Backlink audit tool
Audit Your Backlink Profile and Fix What Actually Matters
BacklinkDone is a backlink audit tool for your own site. It reviews your backlink profile for the changes that affect backlink health: links you lost, links whose destination, anchor or nofollow status changed, source pages that are no longer available, and linking sites with little relevance to your business. Then you can decide what is worth fixing and what to leave alone.
| Finding | Links |
|---|---|
| Lost backlinksYour link is no longer on the page | 142 |
| Source page goneThe linking page no longer loads | 58 |
| Destination changedThe link now points elsewhere | 84 |
| Low-relevance sitesUsually noise you can leave alone | 1,160 |
The problem
Your backlink profile changes even when you do nothing
Links you earned two years ago do not keep working for you on their own. Publishers prune old posts. Editors swap your link for a competitor's. Pages move, and links quietly change. None of this sends you a notification.
Many backlink audits make it worse by leading with a scary number: hundreds of "toxic" links and a disavow file ready to download. Meanwhile the problems that cost you real value, such as a strong link that disappeared from a page you care about, sit further down the report. A useful backlink audit puts the recoverable losses first and treats the noise as noise.
Backlink profile analysis
What the backlink audit tool checks
BacklinkDone reviews the links pointing at your domain for the same changes it watches for on the links you earn, and adds how relevant each linking site is to your business. Facts about a link are kept apart from BacklinkDone's own assessment.
Lost backlinks
A link that was there is gone. Often an editor updated the article or replaced you. When the page itself is still online, these tend to be the most recoverable losses.
Source page unavailable
The page that linked to you no longer loads. Sometimes it is gone for good, sometimes the content moved to a new URL on the same site.
Destination changed
The link still exists but points somewhere else than before, such as a different page on your site or another site entirely.
Anchor changed
The link text is different from what it was. Usually harmless, but worth a look when it no longer describes what you do.
Nofollow and status changes
A followed link that became nofollow, or a change in the link's status. Sometimes a site-wide policy, sometimes a sign the page was edited.
Low-relevance linking sites
Scrapers, auto-generated directories and unrelated sites. Seeing why a site is not relevant to you helps you treat these links as the noise they usually are.
From finding to action
Turn audit findings into a short fix list
A backlink audit checker that only lists problems leaves the hard part to you. The table below is general best practice for what each finding usually means and what to do about it. The decision on each link stays with you.
| Finding | What it usually means | Usual next step |
|---|---|---|
| Lost backlink, page still online | The article was updated and you were dropped or replaced. | Reclaim: contact the author with a reason to restore it, such as updated data or a feature that was missing. |
| Source page unavailable | The page was deleted or moved. | Check whether the content moved. If it did, ask for the link on the new page. |
| Destination changed | The site edited the link, or your own URL changed. | Review where it points now. If it points at a page you moved, make sure the old URL leads to the right page. |
| Anchor changed | The page was rewritten around the link. | Usually leave it, unless the new text misdescribes you. |
| Followed link became nofollow | Often a site-wide change to outbound links. Occasionally a sign of a dispute. | Review whether the change was site-wide. If it was, there is nothing to do. |
| Low-relevance linking site | Scraped or auto-generated pages that link to everyone. | Ignore. Search engines already discount most of these links. |
Toxic links and disavow
A calmer approach to toxic backlinks
Every site collects links it never asked for. That is normal, and it is rarely a problem.
Google has said repeatedly that its systems ignore most low-quality and spammy links on their own. The disavow tool exists for specific cases: you received a manual action for unnatural links, or you or a former agency built or paid for links that break Google's spam policies and cannot get them removed. Outside those cases, disavowing is usually unnecessary, and disavowing good links by mistake can hurt.
BacklinkDone's part is to show you which linking sites are relevant to your business and which are not, with its assessment kept apart from the facts about each link. What, if anything, to disavow is your decision.
- Treat third-party spam scores as estimates. Look at the pattern behind a flag before you act on it.
- Ignore is the sensible default for random scraper and directory links you did not build.
- Save your review time for patterns that suggest paid or unnatural links you or a vendor built.
- No audit can promise to remove a penalty or restore rankings
- Do not disavow everything below a score
Worked example
A backlink audit, start to finish
Say uptimelyapp.com reviews its backlink profile twice a year. Traffic to a few guides dipped since the last review, and nobody is sure why. Here is what the audit surfaces, and the usual next step for each finding.
Twelve lost backlinks
Most come from pages that are still online. One is a review of your on-call checklist that was rewritten. Next step: reclaim it, starting with the link from the most relevant site.
Three changed destinations
One roundup now links to a competitor's page where it used to link to yours. Next step: a short note to the author with what has changed in your product.
Four unavailable source pages
Two moved to new URLs on the same sites. Next step: ask for the link on the new pages.
Fifty-eight low-relevance links
Copies of your guides on auto-generated sites. Next step: ignore. Nothing to disavow.
Where the audit fits
Audit, monitoring and analysis do different jobs
A backlink audit is a periodic health check of the profile you already have. It works best next to two other views of your links.
Your whole profile, periodically
Every link pointing at your site, including the ones you never asked for. Run it a couple of times a year and after every migration.
Earned links, over time
The links you worked for, watched after they go live. The backlink monitoring tool detects when one is lost or changes.
Other sites' links, as opportunities
Links to your competitors, evaluated as input for new links. That is the job of the backlink analysis tool.
A lost link worth recovering can be worked like any other opportunity, with who to contact and what to offer, and followed through your pipeline in the backlink tracking tool until the link is live again.
FAQ
Backlink audit tool FAQ
What does a backlink audit tool check?
A backlink audit tool reviews the links pointing at your own site and the health of that backlink profile. In BacklinkDone that means looking at your profile through the same signals used to monitor the links you earn: new and lost backlinks, changed destinations, changed anchors, nofollow and status changes, and source pages that are no longer available, alongside how relevant each linking site is to your business. What you do about each finding is your decision, and this page sets out the usual best practice.
Should I disavow toxic backlinks?
Usually not. Google has said for years that it ignores most spammy links on its own, and that the disavow tool is meant for specific cases: a manual action for unnatural links, or links you or a previous agency bought or built in ways that break its spam policies. For random low-quality links you never asked for, ignoring them is normally the right call. The decision always stays with you.
Will a backlink audit remove a Google penalty?
No tool can promise that. If you have a manual action in Search Console, an audit helps you find the links involved, but the cleanup, any removal requests, a possible disavow and the reconsideration request are your decisions and Google's review. BacklinkDone helps you see the evidence. It cannot promise an outcome.
How often should I run a backlink audit?
A full audit once or twice a year is enough for most sites, plus one after any site migration, redesign or URL change, because that is when links tend to break. Between audits, the links you actively earned are better covered by the backlink monitoring tool, which watches them over time.
What is the difference between a backlink audit and backlink monitoring?
An audit is a periodic review of your whole backlink profile, including links you never asked for. Monitoring watches the links you earned and detects when one of them is lost or changes. The audit gives you the overall picture of your backlink health. Monitoring catches changes on the links you care about most.
Is a toxic score a Google metric?
No. Toxic, spam and risk scores are estimates made by tool vendors. Google does not publish a per-link score. BacklinkDone keeps its own assessments, such as why a linking site is or is not relevant to you, apart from objective facts about a link, so a high number from any tool is a prompt to look, not a verdict.
Backlink Monitoring
Watch the links you earned and get told when one is lost, changed or made nofollow.
Learn morebacklink analysis toolBacklink Analysis
Go from who links to whom to which links are realistic for you and what to do next.
Learn morebacklink tracking toolBacklink Tracking
Follow every opportunity from discovery to a live link, with the history of what happened at each stage.
Learn more14-day free trial
Find the backlinks you can still save
Add your domain. BacklinkDone reviews the links pointing at it, shows which were lost or changed, and how relevant each linking site is, so you can fix what matters and ignore the rest.
No credit card required.