Backlinks are essentially inbound connections that point back to your website from other websites; they are widely regarded as a pinnacle ranking criteria for search engine optimisation.

According to research provided by Backlinko, the number of domains linking to a website is the single most important factor in determining a page’s position in Google search results.

You need to monitor your backlinks to make sure they are contributing to your SEO rather than hurting it, as the quality of your backlinks can have a significant impact on your website’s SEO.

What You Should Keep an Eye On

A master spreadsheet with all of the relevant information for your project is required before you can begin.

The following information belongs in every spreadsheet:

Backlinks

Keep tabs on inbound links from every possible source, including private blog networks, web 2.0 sites, profile links, social bookmarks, forum profiles, and more. 

When did you initially link them?

The date the relationship was initially established.

Linking Words

You’ve linked to this exact phrase. It could be the name of your company, domain, chosen term, etc.

The web address of the page on which your link appears

To obtain this, simply move your mouse pointer over the link and examine the URL that appears in the bottom left corner of your screen. (on Chrome).

Website address

That’s the web address (URL) you’re pointing to.

What’s the deal with following and not following?

The connected page will receive no link equity or SEO value from a nofollow link. That is to say, it won’t improve the search engine rankings of the page you’ve linked to.

Is the web page indexed?

A search engine’s index is a data store where it keeps track of every page it plans to include in its search results after it has crawled it. Once a backlink has been indexed, it is visible to users and search engines alike.

After how long did it go without a check?

You last visited the page to see if the link was still active on this date.

The current status of the link

A link’s status can be “live” if it’s a working link that takes users to your site, or “dead” if it doesn’t work. A dead link, on the other hand, is one that has stopped working and redirects to a “404 Not Found” page.

Dissemination of Anchor Text

Anchor text distribution should be taken into account when building backlinks.

The phrase you hyperlink is called the anchor text. It could be the name of your company, domain, chosen term, etc.

Your use of anchor text should flow naturally throughout the page. That’s why overusing branded anchor text or exact-match keywords is a bad idea.

Use a software like Ahrefs to see how your anchor text is being used.

Just type in your domain name and hit the “Explore” button!

When you click that link, you’ll be taken to a page that lists every link that points back to your domain. To view how your anchor text is being used, go to the “Anchors” area.

Rankings

How high up in search engine results pages (SERPs) your website appears for a given term is its ranking.

Your website’s ideal position in search results for your chosen keywords is at the very top. More people will find your website if you improve its search engine rankings.

Use a tool like Ahrefs Rank Tracker to keep tabs on how you’re doing in search engine results.

Just type in your domain and your desired keyword into the search field on Ahrefs Rank Tracker and then click “Add to tracking.”

The next page you visit will show you where you stand in terms of the rankings.

Keyword-Targeting Pages

It’s a document listing all the terms you’re trying to rank for and the web pages on your site that do so.

You can monitor your progress and determine which keywords are producing results with the help of this handy spreadsheet.

You may make this spreadsheet by making a new Google Sheet and inserting the following columns:

• Keyword
• URL
• Rank
• Change
• Volume
• CPC

Then, you can complete the information for each search term.

The Value of Monitoring Inbound Links

Keeping tabs on your backlinks can help in numerous ways, including:

It’s easy to tell which links are helpful and which are harmful, which are considered “healthy” and “toxic,” respectively.
The evolution of your backlink profile can be monitored over time.
You can discover fresh openings for establishing backlinks.
Find out which links are bringing in the most traffic to your site so you can put more effort into earning those.
Avoiding Google’s low-quality backlink penalty is possible.
Making sure your link-building activities are fruitful requires monitoring your backlinks.