SEO glossary · L

Link Profile

What is a Link Profile?

A link profile, or backlink profile, is the complete set of links pointing to a website from other sites: how many there are, which sites they come from, what anchor text they use and how they have grown over time. Search engines use it as one way of judging how trusted and popular a site is.

  • Relevant sources: links from sites in your industry, region or topic.
  • Many different domains: links from many sites count for more than many links from one site.
  • Natural anchor text: mostly brand names, URLs and descriptive phrases, not the same exact keyword again and again.
  • Steady growth: links that build up over time as the site earns them, rather than sudden spikes.
  • Editorial links: links placed because the content deserved them, in the main text of real pages.

Warning signs

  • Many links from unrelated or low-quality sites
  • Links from private blog networks, link farms or paid link lists
  • A high share of exact-match keyword anchors
  • Site-wide footer or sidebar links from sites you have no relationship with

The Links report in Google Search Console shows the sites that link to you most. Tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush and Majestic show more detail, including new and lost links and anchor text. Review it every few months, and focus on earning links rather than counting them.

A plumber’s site has 120 links from 60 domains: local newspapers, a trade association, suppliers, a charity page and a few directories. Most anchor text is the company name or the web address. Growth is steady, with a few new links each month. A competitor has 5,000 links from 30 domains, mostly blog comments and a link network. Which profile looks healthier to a search engine is clear.

  1. Export links from Search Console and one link tool.
  2. Count linking domains, not just links.
  3. Group links by type: editorial, directory, partner, forum, unknown.
  4. Check the anchor text distribution.
  5. Look at growth over time for sudden spikes.
  6. Compare with two or three competitors that rank above you.
  7. Make a list of sites to approach for real links.
  • Looking only at the total number of links.
  • Trusting one tool’s “toxic” score without looking at the links.
  • Disavowing links that were never a problem.
  • Building links that no human would ever click.

How do I improve it?

Create resources worth citing and earn mentions. See backlinks and dofollow backlinks.

What if my profile contains spam?

Most random spam is ignored. See disavowing links and Google Penguin.

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