Link Building Metrics: How to Measure and Track Success

Backlinks are 1 of the astir important factors hunt engines usage to fertile webpages. The much links your tract gets from different trustworthy, niche-relevant websites, the much improvements you're apt to spot successful your SEO.

The process of acquiring backlinks to your tract is called "link building." Link gathering metrics assistance you gauge however palmy your backlink acquisition efforts are.

And immoderate metrics volition assistance you analyse the domains you’re selecting for outreach. So you cognize you’re targeting high-quality, trustworthy sources.

Let’s get started.

Key Link Building Metrics

Link gathering metrics are utilized to support way of your backlink illustration health, cheque the prime of websites you privation to gain links from, and measure your outreach campaigns.

Let’s research 4 metrics for evaluating your nexus gathering efforts.

Number of Referring Domains and Backlinks

The fig of referring domains tells you however galore unsocial websites nexus to yours astatine slightest once.

The fig of backlinks shows you the fig of links that constituent to your site, including aggregate links from referring domains.

See some successful the Backlink Analytics report.

Gaining backlinks from authoritative, trusted, and topically applicable websites volition person a beneficial effect connected the prime of your backlink profile. And your site’s performance.

When your nexus gathering efforts are successful, you’ll people spot maturation successful some of these numbers. 

But, if you absorption connected conscionable 1 of them, it’s amended to absorption connected referring domains. Getting 1 nexus each from 10 prime domains is much impactful than getting 10 links from a azygous prime domain.

That’s due to the fact that Google sees each tract that links to yours arsenic a ballot of confidence. And if 10 domains nexus to yours, that’s 10 votes compared to one.

Authority Score

Authority Score (AS) is Semrush’s metric that shows each domain’s oregon webpage’s prime and SEO performance, expressed connected a standard from 0 to 100. When calculating AS, we instrumentality into account:

• Link Power: the fig of backlinks and their quality
• Spam Factors: the ratio betwixt perchance spammy and earthy backlinks
• Organic Traffic: a monthly mean integrated postulation estimate

There’s nary one-size-fits-all fig that indicates a bully oregon atrocious AS.

Using AS volition assistance you cheque the prime of domains connected which you mightiness privation to physique links.

To spot a domain's AS, usage Semrush's Backlink Analytics tool.

Enter a domain name, and click “Analyze.”

You’ll spot a dashboard and the “Authority Score” section.

You’ll spot the people (in this case, 86), a enactment that further explains the authorization of this website (e.g., “Industry leader”), and a graph showing the domain’s prime crossed each 3 cardinal segments.

By hovering implicit the greenish “Industry leader” note, you’ll larn whether a nexus from this domain would payment your site.

And by hovering implicit each segment, you’ll spot an mentation of the calculation:

What astir a website with a little AS?

This tract has a little AS (40) than the 1 successful the illustration above. From the graph, we larn this domain has a bully backlink illustration and a decent magnitude of integrated traffic.

Hover implicit the “Good and niche relevant” note, and you’ll larn that a nexus from this domain could payment your site. So don't automatically discount a tract due to the fact that its AS is low.

Semrush besides recognizes perchance harmful sites.

Have a look astatine the enactment for this website, which has an unnatural backlink profile. Semrush marks it arsenic “Link farm.”

Link farms are groups of websites that nexus to each different to summation their rankings and visibility successful hunt results. With the imaginable extremity end of selling backlinks to different websites (which is against Google’s spam guidelines).

Hover implicit the “Link farm” note, and you’ll spot a warning.

Obtaining links that interruption spam guidelines could effect successful a punishment from Google. Which successful terrible cases could origin your website to astir oregon wholly vanish from hunt results.

Your website tin retrieve from a penalty. But it’s a tedious process. It tin instrumentality a batch of clip to scope the level of occurrence you erstwhile had. Some websites ne'er recover.

If you spot a enactment similar this 1 erstwhile checking a website’s Authority Score, it’s champion to debar gathering links connected it.

And if your ain website has this note, hop implicit to the “Toxicity Score” conception to larn what to bash astir it.

Number of Links per Campaign oregon Link Building Tactic

To summation links to your site, you’ll apt beryllium utilizing aggregate outreach campaigns and link gathering strategies.

By tracking the fig of links you gain per campaign, you’ll recognize what kinds of tactics and contented assets gain the astir links.

With that information, you tin iterate your outreach and nexus gathering strategies.

If you privation to summation penetration into your top-performing contented by the fig of backlinks, usage Backlink Analytics.

Scroll down to the “Top Pages” section. Click “View afloat report.”

You’ll spot a database of pages, sorted by the fig of referring domains. Usually, the archetypal fewer results volition beryllium location pages and/or the astir fashionable landing pages.

Explore this database to find a contented plus that gets a batch of links. Exclude the location page, merchandise landing pages, arsenic good arsenic navigational ones. Look for blog posts, infographics, manufacture reports, and similar.

A large illustration is Semrush’s study astir ranking factors.

By looking astatine which pages get much links, you’ll larn much astir what benignant of contented different publications are usually funny in, and beryllium capable to:

• Maximize outreach for that circumstantial leafage by reaching retired to much akin sources
• Brainstorm ideas for akin topics to cover 

Toxicity Score

Toxicity Score is Semrush’s metric that shows you which links mightiness beryllium harmful to your site. And however harmful they perchance are. It’s expressed connected a standard from 0 to 100.

Links with a toxicity people of 0-44 are considered non-toxic. Potentially toxic links are those with a people of 45-59, portion toxic links are marked with a fig betwixt 60 and 100.

Toxic backlinks could negatively impact your hunt motor rankings, truthful you should analyse backlinks with a precocious toxicity rating.

As you bash that, support successful caput that it’s mean for your website to get spammy backlinks, particularly arsenic your website grows. On apical of that, hunt engines similar Google person go truly bully astatine identifying which backlinks to simply ignore:

“Google works precise hard to marque definite that actions connected third-party sites bash not negatively impact a website,” according to Google’s documentation connected disavowing links.

Typically, the lone toxic backlinks that whitethorn necessitate your enactment are the ones you acquired by violating Google’s guidelines (e.g., nexus schemes). Or those that person caused you to get a manual punishment from Google.

With that successful mind, let’s research the toxicity scores.

First, find toxic links with Semrush's Backlink Audit tool.

Click “+ Create project.”

Enter your domain and task name. Click “Create project.”

Select a run scope from these options:

• Root domain: Analyze each links coming to your basal domain, including subdomains (e.g., shop.yoursite.com), arsenic good arsenic some the www and non-www versions
• www and non-www versions: Analyze each links coming to your website’s www and non-www versions, without analyzing subdomains (e.g., https://www.yoursite.com and https://yoursite.com )
• www version: Analyzes each links coming to your site’s www version, without analyzing subdomains (e.g., https://www.yoursite.com)
• non-www version: Analyzes each links coming to your site’s non-www version, without analyzing subdomains (e.g., https://yoursite.com)

Click “Start Backlink Audit.”

Once the instrumentality checks your site’s links, you’ll get a elaborate report.

In the “Overall Toxicity Score” section, you’ll spot however galore toxic, perchance toxic, and non-toxic links your tract has. Along with a toxicity people enactment (Low, Medium, oregon High).

Click connected the reddish fig (74.3K successful this example) to research links the instrumentality marked toxic.

You’ll spot a database of referring domains whose links mightiness beryllium harming your site.

The “TS” file shows the site’s toxicity score. By clicking connected the numbers successful this column, you’ll find retired which toxic markers these domains trigger. And however unsafe they are

For example, this website triggers six markers. One of them listed nether "Dangerous" is “Non-indexed domain.” Which could bespeak this website was penalized by Google and removed from hunt results.

How to Manage Toxic Links

First, support your audit cleanable by creating a whitelist of domains you cognize are harmless and natural, and domains that person debased toxicity scores.

Then, click the “Whitelist button” successful the enactment of the tract you deliberation isn’t harmful.

Choose whether you privation to people the full domain oregon a azygous URL arsenic non-toxic.

Click the whitelist button, past click “Move to Whitelist.”

After you make a whitelist, you’ll person a smaller database of domains to instrumentality enactment on.

To negociate harmful links, you person 2 options:

• Remove: Reach retired to website owners and inquire them to region the links to your site
• Disavow: Use Google’s Disavow Tool (found successful Google Search Console) to fto them cognize not to instrumentality into relationship these links to your site

Google advises disavowing links ONLY successful 2 cases:

• Your website has already received a manual link-related penalty. Read our elaborate Google punishment guide to larn however to find retired whether you person 1 and however to hole it.
• Your website has a “considerable” fig of perchance harmful links that’s apt to origin a manual penalty

However, support successful caput that adjacent if you bash person a “considerable” fig of perchance toxic links, it’s amended to statesman your cleaning process by trying to region arsenic galore links arsenic imaginable without utilizing the Disavow Tool.

Use Semrush to negociate the full nexus removal process. Here’s how.

Click connected the region fastener successful the enactment of the nexus you privation to remove. Click “Move to Remove.”

Go to the “Remove” tab to spot a database of links you selected for removal. Then click the “Send” button. When you bash that, an email interface wrong Semrush volition unfastened up. To nonstop an email to the proprietor of a tract you privation to region a nexus from.

You’ll request to link your mailbox to nonstop retired an email. But the instrumentality volition bash the remainder for you by sourcing email addresses you could scope retired to. And providing you with a customizable email template.

The template is simply a starting constituent you tin edit based connected the code you privation to usage successful your email. Use the resistance and driblet placeholders to make those templates.

For example, <sample backlinks> placeholder volition see a database of pages wherever that website is linking to yours truthful the idiosyncratic you’re penning to tin easy instrumentality enactment from your email.

Once you’re acceptable to scope out, click “Send and proceed to next.”

By doing this, you whitethorn beryllium capable to region immoderate of your links. But support successful caput that not each website proprietor volition beryllium able—or want—to accommodate you.

If you were incapable to region links you deem indispensable to remove, the lone enactment you person near is to disavow them.

Further reading: How to Disavow Links

Anchor Text

Anchor substance refers to the clickable, disposable substance of a hyperlink. It is usually a antithetic colour and underlined. The substance contains accusation astir what benignant of contented the leafage you’re linking to has. 

Using relevant, descriptive anchor substance enhances idiosyncratic acquisition due to the fact that readers summation penetration into what they whitethorn expect to spot aft they click connected a link. And helps hunt engines recognize the relationships betwixt webpages that are linking to each other.

There are respective types of anchor text:

• Exact lucifer keywords: Anchor substance matches the superior keyword the leafage you’re linking to is targeting (e.g., research our keyword research guide)
• Partial lucifer keywords: Anchor substance contains a superior keyword saltation the leafage you’re linking to is targeting (e.g., work much astir keyword probe tips)
• Related keywords: Anchor substance doesn’t see the existent superior keyword, but it is akin to the partial lucifer keyword and helps you debar overusing the word (e.g., research our usher for identifying the close keywords to target)
• Naked URL: Anchor substance is the URL (e.g., https://www.semrush.com/)
• Branded: Anchor substance is the marque sanction (e.g., Semrush)
• Compound (Brand + Keyword): Anchor substance contains the marque sanction and the superior keyword (e.g., Semrush’s keyword probe guide)
• Empty: There’s nary anchor text. The “empty” class besides includes images that nexus retired to different pages.
• Generic: Terms that don’t archer the idiosyncratic what the leafage is astir (e.g., similar work more, click here, find retired much information, etc.)

A steadfast backlink illustration volition usually incorporate a premix of the bulk oregon each types of anchor text. And Backlink Audit tin assistance you support way of the anchor substance distribution.

Go to the tool.

Scroll down to the “Backlinks by Anchor Type” and “Top 100 Anchors” sections.

In this report, you tin reappraisal the anchor substance distribution.

The “Money” people refers to links wherever the anchor substance is akin to the keywords the tract wants to fertile for.

While it’s mean to person backlinks with this benignant of anchor text, buying “Money” backlinks with overly optimized anchor substance from websites that enactment successful nexus schemes oregon are portion of a backstage blog web could get you a punishment from Google.

If you participated successful this benignant of activity, you whitethorn request to measure your “Money” backlinks and inquire for their removal from the website owners.

What astir erstwhile you person the powerfulness implicit what benignant of anchor substance volition beryllium pointing to your site?

In the bulk of cases, particularly arsenic you commencement getting much integrated backlinks, you won’t person powerfulness implicit what benignant of anchor substance your links have.

Occasionally, erstwhile you’re issuing thing that whitethorn get reposted connected different websites (e.g., a property merchandise oregon a contributing nonfiction for different website), you tin take what benignant of anchor substance you want.

In those cases, you tin travel these champion practices:

• Keep it brief. Five words oregon shorter is simply a bully wide magnitude for anchor text.
• Make it relevant. The anchor substance should beryllium applicable to the leafage you’re linking to.
• Use keywords, but don’t overdo it. Use the primary, secondary, oregon different keyword variations, but don’t worldly the keywords. Make definite it sounds earthy to the reader.

These tips are besides applicable erstwhile you’re linking from your tract to outer sources and different pages connected your website.

Start Tracking Your Link Building Metrics Today

After investing clip into gathering a steadfast backlink profile, tracking your nexus gathering results is the adjacent logical measurement to instrumentality to marque definite you’re earning prime links.

Ready to commencement measuring your nexus gathering efforts? Jump close successful with:

• Backlink Analytics: To spot the AS of sites linking to you, and the numbers of backlinks and referring domains
• Backlink Audit: To cheque for perchance toxic backlinks and region them

Sign up for a free Semrush trial contiguous and summation entree to those and 55+ different tools: