Digital Trends Of 2021: What Should We Be Ready For?
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Serpstat Backlink Analysis Tool: A Comprehensive Guide
Mikhail Broun
Product/Project Manager at Serpstat
This article is an overview of the Serpstat Backlink Analysis tool. You will find out how to analyze your backlink profile, monitor new and lost backlinks and research competitors backlinks to find out which sites and pages are linking to them and use these insights in your next link building campaign. Let's dive deeper!
By the way, we've just released our backlink index and became the fifth service in the world with such a feature! At the moment, we have 1 trillion backlinks for 160 million domains.
Contents
Why you need to analyze links
Backlink Analysis: module overview
1. Backlink dashboard
2. Referring domains
3. Malicious sites
4. Active backlinks
5. Lost backlinks
6. External links
7. External domains
8. Anchors
9. Top pages
10. Batch analysis
11. Redirected domains
12. Links intersection
Sorting, pagination, filters
Backlink Analysis: module overview
1. Backlink dashboard
2. Referring domains
3. Malicious sites
4. Active backlinks
5. Lost backlinks
6. External links
7. External domains
8. Anchors
9. Top pages
10. Batch analysis
11. Redirected domains
12. Links intersection
Sorting, pagination, filters
Why you need to analyze backlinks
Backlinks are links that lead to your site and are one of the main ranking factors.
Links can positively affect the position of your site in SERP, as the search engine sees others link to the site.
However, as with keywords, more links don't mean better. Search engines recognize most of the purchased and irrelevant links. And even lower positions of sites for spam links and a sharp increase in their number.
Therefore, it is crucial to control the appearance and quality of your links as well as competitors':
Links can positively affect the position of your site in SERP, as the search engine sees others link to the site.
However, as with keywords, more links don't mean better. Search engines recognize most of the purchased and irrelevant links. And even lower positions of sites for spam links and a sharp increase in their number.
Therefore, it is crucial to control the appearance and quality of your links as well as competitors':
1
To identify and evaluate new sites for linkbuilding.
2
To examine links and anchor list of top-competitors.
3
To analyze the quality and naturalness of your website backlinks.
4
To control the growth dynamics of the link mass.
You can analyze all these points using our tool. Now I'll show you how to find referring domains, the most popular anchors, and referring pages.
Backlink Analysis: module overview
Backlink dashboard
In the Overview section of the Backlink Analysis module, you will find all summary information about the domain's backlinks.
This page is a dashboard that contains information about the volume and quality of the link mass of the analyzed domain, graphs and other statistics. Information is presented in the form of blocks.
There is data on the dynamics for all indicators in the upper report: we show the total changes for the last 7 days.
This page is a dashboard that contains information about the volume and quality of the link mass of the analyzed domain, graphs and other statistics. Information is presented in the form of blocks.
There is data on the dynamics for all indicators in the upper report: we show the total changes for the last 7 days.
Analysis can be carried out by domain, taking into account its subdomains.
For all items except follow/nofollow links, there are tooltips. When you hover over the tooltip icon, a pop-up window appears with the text of the tooltip.
For these indicators, an accelerated calculation algorithm is used: the result may slightly differ from the exact value in the detailed report.
For all items except follow/nofollow links, there are tooltips. When you hover over the tooltip icon, a pop-up window appears with the text of the tooltip.
For these indicators, an accelerated calculation algorithm is used: the result may slightly differ from the exact value in the detailed report.
Key indicators:
1
SDR (Serpstat Domain Rank) - domain authority score. It is displayed as a number from 0 to 100.
The calculation principle is similar to Google Page Rank: the numerical indicator depends on how many sites link to the domain being analyzed + how many sites link to sites that link to the domain being analyzed + how many sites link to sites that link to sites, referring to the analyzed domain - and so all sites in the index are taken into account.
Accordingly, the SDR can grow not only with new backlinks, but also if the site donors', or their donors' link mass grows.
The calculation principle is similar to Google Page Rank: the numerical indicator depends on how many sites link to the domain being analyzed + how many sites link to sites that link to the domain being analyzed + how many sites link to sites that link to sites, referring to the analyzed domain - and so all sites in the index are taken into account.
Accordingly, the SDR can grow not only with new backlinks, but also if the site donors', or their donors' link mass grows.
2
Follow/Nofollow links - number of backlinks with follow/nofollow parameter.
3
Referring Domains - number of domains including subdomains of the blog platforms (like Blogspot, WordPress) that link to the domain or URL. We use an accelerated calculation algorithm, so the results might slightly differ from the precise values in other reports.
4
Referring Subdomains - number of unique subdomains, links from which lead to the analyzed site (main domains are not taken into account).
5
Backlinks - number of unique backlinks that lead to the analyzed site.
6
Referring Homepages - number of backlinks from the main page of the referring domains.
7
Referring IPs - number of unique referring IP addresses.
8
Subnets class С - number of class C subnets that link to the site being analyzed.
9
Links from malicious sites - number of backlinks from malicious sites. We use a verification algorithm similar to the algorithms of Google Chrome.
Malicious sites are those blocked from viewing by Google Chrome (you see a warning if the content that you're trying to see is dangerous or deceptive).
Malicious sites are those blocked from viewing by Google Chrome (you see a warning if the content that you're trying to see is dangerous or deceptive).
10
New referring domains graph - shows how the number of new referring domains changed.
Horizontal axis: dates of values.
Vertical axis: the quantitative scale of new referring domains.
The graph shows the dynamics of adding new referring domains to the analyzed domain/URL for the last year (with an interval of one week.)
* there is a tooltip on hover (the date, the number of referring pages and the value of the dynamics for the selected point).
* there is a tooltip on hover (the date, the number of referring pages and the value of the dynamics for the selected point).
11
Linking Page Dynamics graph
Horizontal axis: dates of values.
Vertical axis: the quantitative scale of new referring pages.
It shows the dynamics of changes in the number of pages linking to the analyzed domain/URL. The data is displayed for the last year with an interval of one week.
* there is a tooltip on hover (the date, the number of referring pages and the value of the dynamics for the selected point).
* there is a tooltip on hover (the date, the number of referring pages and the value of the dynamics for the selected point).
12
New and lost backlinks
Horizontal axis: dates of values.
Vertical axis: quantitative scale for new and lost backlinks.
It shows the number of new and lost external links from the analyzed domain or URL by the dates of checks over the last year.
The green columns in the diagram correspond to the new links. Positive values are provided on the vertical axis.
The red columns are located under the green bars in the diagram and correspond to the lost links. Negative values are provided on the vertical axis.
When you hover over the graph, the selected column is highlighted and a tooltip appears with the selected date and the number of new and lost links.
The green columns in the diagram correspond to the new links. Positive values are provided on the vertical axis.
The red columns are located under the green bars in the diagram and correspond to the lost links. Negative values are provided on the vertical axis.
When you hover over the graph, the selected column is highlighted and a tooltip appears with the selected date and the number of new and lost links.
13
Types of backlinks table displays information on the types of links.
It has 3 columns:
It has 3 columns:
Backlinks types:
- text - the most common type of link, usually contains an anchor;
- image - pictures linking to the analyzed site;
- redirect - pages redirecting to the pages of the analyzed site.
Number — the numerical value of each type in relation to the analyzed site.
% from all — a percentage of the current type of links to all backlinks to the analyzed site.
14
Outlinks - table displays data on all external outgoing links from the analyzed site, grouped by type:
Acceptor Domain — number of domains linked from the domain or URL.
Outlinks — the number of external outgoing links from the analyzed site.
Current outlinks - links recorded during the last check.
Outlinks to malicious domains — number of external links to sites indicated as malicious.
15
Anchors - shows data on anchors of all backlinks to the analyzed site. Displays the top 11 values sorted by number of references in descending order.
Below is a link to a detailed report indicating the amount of all unique anchors to the analyzed site.
Has 3 columns:
Below is a link to a detailed report indicating the amount of all unique anchors to the analyzed site.
Has 3 columns:
Anchors - texts used in anchors.
Empty anchor text - this group includes all anchors that don't contain text (e.g., links from images).
Empty anchor text - this group includes all anchors that don't contain text (e.g., links from images).
The number of external links with the specified anchor.
Graphical reflection of the number of external links with the specified anchor.
Under the table, there is a link Show all anchors leading to the Anchors report. Nearby is displayed the total number of unique anchors leading to the site.
16
Map of domains. The domain map shows the distribution of referring domains by top-level domains.
When you hover over a country highlighted in blue, you can see a tooltip with the number of referring domains from this country and the percentage of these domains to all domains that refer to the analyzed site.
The larger the percentage of referring domains, the brighter the highlight of the corresponding country on the map. A legend is displayed under the map, which shows how much of the referring domains the highlight corresponds to.
The distribution table of referring domains consists of two parts:
The larger the percentage of referring domains, the brighter the highlight of the corresponding country on the map. A legend is displayed under the map, which shows how much of the referring domains the highlight corresponds to.
The distribution table of referring domains consists of two parts:
Distribution of referring domains by country.
Distribution of referring domains by top-level domain zones.
The map has a search for matching parts of the word: when entering text, the table immediately filters the results, leaving only those that contain the entered text in any part of the word.
The first line after the search shows the total reflection of the table data: the number of countries that link to the analyzed site or the number of unique top-level domain zones.
You can switch between countries/domain zones by clicking on the tabs of the table above. The active tab is highlighted in blue.
The first line after the search shows the total reflection of the table data: the number of countries that link to the analyzed site or the number of unique top-level domain zones.
You can switch between countries/domain zones by clicking on the tabs of the table above. The active tab is highlighted in blue.
Personal demonstration
Our specialists will contact you and discuss options for further work. These may include a personal demonstration, a trial period, comprehensive training articles, webinar recordings, and custom advice from a Serpstat specialist. It is our goal to make you feel comfortable while using Serpstat.
Referring Domains
Go to the Referring Domains report to find more information on domains linking to your site.
This report is presented in a table. It contains a list of unique domains that link to the analyzed site.
This report is presented in a table. It contains a list of unique domains that link to the analyzed site.
The report contains:
1
URL — address of the referring domain.
2
Referring Pages — the number of pages from the domain indicated in the URL column that link to the domain being analyzed.
3
Serpstat Domain Rank — SDR for the domain indicated in the URL column.
The number of pages linking from the domain is sorted descending by default.
Malicious Sites
The report is presented in table form. It contains a list of links from malicious sites. We use a verification algorithm similar to the algorithms of Google Chrome.
Malicious sites are those blocked from viewing by Google Chrome (you see a warning if the content that you're trying to see is dangerous or deceptive).
Malicious sites are those blocked from viewing by Google Chrome (you see a warning if the content that you're trying to see is dangerous or deceptive).
This report displays data only if the number of links from malicious sites is more than zero!
The Malicious Sites report table contains:
1
URL — address of the referring domain or subdomain.
2
Backlinks from — number of links from the donor indicated in the URL column that lead to the analyzed site.
3
Platform — the type of platform/operating system for which this vulnerability is relevant.
4
Vulnerability type — type of issue.
5
Date of last check — the date the vulnerability for the specified domain was last checked and confirmed.
If there are no such links, you will see a notification No data available.
You can determine whether the analyzed site has outbound links leading to malicious domains and pages in the same report.
Linking to malicious sites can negatively impact site optimization, which subsequently affects your rankings. Such sites should be promptly eliminated.
For analysis, go to the Malicious sites report and select "Malicious domains-acceptors" or "Malicious pages-acceptors", this switch will help you quickly navigate between reports to analyze referring and outgoing malicious domains and pages.
Linking to malicious sites can negatively impact site optimization, which subsequently affects your rankings. Such sites should be promptly eliminated.
For analysis, go to the Malicious sites report and select "Malicious domains-acceptors" or "Malicious pages-acceptors", this switch will help you quickly navigate between reports to analyze referring and outgoing malicious domains and pages.
Active backlinks
The Active Links report is presented in a table. It is a list of unique links referring to the analyzed site.
Above the table is a graph of new inbound links (365 days from the current date.) When you hover over a value in the graph, you can see a tooltip: exact date and value.
Active backlinks table has:
1
Link source, link anchor. URL of the page referring to the analyzed site. The second line indicates the anchor.
2
Outlinks from page. The number of unique external links from the referring page.
3
Follow/ Nofollow. Shows if a link has a nofollow attribute.
4
Link type:
text - the most common type of link, usually contains an anchor;
image - pictures linking to the analyzed site;
redirect - pages redirecting to the pages of the analyzed site.
5
Target page. URL of the landing page. The second line indicates the title of the target page.
6
First indexed, last indexed. Dates when the crawler first found the link on the page and when it checked its availability and relevance last time.
In the header of the table there is a switch One per page|One per domain. By default, One per page mode is enabled. When switching in the table, only one link from each domain will be displayed.
Lost Backlinks
The report is a table showing a list of links going to the analyzed site that were not found during the recheck.
The structure of the report is completely similar to the Active Links report; the only difference is the third date value in the last column: when the link was lost.
The structure of the report is completely similar to the Active Links report; the only difference is the third date value in the last column: when the link was lost.
Above the table is a graph of the detection of lost backlinks for a period of 365 days from the current date.
The table shows:
1
Link source, link anchor. URL of the page referring to the analyzed site. The second line indicates the anchor.
2
Outlinks from page. The number of unique external links from the referring page.
3
Follow/ Nofollow. Shows if a link has a nofollow attribute.
4
Link type. Shows a specific type of link.
5
Target page. URL of the landing page. The second line indicates the title of the target page.
6
First indexed, last indexed, lost. Dates when the crawler first found the link on the page; checked its availability and relevance last time; when the crawler found that the link is lost.
In the header of the table there is a switch One per page|One per domain. By default, One per page mode is enabled. When switching in the table, only one link from each domain will be displayed.
External links
External backlinks report is a table with the list of outbound links from your domain.
External links report has:
1
Link source, link anchor. URL of the page referring to the analyzed site. The second line indicates the anchor.
2
Outlinks from page. The number of unique external links from the referring page.
3
Follow/ Nofollow. Shows if a link has a nofollow attribute.
4
Link type. Shows a specific type of link.
5
Target page. URL of the landing page. The second line indicates the title of the target page.
6
First indexed, last indexed, lost. Dates when the crawler first found the link on the page; checked its availability and relevance last time; when the crawler found that the link is lost.
External domains
The report lists the domains to which links from the analyzed site lead and is useful for analyzing outbound links and domains.
Analysis of outbound domains will help you find donor domains because you can track the quality and quantity of backlinks linked to them.
All of these tasks are important for optimizing your website and SDR.
Analysis of outbound domains will help you find donor domains because you can track the quality and quantity of backlinks linked to them.
All of these tasks are important for optimizing your website and SDR.
Opposite the list of domains is the number of pages referring to the domain. To the right is the SDR for each domain.
You can apply a filter for all parameters, and sorting is available for each column.
You can apply a filter for all parameters, and sorting is available for each column.
Anchors
Anchors report is a table containing list of keywords used as anchors for inbound links.
Anchors report has:
1
Anchor. The content of the anchor linking to the analyzed site.
2
Referring domains. The number of domains linking to the analyzed site where the specified anchor was found.
3
Backlinks. The number of backlinks with a particular anchor.
4
Nofollow. The number of backlinks with the specified anchor having the rel = "nofollow" attribute.
The table is sorted by the number of referring domains in descending order by default.
In the header of the table there is a filter by the number of words and search by anchor. The filter is made in the form of a drop-down list; it allows you to view a list of 1-5 words in the anchor. The number of words is determined by the presence and number of spaces.
In the header of the table there is a filter by the number of words and search by anchor. The filter is made in the form of a drop-down list; it allows you to view a list of 1-5 words in the anchor. The number of words is determined by the presence and number of spaces.
Top Pages
Top Pages report contains a table with a list of pages of the analyzed site sorted in descending order, in accordance with the number of domains referring to them.
1
URL — address of the page.
2
Referring domains - the number of domains referring to the specified page of domains.
3
Backlinks - the number of pages linking to the specified page.
4
Referring IP-addresses — number of unique IP addresses that link to the analyzed domain.
Personal demonstration
Our specialists will contact you and discuss options for further work. These may include a personal demonstration, a trial period, comprehensive training articles, webinar recordings, and custom advice from a Serpstat specialist. It is our goal to make you feel comfortable while using Serpstat.
Batch Analysis
Batch analysis is a report in the form of a comparative table. It displays a list of entered competing domains, with their main indicators. The highest value for each data column is highlighted in color.
In this report, the search bar works differently: the address entered in the search bar is checked for the presence in the saved list of competitors.
In this report, the search bar works differently: the address entered in the search bar is checked for the presence in the saved list of competitors.
If the site is present, the first saved list will open.
If the site is not found, you'll see the message: "The site was not found in the saved lists of competitors. Create a new list and add domains for comparison. "
If you have a list of saved competitors, you will see a report:
Add domain. Complete the list with an additional domain.
Delete list. Allows you to delete the saved list.
Update. Updates data for all domains in the list. Watch out! Limits will be spent for each domain in the list.
If you don't have a list of domains, you'll see such window:
Click on the Create list button and you'll see a pop-up:
In the header there is a counter of the remaining limits. Moreover,
Space for the name of the list. This name will be displayed in the list of saved templates.
A drop-down list that allows you to select a domain from projects saved by user.
Space for adding domains manually, each domain is added from a new line.
This way you can easily create a competitor list for batch analysis.
Redirected domains
This report shows the number of domains that entirely redirect to the analyzed one transferring the link juice. Website owners "stick" dropped domains to get ready link base.
Why do you need it? Analyzing competitors, SEO specialists will see a complete picture of link mass, which will optimize backlink analysis for your site and help build a strategy for link building.
You can get the report in two ways:
1. Go to Backlink dashboard and click the Redirected domains;
2. Choose Referring domains in the sidebar and switch to Redirected domains.
Why do you need it? Analyzing competitors, SEO specialists will see a complete picture of link mass, which will optimize backlink analysis for your site and help build a strategy for link building.
You can get the report in two ways:
1. Go to Backlink dashboard and click the Redirected domains;
2. Choose Referring domains in the sidebar and switch to Redirected domains.
Links intersect
The Links intersection report contains two comparison tables and a graph. The overlap of donors allows us to find common donor domains among the entered two or three analyzed sites. Using filters, you can see donors that one of the analyzed sites does not have, but the other two have.
A pie chart allows you to select the data of interest quickly. For example, you can choose donors that are the same for any two domains or common donors for all three domains, or you can analyze donors from your competitors who do not link to your site.
The areas on the chart are clickable. You can select the information of interest, and it will be displayed in the tables.
It is enough to enter 2 or 3 domains in the following search fields to search for donors of competitors:
A pie chart allows you to select the data of interest quickly. For example, you can choose donors that are the same for any two domains or common donors for all three domains, or you can analyze donors from your competitors who do not link to your site.
The areas on the chart are clickable. You can select the information of interest, and it will be displayed in the tables.
It is enough to enter 2 or 3 domains in the following search fields to search for donors of competitors:
The graph shows the referring domains of the sites using Euler circles.
The smaller table (to the right of the circle graph) provides a quick reference for domains: the specific number of referring domains for each analyzed site.
The table below shows a more detailed analysis of each donor domain:
How is this report useful? First of all, we can take 3 competing sites and check what general domains link to them. Accordingly, these same domains can link to our site.
We can also compare our site and 2 competitor sites to see which domains link to our competitors but not link to us.
The smaller table (to the right of the circle graph) provides a quick reference for domains: the specific number of referring domains for each analyzed site.
The table below shows a more detailed analysis of each donor domain:
- A donor is a domain address that links to the analyzed site;
- Donor's SDR (Serpstat Domain Rank) is an indicator of domain authority. It is displayed as a number from 0 to 100;
- The number of links from the specified donor domain to the analyzed domains.
How is this report useful? First of all, we can take 3 competing sites and check what general domains link to them. Accordingly, these same domains can link to our site.
We can also compare our site and 2 competitor sites to see which domains link to our competitors but not link to us.
Sorting, pagination, filters
Sorting is available in all module reports. It is displayed by an additional icon.
To sort the report, you need to click on the icon next to the name of the column and select the sorting mode.
If the report has more than than 20 results, pagination appears. By default, pagination divides reports into pages of 20 lines. Values of 50, 100, 200 and 500 lines in the report are also available.
Detailed reports can be filtered: there is a Filter button in the upper right corner of the tables.
You'll see a pop-up:
If the filter is activated, the filter button turns green. You can reset the filter by clicking the cross on the right.
Parameter:
In the first drop-down list, column names are available for filtering. Depending on the type of values in the filtered column, different types of filtering are applied, different operators are available. Types of parameters:
In the first drop-down list, column names are available for filtering. Depending on the type of values in the filtered column, different types of filtering are applied, different operators are available. Types of parameters:
Link source
Outlinks from page
Follow/Nofollow
Link type
Target page
Operator:
The second drop-down list depends on the type of values of the selected filtered column in the first drop-down list.
Operator options:
The second drop-down list depends on the type of values of the selected filtered column in the first drop-down list.
Operator options:
text parameter (contains/not contains)
numerical parameter (between/greater than/greater or equal/lower than/lower or equal/equal/not equal)
And/or:
Between the drop-down lists there is a "+" icon. When you click on it, an additional operator appears, all added operators work with the condition "AND".
Between the drop-down lists there is a "+" icon. When you click on it, an additional operator appears, all added operators work with the condition "AND".
Saved filters:
You can save the filtering templates and delete saved filters.
You can save the filtering templates and delete saved filters.
All templates are individual. They are saved for the user and not available to other users.
To find the saved template, click on Saved filters.
In the pop-up window you will find a list of saved templates. When clicking on any of them, the currently selected filtering conditions are automatically removed and the saved ones are substituted.
There is a delete icon in the list of saved templates to the right of each template name.
There is also a search by the name of the template. It is the first element of the list.
There is a delete icon in the list of saved templates to the right of each template name.
There is also a search by the name of the template. It is the first element of the list.
That's all! This completes the review of our Backlink Analysis module. You saw that it has become more efficient and functional! Now, analyzing the link profile of your site or competitors has become much easier, more convenient and faster
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