated) ## Example **User**: "Find link building opportunities by analyzing HubSpot, Salesforce, and Mailchimp" **Output**: ```markdown ## Link Intersection Analysis ### Sites linking to 2+ competitors (not you) | Domain | DA | HubSpot | Salesforce | Mailchimp | Opportunity | |--------|-----|---------|------------|-----------|-------------| | g2.com | 91 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Get listed/reviewed | | capterra.com | 89 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Submit for review | | entrepreneur.com | 92 | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | Pitch guest post | | techcrunch.com | 94 | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | PR/news pitch | ### Top 5 Immediate Opportunities 1. **G2.com** (DA 91) - All competitors listed - Action: Create detailed G2 profile - Effort: Low - Impact: High authority + referral traffic 2. **Entrepreneur.com** (DA 92) - 2 competitors have links - Action: Pitch contributed article - Effort: High - Impact: High authority + brand exposure 3. **MarketingProfs** (DA 75) - All competitors featured - Action: Apply for expert contribution - Effort: Medium - Impact: Relevant audience + quality link ### Estimated Impact If you acquire links from top 10 opportunities: - New referring domains: +10 - Average DA of new links: 82 - Estimated ranking impact: +2-5 positions for competitive keywords ``` ## Tips for Success 1. **Quality over quantity** - One DA 80 link beats ten DA 20 links 2. **Monitor regularly** - Catch lost links and toxic links early 3. **Study competitors** - Learn from their link building success 4. **Diversify your profile** - Mix of link types and anchors 5. **Disavow carefully** - Only disavow clearly toxic links ## Link Quality and Strategy Reference > **Reference**: See [references/link-quality-rubric.md](https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills/blob/main/monitor/backlink-analyzer/references/link-quality-rubric.md) for the complete link quality scoring matrix (6 weighted factors), toxic link identification criteria, link profile health benchmarks, and disavow file guidance. > **Reference**: See [references/outreach-templates.md](https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills/blob/main/monitor/backlink-analyzer/references/outreach-templates.md) for email outreach frameworks, subject line formulas, response rate benchmarks, follow-up sequences, and templates for each link building strategy. ### Save Results After delivering monitoring data or reports to the user, ask: > "Save these results for future sessions?" If yes, write a dated summary to `memory/monitoring/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>.md` containing: - One-line headline finding or status change - Top 3-5 actionable items - Open loops or anomalies requiring follow-up - Source data references If any findings should influence ongoing strategy, recommend promoting key conclusions to `memory/hot-cache.md`. **Gate check recommended**: If toxic link ratio exceeds 15%, recommend running domain-authority-auditor to assess overall domain trust impact. ## Reference Materials - [Link Quality Rubric](https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills/blob/main/monitor/backlink-analyzer/references/link-quality-rubric.md) — Quality scoring matrix with weighted factors and toxic link identification criteria - [Outreach Templates](https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills/blob/main/monitor/backlink-analyzer/references/outreach-templates.md) — Email frameworks, subject line formulas, and response rate benchmarks ## Next Best Skill - **Primary**: [domain-authority-auditor](https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills/blob/main/cross-cutting/domain-authority-auditor/SKILL.md) — translate link findings into a domain-level trust view. ## Related Skills in This Suite | Phase | Skills | |-------|--------| | **Research** | [keyword-research](../../research/keyword-research/SKILL.md), [competitor-analysis](../../research/competitor-analysis/SKILL.md), [serp-analysis](../../research/serp-analysis/SKILL.md), [content-gap-analysis](../../research/content-gap-analysis/SKILL.md) | | **Build** | [seo-content-writer](../../build/seo-content-writer/SKILL.md), [geo-content-optimizer](../../build/geo-content-optimizer/SKILL.md), [meta-tags-optimizer](../../build/meta-tags-optimizer/SKILL.md), [schema-markup-generator](../../build/schema-markup-generator/SKILL.md) | | **Optimize** | [on-page-seo-auditor](../../optimize/on-page-seo-auditor/SKILL.md), [technical-seo-checker](../../optimize/technical-seo-checker/SKILL.md), [internal-linking-optimizer](../../optimize/internal-linking-optimizer/SKILL.md), [content-refresher](../../optimize/content-refresher/SKILL.md) | | **Monitor** | [rank-tracker](../rank-tracker/SKILL.md), [backlink-analyzer](../backlink-analyzer/SKILL.md), [performance-reporter](../performance-reporter/SKILL.md), [alert-manager](../alert-manager/SKILL.md) | | **Cross-cutting** | [content-quality-auditor](../../cross-cutting/content-quality-auditor/SKILL.md), [domain-authority-auditor](../../cross-cutting/domain-authority-auditor/SKILL.md), [entity-optimizer](../../cross-cutting/entity-optimizer/SKILL.md), [memory-management](../../cross-cutting/memory-management/SKILL.md) | > **Install the full suite**: See [README](https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills) for one-command install of all 20 skills.