Steps to check backlinks in Google Search Console

To track backlinks in GSC, you only need a few clicks. Follow this checklist:

• Access GSC at search.google.com/search-console
• Select the website you want to analyze
• Go to the section Links on the left sidebar
• View the “Top Linking Websites” and “Top Linked Pages” sections”
• Download .CSV data for deeper analysis with Excel or Google Sheets

Real-life example: Website in the education sector

A client in the education sector using GSC discovered over 250 new backlink domains just two months after launching a content campaign. Of these, more than 40% came from industry blogs – proving the effectiveness of the outreach strategy.

Advantages and disadvantages of using GSC to monitor backlinks

• Advantages: Accurate data, from Google, updated regularly
• Disadvantages: No link quality analysis, missing metrics like DR, DA

Brief takeaway

Using Google Search Console helps you check backlinks for free, quickly, and from a reliable source. Although it still has limitations in deep analysis features, it is still a tool every SEOer should use regularly.

Utilizing Ahrefs for detailed analysis of backlink quality and sources

Evaluate backlink quality using key metrics

Ahrefs provides many metrics to help SEOs evaluate backlink strength:

– UR (URL Rating): measures the authority of the URL receiving the backlink
– DR (Domain Rating): reflects the overall quality of the linking domain
– Traffic from backlink: evaluates whether the link source brings real traffic or is just spam

According to Authority Hacker's 2023 research, backlinks with UR and DR scores of 50 or higher typically account for 70% of SEO power, while backlinks from websites with no traffic can have the opposite effect.

Tracing unusual or toxic backlink sources

Ahrefs is also a powerful tool for detecting dangerous backlinks:

- Retrieve backlink history by specific time points
– Filter by backlink type: dofollow, nofollow, sponsored...
– Identify potential spam links and pages with invalid links

For example, an education website once lost 40% traffic after receiving 500+ backlinks from gambling domains (according to internal statistics from a DPS.MEDIA SEO campaign in 2022). After disavowing these links and resubmitting the sitemap in GSC, rankings recovered after 3 weeks.

Quick checklist for analyzing backlinks with Ahrefs

• ✔️ Analyze the total number of referring domains and backlinks
• ✔️ Compare DR and UR of referring domains
• ✔️ Check anchor text to determine relevance
• ✔️ Check domains for signs of spam or unnatural activity
• ✔️ Export data to evaluate trends over time

Comparing backlink sources with summary tables

Quick takeaway:

Use Ahrefs not only to check the number of backlinks, but also as an effective way to deeply measure quality and detect potential risks. Don’t just use it to see who’s linking—use it to understand why it matters.

Benefits of SEMrush in detecting bad backlinks and optimizing link profiles

Quickly categorizing low-quality backlinks

SEMrush helps you detect harmful links by evaluating the Toxic Score metric – a scoring system that measures the toxicity level of backlinks.
You can quickly filter out links:

– From websites penalized by Google
– With unnatural anchor text
– From suspected link scheme networks

Example: A handicraft business discovered 36 backlinks from spam .xyz sites via SEMrush, helping them promptly disavow these links.

Optimizing link profiles with the Link Audit tool

Besides detecting bad backlinks, SEMrush helps:

– Analyze the overall backlink profile by domain, anchor text, and follow/nofollow type
– Suggest links that may be penalized by Google's Penguin algorithm
– List links that need to be removed or regularly monitored

Action checklist when detecting toxic backlinks

• ️✅ Check Toxic Score on each link
• ️✅ Verify if the link source is trustworthy
• ️✅ Use the disavow file and submit via Google Search Console
• ️✅ Monitor again in 2-4 weeks to check effectiveness

Quick backlink evaluation table with SEMrush

Risks to note

Not all links with a high Toxic Score need to be disavowed. Carefully check before submitting the file to Google to avoid losing backlinks that still provide natural SEO value.

Key Takeaway: SEMrush not only quickly detects bad backlinks but also helps businesses strategically optimize their link profile structure, minimizing long-term SEO risks.

Distinguish between quality backlinks and toxic backlinks to protect website reputation

What is a quality backlink?

Quality backlinks help increase trust with Google and improve search rankings. They usually come from websites with:

– DA (Domain Authority) score ≥ 40
– Industry-relevant content
– Genuine traffic, not bot-generated traffic

Example: An industry news site with thousands of visits per month linking to your blog post is considered a strong backlink with high SEO value.

Signs of toxic backlinks

Toxic backlinks come from low-quality sources, harm SEO, and can even lead to penalties from Google Penguin. Common signs include:

– Websites with a Spam Score > 15% (according to Moz)
– Irrelevant content or content containing spam keywords
– Pages that have been de-indexed by Google

A site that once had backlinks from over 500 unknown Chinese domains dropped 60% organic traffic in just 2 weeks (SEMrush report, 2023).

Checklist: Self-check for safe backlinks

• ✅ check DA/DR using Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush
• ✅ Match content between source page and destination page
• ✅ Check the traffic of the linking page
• 🚫 Remove or disavow backlinks from penalized sites

Quick comparison table

Short takeaway:

To optimize sustainable SEO, maintaining quality backlinks is as important as removing toxic links. Regular checks and using evaluation tools are necessary steps to protect your website's reputation from negative external influences.

Practice backlink optimization based on inspection results and periodic reports

Analyze backlink data periodically

To improve backlink quality, regularly monitoring and analyzing backlink reports is essential. According to Ahrefs (2023), websites that check backlinks at least once a month improve their average ranking by 18% in 6 months.

Periodic checklist:

– Number of new vs. lost backlinks
– Anchor text diversity ratio
– Domain Authority (DA) of the linking page
– Links from websites with 404 errors or incorrect redirects

Filter out low-quality backlinks

Keeping links from pages with high spam scores can harm search rankings. Tools such as Google Disavow and SEMrush Toxic Score allow you to neutralize dangerous backlinks.

Optimize based on inspection results

After receiving the backlink report, you need to take specific actions:

• Contact the administrator to fix inappropriate anchor text
• Redirect (301 redirect) error landing pages
• Rebuild quality links from lost backlink pages

Example: An e-commerce business discovered that 42% of their backlinks were lost in Q2 from expired guest post articles. By republishing content and reconnecting with the publishers, they recovered 28% of the backlinks in just 1 month.

Summary table of optimization actions

Challenges in optimizing backlinks

Common difficulties include:

– Insufficient historical data to analyze the reasons for backlink loss
– Time-consuming process of contacting the original websites
– Errors when using the Disavow tool can negatively affect SEO

Key Takeaway

Managing and optimizing backlinks is not a one-time task. Periodically checking, evaluating, and improving backlinks helps websites maintain credibility and achieve sustainable improvements in search rankings.

Experience in choosing tools suitable for the budget and goals of SMEs

Clearly assess SEO needs and goals

Before investing in a backlink checking tool, businesses need to clearly define the campaign objectives: Increase traffic, improve rankings, or handle toxic links?
Questions to ask yourself:

– Does the business need competitive analysis or an internal link audit?
– How many referring domains does the website have?
– What is the monthly SEO maintenance budget?

Balance tool costs and performance

Not every expensive tool is suitable for small businesses. Below is a quick comparison table to help SMEs choose:

Checklist for choosing backlink tools for SMEs

• ✔ Create a list of essential features (such as anchor text, domain rating, etc.)
• ✔️ Compare costs and limits of each tool (number of backlinks checked per day)
• ✔️ Prioritize trial use before committing long-term
• ✔️ Consider technical support, especially with international tools

Warning: Avoid abusing unknown automatic tools

Using unauthenticated tools can lead to collecting inaccurate data – affecting SEO decisions. Additionally, some fake tools may request access to Google Analytics or GSC, increasing security risks.

Key Takeaway: SMEs should start from their specific SEO goals, Choose the tool that best suits your growth journey instead of chasing unnecessary advanced features.

Valuable lessons

Four ways to check backlinks have helped you grasp the effectiveness of links pointing to your website. Regular monitoring helps optimize your SEO strategy quickly and accurately.

Start applying the introduced tools to check backlinks for your site. Check periodically to promptly detect low-quality links.

You can also learn more about how to build quality backlinks. Or explore effective Offpage SEO strategies for small businesses.

DPS.MEDIA always accompanies SME businesses on their digital marketing development journey. Share your thoughts in the comments section below!