How to analyze backlinks

Backlinks are links from other websites to your client's. Check any domain from SEO Tools, and keep a history for each client on their SEO → Links tab.

How to check any domain

1. Go to SEO Tools → Backlink Analysis.
2. Enter a Target Domain, with or without https.
3. Click Analyze Backlinks. The cost shows on the button.

Five tabs show the results:

• Profile Dashboard: Total Backlinks, Referring Domains, Domain Rank and Broken Backlinks, with trends. Download PDF Report builds a report.
• Referring Domains: the sites linking in.
• Broken Backlinks: links pointing at dead pages on the site, which you can win back by restoring the page or adding a redirect.
• Link Gap Analysis: sites linking to competitors but not to you.
• Bad Links: Zeus flags spammy linking sites and keeps the client's disavow file. See Bad links and the disavow file.

Referring Domains and Broken Backlinks settings

Both tabs open with summary tiles: Overall Score (out of 100; higher is a healthier link profile), then counts of Healthy, Low Risk, Medium Risk and High Risk links.

• Toxicity: All Domains / All Links, Healthy Only, Low Risk, Medium Risk or High Risk. Use High Risk to find spammy links.
• Sort by (Referring Domains): Domain Rank, Backlinks or Referring Pages.
• Group by (Broken Backlinks): Domain or Individual Links.

Link Gap Analysis

1. Enter up to 3 competitor domains.
2. Click Find Link Opportunities.

You get the sites that link to a competitor but not to you, with Link Opportunities Found and Average Domain Rank. On a client, the competitor boxes start with the client's saved competitors.

How to track a client's backlinks

1. Open the client, go to SEO → Links, then Backlinks.
2. Check the Domain analyzed. It's filled in from the client's domain or website. Click Change (or Set domain if there isn't one) to use another one for this client.
3. Click Analyze backlinks the first time, then Update snapshot later. The cost shows on the button.

Each run saves a dated snapshot: referring domains, backlinks, domain rank and broken backlinks, with the change since last time, plus New referring domains and Lost referring domains. Backlink history charts referring domains across snapshots. Hover, or click the chart and use the arrow keys, to see each snapshot. The same tabs as the SEO tool sit below, including Bad links.

Bad links and the disavow file

Google ignores most spammy links on its own. A disavow file tells Google to ignore links you name, but it can also throw away links that help. Only disavow when:

• Search Console shows a manual action for unnatural links, or
• the site is under a clear spam attack (hundreds of casino, pharmacy or adult links appearing at once), or you know of paid links you want to drop.

If none of that applies, leave the links alone. Asking site owners to remove links rarely works, so you don't need to try first.

Check for bad links

1. Open the client, go to SEO → Links → Backlinks, then Bad links. In SEO Tools → Backlink Analysis, open Bad Links and pick the client under Which client is this for? (it's picked for you when a client's domain matches).
2. Set Why are you checking?: No problem reported — just checking, Search Console shows a manual action for unnatural links, or A clear spam attack, or paid links we want to drop. It's saved for the client.
3. Click Check for bad links. The cost shows on the button. A check less than 12 hours old is reopened for free.

Zeus looks at up to 1,000 of the client's backlinks (worst first) and their linking sites, and flags a site when it shows signs like:

• casino, pharmacy, adult or other spam words in the anchor text, page title or address
• a high spam score
• a page with a huge number of outgoing links (a link farm or link list), or a thin page that mostly links out
• several low-authority linking sites on the same server network (a private link network)
• pages in a language the client's site isn't in
• a site-wide footer or sidebar link on a low-authority site
• the same keyword anchor on many sites at once
• a sudden burst of new linking sites in one month

Each flagged site shows its High or Medium confidence, the number of links, when it was first seen, and the plain reasons. Open Linking pages and anchors to see the pages and anchors. One weak sign on its own (no authority, or a foreign language) is never enough to flag a site.

Never flagged: the client's own domains, their listings and citations, social networks, review sites and directories, government and education sites, and high-authority sites.

If nothing looks clearly harmful, or Why are you checking? is No problem reported, you see: "Google likely ignores these already — only disavow if you have a manual action or a clear spam attack; disavowing good links can hurt." Nothing is ticked for you then. With a manual action or spam attack chosen, High sites start ticked.

Build the list

1. Tick whole sites, or open Linking pages and anchors and tick single pages.
2. Click Add to disavow list. Or click Mark ticked as fine for sites you've looked at and want to keep.

Anything on the list, or marked fine, isn't shown again, so the next check only shows new junk.

The Disavow list shows every entry with its status:

• In file — not downloaded yet: added since the last download.
• Downloaded: in a file you've downloaded.
• Removed: taken out of the file. Click Remove on an entry to un-disavow it, and Disavow to put it back.
• Marked fine: reviewed and kept.

You can also type a domain or a page address and click Add. If the client already had a disavow file before ContentForge, click Already uploaded a disavow file before? Bring it in, paste the file's text, and click Bring in these lines. Those lines are kept in every file from then on.

Download and upload the file

1. Click Download disavow.txt. The file always holds the client's whole list, not just the new sites, because each upload to Google replaces the previous file.
2. Open Google's Disavow links tool (search.google.com/search-console/disavow-links), signed in to the account that owns the site in Search Console.
3. Pick the property for the client's site. It must be the same property the links point to.
4. Click Upload disavow list (or Replace) and choose the file. Don't edit it first.
5. For a manual action, send a reconsideration request in Search Console afterwards.

Google takes a few weeks to act on it. There's no way to send the file to Google for you; the site owner uploads it. Downloads lists every file you've downloaded, with Download again. When the list changes after a download, you see "The list has changed since the last download" — download and upload it again. If you remove everything, cancel the file in Google's Disavow links tool instead.

Show backlinks in the client portal

If the client's portal shows backlinks, the Client portal box controls which domains are listed. Hide domains with no authority (rank 0) from the client portal is on by default, because many new referring domains are automated "SEO checker" sites. Use the eye on any domain to show or hide it anyway. Totals always include everything.

On Growth and Agency plans, clients whose portal shows backlinks get a fresh snapshot automatically every 30 days, once you've run the first analysis. These are free.

Examples

• A prospect says their old agency built links: run the domain, filter Toxicity to High Risk, and show them the spam.
• A client got a manual action for unnatural links: choose the manual action under Why are you checking?, run Check for bad links, add the High sites, download the file, upload it in Search Console, then send a reconsideration request.
• A redesign lost rankings: check Broken Backlinks, then redirect the dead pages so the links count again.
• Finding link ideas: put the client's top 3 map pack rivals into Link Gap Analysis and reach out to the local sites that link to them.

Limits and what it can't do

• Link Gap compares up to 3 competitor domains at once.
• Backlink data comes from a crawl of the web, so very new links can take a few weeks to show.
• It can't remove links or send a disavow file to Google. You upload the file in Search Console yourself.
• The bad-link check looks at up to 1,000 backlinks (worst first) per check.
• Backlink Analysis has no Past tab. A client's snapshots are kept on the client.

Credits

• Backlink analysis (one charge): Analyze Backlinks in the tool, or a client's Analyze backlinks / Update snapshot. A client snapshot less than 12 hours old is reused and the credits come back (your credit history says "Recent snapshot reused — no charge"). A failed run is refunded ("Backlink analysis failed — credits returned").
• Backlink detail lookup (per lookup): opening referring domains, broken links, history or a link gap for a domain. Results are cached for 30 days, so opening the same one again in that time is free.
• Check for bad links costs one backlink detail lookup. A check less than 12 hours old is reopened for free; a failed check is refunded ("Bad-link check failed — credits returned"). Downloading the disavow file is free.
• Automatic 30-day snapshots and the PDF are free.

You can also take a client's backlink snapshot from a connected AI assistant, which shows the cost first. See Connect an AI assistant.

Who can use it

Owners and Admins, and Members with the Backlink Analysis tool on. A client's backlink snapshot needs both the Clients tool and Backlink Analysis. Client people see backlinks only in the portal, if you show them there.

Troubleshooting

• "Target domain is required": enter a domain before clicking Analyze Backlinks.
• "Please enter at least one competitor domain": add a domain to Link Gap first.
• "This client has no domain yet — add one to analyze its backlinks.": add the website or domain on the client's details, or click Set domain next to Domain analyzed.
• "Backlink Analysis access required": you have the Clients tool but not Backlink Analysis. Ask an Owner or Admin to switch it on.
• "Tool access required": the tool is switched off for you.
• "Bad-link review needs the database update first": the feature isn't set up yet. Contact support.
• "Nothing is on the disavow list yet.": add sites from the review, or type one in, before downloading.
• Bad links shows nothing flagged: good. Google likely ignores any weak links already.
• "No Link Gaps Found": the competitors share no linking sites you're missing. Try bigger or more local competitors.
• The numbers didn't change after Update snapshot: a snapshot less than 12 hours old was reused. Try again tomorrow.
• Lots of new referring domains with rank 0: these are usually automated SEO-checker sites. They're hidden from the portal by default.