How can I check the quality of a potential backlink-website?

You can use the link module of the SISTRIX Toolbox (https://uk.sistrix.com/links) to analyse the backlink profile of any domain. This way you can look through the backlinks of a domain from which you might want to get a backlink and rate the quality of the site.

Link profile overview from the Toolbox
Link building: Overview of the backlink data for the domain screwfix.com

In the link module you can view, analyse, and evaluate link metrics and backlinks of a potential link-giving URL, such as www.domain.com/subject-x.

The link database shows source, destination and other link details such as  link type.
The link database shows source, destination and other link details such as link type, achor text and the Visibility Index of the source domain.

Quality factors to look out for when checking a potential link-giving domain

What do you need to take care of when selecting a potential link-giving site and which quality factors should you check for on the link-giving domain and URL?

To determine the quality of a potential link-giving site you should take a closer look at the following two factors:

  • The content quality on the potential link-giving site
  • The backlink quality of the potential link-giving site

Determining the content quality of a potential link-giving site

The contentual quality of a potential link-giving site can be determined by checking if the quality of the content itself is high and if it actually holds true value for a real user.

Another factor for determining the contentual quality, as well as to see if the content is relevant, is to check out the ranking keywords and their positions within the search engine result pages (SERPs).

Example

These factors should be considered when trying to determine the contentual quality of the potential link-giving source: www.domain.de/topic-x/

  • Is “topic X” really the topic I want to build/have a link for?
  • Is the information about “topic X” on this page correct and useful/helpful?
  • Would I link to this content if I were to write about “topic X”?
  • Are users interacting with this content? (Sharing on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter? Is the comment function being used?)
  • Is the web design of the domain solid and appealing?
  • Does the website with the URL www.domain.com/topic-x/ rank to the appropriate keyword? (If yes, on which position? – You can use the SEO-module for this)
  • Is the domain an authority on “topic X?” Does it mostly, or only, produce content about “topic X?”
  • Is it a pure affiliate-website?
  • Do other websites, which are relevant to this topic, link to this domain and the content from www.domain.de/topic-x/? (Use the Link-module with LinkPlus)
  • How is the quality of those links?

Determining the quality of incoming links to a potential link-giving page

To determine and rate the quality of incoming links to a potential link-giving domain, as well as those for the specific URL www.domain.de/thema-x/, you should take note of the following factors and rate them with the Link- and SEO-modules in the SISTRIX Toolbox:

  • Does the domain have a balanced/good domain popularity?
  • How well is the domain linked, when you take the Visibility Index scores of the linked host names into consideration?

Google webmaster videos on this topic

What is Google’s thinking about links from article marketing, widgets, etc?

Is there such a thing as building too many links?

Steve Paine