How to Use the Google Search Console Links Report

The Google Search Console (GSC) “Links” study is simply a peculiarly utile portion of GSC.

We'll explicate however you tin usage it to recognize your integer footprint and physique much backlinks. 

What Is the Google Search Console Links Report?

“Links” is simply a study wrong Google Search Console (GSC) that shows however different sites nexus to your tract and however your tract links internally. 

Tracking outer links, oregon backlinks, and internal links is important. It lets you spot sites that nexus to you the most, your astir influential pages, and more. All of which supply an in-depth presumption of your online presence. 

The GSC “Links” study offers respective information points, including: 

• Top linked pages: pages connected your tract that get the astir backlinks
• Top linking sites: outer sites that nexus to you the most
• Top linking text: the astir communal anchor text utilized successful links to your site
• Top internally linked pages: pages connected your tract with the astir interior links

Why Is the Links Report Important for SEO?

The “Links” study is simply a utile instrumentality to recognize and amended your SEO performance. 

The study provides insights into backlinks, a confirmed SEO ranking factor. Google views links from reputable sites that constituent to your tract arsenic a ballot of confidence. 

In different words, impervious that your tract is high-quality and worthy of adjacent much integrated visits. 

Knowing which sites nexus to you and which pages pull the astir backlinks tin pass your SEO strategy. So you cognize what benignant of contented to nutrient to pull adjacent much backlinks. 

Internal links are important, too. They alteration some visitors and website crawlers to observe and navigate your tract much easily. 

Internal links besides walk authorization (or PageRank) to linked pages, helping them fertile higher successful hunt results. 

How to Access the ‘Links’ Report

Accessing the “Links” study is simply a straightforward process. 

First, navigate to GSC and log in.

Select the applicable spot successful the precocious near box. Then, find and click “Links” astatine the bottommost of the left-hand sidebar. 

You’ll present scope the main “Links” dashboard. 

The disposable nexus information is divided into “External links” and “Internal links” categories.

In the “External links” category, you tin find apical linked pages, apical linking sites, and apical linking text. 

You tin besides find apical linking sites for each of your pages. Just click connected a circumstantial linked page, and you’ll get a study akin to this:

You tin besides spot each the backlinks from a circumstantial site. Simply click connected a linking tract successful the main menu, and you’ll entree a presumption akin to this one:

And if you click connected a circumstantial people leafage connected this list, you tin spot each the backlinks it got from this linking site.

In the “Internal links” category, you tin reappraisal the apical internally linked pages. You tin besides click connected each leafage to get the database of interior pages that nexus to it. Like here:

And you tin extract some outer and interior nexus information to analyse it successful Excel oregon akin software.

To extract outer links, click connected "EXPORT EXTERNAL LINKS" successful the precocious close country of the main “Links” dashboard, and prime "Latest links." 

You tin besides extract much granular data. Simply click “MORE >” underneath each information constituent connected the main dashboard. 

Below is the study you get erstwhile you click “MORE >” to entree the apical internally linked pages data. Click “Export” successful the precocious close corner. You tin past take whether to download information successful Google Sheets, Excel, oregon CSV format.

How to Interpret Link Data 

The “Links” study offers a wealthiness of insights. Here are immoderate guidelines connected however to construe its data.

Top Linked Pages

A precocious fig of backlinks to your pages tin awesome their popularity and relevance. You privation to guarantee that you thrust backlinks to important pages, similar a homepage, merchandise pages, blog posts, oregon information reports. 

Conversely, a debased fig of backlinks tin mean your tract lacks link-worthy contented oregon pages. 

Top Linking Sites 

Getting backlinks from reputable sites is beneficial for SEO. Ideally, galore of those sites would beryllium applicable to your niche. 

For instance, a healthcare concern would greatly payment from receiving a backlink from WebMD, an authoritative root of aesculapian news. 

But links from low-quality oregon spammy sites are improbable to amended your site’s ranking. 

Top Linking Text

The anchor substance gives discourse to hunt engines astir the contented of the linked page. Ideally, the anchor substance utilized successful your backlinks should beryllium applicable and varied. 

Search engines mightiness spot over-optimized anchor substance (like utilizing exact-match keywords excessively) arsenic manipulative.

Top Internally Linked Pages

Your interior links should link galore of your pages. But you should particularly absorption connected adding interior links to strategical and revenue-generating pages. 

For instance, a B2B SaaS startup mightiness propulsion interior links (and frankincense their authorization oregon PageRank) to merchandise landing pages to guarantee these pages amusement up successful hunt results and pull prospects.

How to Analyze Your Backlink Profile to Improve SEO

Your backlink illustration is the postulation of each backlinks that constituent to your site.

Backlinks from bequest media, large companies, universities, and different trustworthy sites tin elevate your backlink illustration and SEO performance.

For instance, here’s the large bundle institution HubSpot linking to 1 of Semrush's courses successful a blog post. 

Getting these sorts of prime backlinks is captious for gathering and maintaining beardown SEO performance. 

But links from spammy sites, known arsenic atrocious oregon toxic backlinks, won’t beryllium of benefit, and tin successful information beryllium detrimental. 

Toxic backlinks whitethorn besides beryllium generated by paying for links, exchanging links, utilizing link-building bots, and different practices. 

Bad backlinks could wounded your hunt rankings. Because Google wants to discourage manipulative nexus building.

If Google thinks you engaged successful nexus spam tactics, you could person a manual action, known arsenic Google penalty. This tin suppress your tract oregon region it from hunt rankings altogether. 

Sign into your GSC relationship to cheque if you person a manual action.

Go to “Security & Manual Actions” > “Manual actions.”

Google is bully astatine ignoring spammy backlinks your tract whitethorn randomly pull implicit time. 

But if you're disquieted astir your past link-building tactics, oregon you were deed with a manual penalty, you should cheque for toxic backlinks. And benignant them retired truthful your tract tin commencement recovering.

You tin find harmful backlinks by utilizing toxic backlinks checkers similar Semrush’s Backlink Audit tool. 

Head to this tool, participate your domain, and click “Start Backlink Audit.” 

Then, spell done 4 steps to acceptable up backlink audit settings.

You typically privation to bash the audit of your basal domain to guarantee it covers each the URLs and subdomains.

After that, you’ll beryllium asked to adhd your marque names, prime applicable themes your domain is associated with, and specify people countries. 

Click “Start Backlink Audit” aft that.

Once the audit is completed, caput to the main “Overview” report. 

Click “Integrations” to link Backlink Audit with Google Analytics 4, GSC, oregon Majestic. 

Then, click “Connect” underneath each instrumentality and you’ll presumption instructions connected however to transportation retired circumstantial integration. You’ll person to link Semrush with the Google accounts you usage to entree GA4 and GSC. With Majestic, you’ll request to make an entree token and paste it into the provided box. 

Connecting Backlink Audit with GSC enables Semrush to person up-to-date information connected your backlinks. 

You tin present caput to the “Audit” tab to reappraisal atrocious backlinks the instrumentality has identified. 

Each backlink is assigned a Toxicity Score (TS) from 0-100. Semrush uses implicit 45 toxicity markers to find TS, and the higher the score, the higher the accidental the nexus is toxic. 

You tin click connected a TS to larn which toxicity markers were found. 

Next to TS is the Authority Score (AS) column. AS measures the page’s wide authorization and SEO performance. A higher people indicates a much authoritative tract that’s little apt to beryllium a atrocious backlink.

Lastly, you whitethorn besides privation to reappraisal the backlink’s anchor text. Bad backlinks thin to usage 1 of 2 types of anchor text, some of which thin to beryllium overly SEO-optimized:

• “Money” anchor text, which is precise akin to the keywords the tract is trying to fertile for (e.g., “best sports watches”) 
• “Compound” anchor text, which consists of a marque sanction and different operation (e.g., “eBay sports jacket”)

You tin present commencement reviewing backlinks utilizing the accusation from the audit.

If you privation to support a backlink, click the “Move to Whitelist” icon. 

If you privation to region a backlink by contacting a tract owner, click the “Move to Remove list” icon. 

If you privation to spell consecutive to disavowing a backlink done GSC, past click the “Move to Disavow list” icon. 

(Disavowing links is asking Google to disregard circumstantial links (and their SEO impact) to your site. This is an advanced SEO maneuver that you should not bash unless you are perfectly definite you cognize what you’re doing.)

Go to the “Remove” tab to inspect each the backlinks marked for removal. 

Click “Add” adjacent to “Mailbox” astatine the top, past travel the instructions to link your concern mailbox with Semrush. You’ll past beryllium capable to nonstop emails from wrong our tool. 

Next, take a backlink you privation to tackle, and find its domain owner’s email address. 

When ready, click “Send,” draught an email, and nonstop it.

Our instrumentality volition update the “Status” file afterward to “Sent.” And it volition besides update this file erstwhile your email has been delivered, read, and replied to. 

If these toxic backlinks aren’t removed aft a fewer weeks, you tin see adding them to the “Disavow” list, arsenic well.

You tin bash that by going backmost to the “Remove” list, selecting backlinks, and clicking “Disavow.” 

When moving backlinks to “Disavow,” see disavowing astatine the domain level. So that you tin disavow each pages that mightiness nexus to you from that site, some present and successful the future. 

Disavowing links should lone beryllium done arsenic a past measure. Google’s John Mueller (@JohnMu connected X) advises to lone disavow links if you cognize there’s an existent contented that disavowing volition resolve. 

To proceed, spell to the “Remove” tab and click “Export to TXT.” 

Then, upload this .txt record to Google’s nexus disavow tool.

Return present to Backlink Analytics and click “Yes, I uploaded the file.” Confirming you uploaded disavow links prompts the instrumentality to recalculate your site’s TS.

If you disavowed links due to the fact that of a manual enactment against your site, you should besides petition that Google reconsider the penalty. Click the "REQUEST REVIEW" fastener successful the “Manual Actions” report:

It whitethorn instrumentality respective weeks for Google to process your disavow request. And for this enactment to person immoderate effect connected your SEO results. 

How to Track Progress and Monitor Your Link Profile

Your backlink illustration is apt to evolve. You’ll triumph caller backlinks and suffer immoderate of the existing ones. The important happening is to show these changes and respond appropriately. 

The “Links” study offers a manual mode of monitoring your backlink profile. 

You simply reappraisal your apical linked pages oregon apical linking sites each week oregon period and cheque for immoderate changes. And enactment connected actionable insights. 

For instance, possibly you announcement your study connected manufacture trends has lately attracted galore backlinks from media sites. You tin past put adjacent much clip successful promoting the report. Because it resonates good with the audience.

However, the “Links” study doesn’t connection a humanities presumption of your backlink changes oregon immoderate competitory insights. You tin usage Semrush’s Backlink Analytics for that purpose. 

Head to the tool, participate your domain, and click “Analyze.” 

You’ll present scope the main “Overview” dashboard. 

Scroll down, and you’ll find information connected your referring domains, backlinks, AS, and more. 

You privation the fig of referring domains and backlinks to beryllium trending upward. Which should positively interaction your site’s AS arsenic well. 

The AS of referring domains and nexus attributes are besides utile information points.

You privation to person galore high-authority domains linking to you.

And galore of those backlinks should beryllium "Follow" links that walk nexus equity. Unlike "Nofollow" links.

Another mode to show backlink changes is to benchmark your tract against your competitors'. 

Simply adhd up to 4 competitors successful the precocious portion of the “Overview” dashboard. And past click “Compare.” 

You’ll present get a elaborate examination of your and competing sites. 

You mightiness notice, for instance, that a peculiar rival has precocious acquired much backlinks than you. You mightiness determine to analyse which of the competitor’s pages thrust backlinks.

To bash that, simply adhd that competitor’s domain to Backlink Analytics and caput to the “Indexed Pages” tab. 

Here, you’ll find the database of the competitor’s pages that pull the astir backlinks and referring domains. Study these pages to recognize what makes them successful.

Did your rival make a escaped instrumentality that different sites nexus to? Or possibly they utilized proprietary information to make reports media often references? 

You could usage the aforesaid tactic. And gain links with link-worthy contented assets.

Find and Seize Link-Building Opportunities

The “Links” study offers an up-to-date presumption of your backlink profile. And contains insights that tin pass your link-building efforts. 

But you mightiness privation archetypal to recognize the wellness of your backlink profile. 

Check retired our Backlink Audit instrumentality and start your escaped trial today. 

After that, commencement seizing the link-building opportunities you discover.