How to Do a Backlink Audit (and When to Disavow)
A backlink audit shows you who links to you and whether any links are risky. Here's how to run one, how to judge link quality, and when disavowing is (and isn't) worth it.
Updated September 2026
A backlink audit is a periodic review of every site that links to yours, so you understand your link profile and can spot anything that looks manipulative or toxic. For most sites it is a health check, not an emergency: since Google now algorithmically ignores most spammy links rather than penalizing you for them, the disavow tool is a last resort — not routine hygiene. Still, knowing your profile is useful, especially if you have ever bought links or been targeted by a negative-SEO attack.
How to run the audit
- Export your links: pull your backlink list from Google Search Console (free) and, if you have them, Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz for more depth.
- Group by referring domain: one link from each of 50 domains is far more meaningful than 50 links from one domain.
- Review anchor text distribution: a spike in identical exact-match anchors is the clearest warning sign.
- Flag suspicious sources: irrelevant foreign-language sites, link directories you never submitted to, sitewide footer links, and obvious link networks.
- Check for a manual action: in Search Console under Security & Manual Actions — this tells you whether Google has actually taken issue with your links.
How to judge a link's quality
For each questionable link, ask three things: Is the linking site relevant to my topic? Does it have real traffic and editorial standards? Would I be comfortable if a Google reviewer saw this link? A 'no' to all three doesn't automatically mean the link is hurting you — it usually just means it isn't helping. Save real concern for patterns: dozens of links suddenly appearing from the same low-quality network, or a flood of exact-match anchors you didn't create.
When to disavow — and when not to
Only consider the disavow tool if you have a manual action for unnatural links, or clear evidence that you built or bought a large number of manipulative links you can't get removed. For everyone else, Google's own advice is to leave it alone — most sites should never touch it, and a careless disavow can remove links that were actually helping you. If you do disavow, work at the domain level and document why. When in doubt, don't.
The healthiest response to a shaky link profile is usually to drown it out: keep earning relevant, quality links so the good vastly outweighs the questionable.