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 learn how to use the tool to analyze your backlink profile, monitor new and lost backlinks, and research competitors' backlinks to find out which websites and pages are linking to them.
You can use these insights in your next link-building campaign.
You will learn how to use the tool to analyze your backlink profile, monitor new and lost backlinks, and research competitors' backlinks to find out which websites and pages are linking to them.
You can use these insights in your next link-building campaign.
By the way, we have launched our own backlink index and become the fifth service in the world with such a feature! At the moment, we have 1 trillion backlinks for 160 million domains.
Contents
Why Do You Need To Analyze Backlinks?
Backlink Analysis: Tool 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. Redirecting Domains
12. Links Intersection
Sorting and Filters
How to update backlinks' data for 500 URLs?
Backlink Analysis: Tool 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. Redirecting Domains
12. Links Intersection
Sorting and Filters
How to update backlinks' data for 500 URLs?
Why Do You Need To Analyze Backlinks?
Backlinks are links from other domains that lead to your website. They are one of the main ranking factors, as link equity can positively affect your website's position in SERPs.
However, as with keywords, more isn't always better. Search engine algorithms recognize the vast majority of the purchased and irrelevant links. Not only will low-quality, spammy links not improve your website rankings but quite the opposite: they can drastically lower your website's positions or even lead to a search engine penalty.
Therefore, it is crucial to monitor the quality of all your backlinks as well as competitors':
However, as with keywords, more isn't always better. Search engine algorithms recognize the vast majority of the purchased and irrelevant links. Not only will low-quality, spammy links not improve your website rankings but quite the opposite: they can drastically lower your website's positions or even lead to a search engine penalty.
Therefore, it is crucial to monitor the quality of all your backlinks as well as competitors':
1
To identify and evaluate new websites for link building.
2
To examine links and anchors of top competitors.
3
To analyze the quality and naturalness of your website backlinks.
4
To control the growth dynamics of the backlink profile.
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: Tool Overview
Backlink Dashboard
In this report, you will find all the summary information about the domain's backlinks. It contains information about the volume and quality of the domain's backlink profile, as well as different kinds of graphs and statistics.
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At the very top of the report, you will see a smaller dashboard, which can give you a general understanding of the domain's backlink profile and its dynamics (over the last 7 days).
For these indicators, we use an accelerated calculation algorithm, so the data may slightly differ from the exact value in the detailed report.
For these indicators, we use an accelerated calculation algorithm, so the data may slightly differ from the exact value in the detailed report.
Key Indicators on the dashboard:
1
SDR (Serpstat Domain Rank) — a domain authority score on a scale from 0 to 100.
The calculation principle is similar to the Google Page Rank and depends on the number of websites that link to the analyzed domain, as well as the number of websites that link to those domains, and so on. In that way, all websites in the index are taken into account.
Therefore, a website's SDR can increase not only from getting new backlinks but also when the websites that link to it grow their backlink profiles.
The calculation principle is similar to the Google Page Rank and depends on the number of websites that link to the analyzed domain, as well as the number of websites that link to those domains, and so on. In that way, all websites in the index are taken into account.
Therefore, a website's SDR can increase not only from getting new backlinks but also when the websites that link to it grow their backlink profiles.
2
Referring Domains — the total number of domains that link to the analyzed domain or URL. This section also includes redirecting and malicious domains.
3
IP Subnets — the number of class C subnets that link to the analyzed website.
4
Backlinks — the number of unique backlinks the analyzed site has.
"From main pages" section lists the number of backlinks from homepages.
"From main pages" section lists the number of backlinks from homepages.
5
Follow/Nofollow links — the number of backlinks with follow/nofollow tags.
6
External domains — the number of websites to which the analyzed domain links. External links — the number of external links from the analyzed domain.
Right below the dashboard, you will see different backlink-related graphs and tables. Let's go over each of them one by one.
Graphs:
1
The Linking domains dynamics graph shows how the dynamics of referring domains have changed over the past 6 months (with an interval of one week).
- Horizontal axis: dates;
- Vertical axis: new referring domains.
When you hover over the graph you will see a tooltip with data for each trend value.
2
The Linking pages dynamics graph shows how the number of domain backlinks has changed.
- Horizontal axis: dates;
- Vertical axis: new referring pages.
Similarly to the previous one, when you hover over the graph you will see a tooltip with data for each trend value.
3
The New and lost backlinks graph shows the number of new and lost external links from the analyzed domain or URL.
- Horizontal axis: dates;
- Vertical axis: new and lost backlinks.
The green bars in the chart represent new links. They have positive values on the vertical axis. The red bars are below the green bars in the diagram and correspond to lost links. They have negative values 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.
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.
4
The SDR distribution graph shows the distribution of domains that link to the analyzed site by their SDR (Serpstat Domain Rank).
Tables:
1
Distribution by types of backlinks displays information on the number of links according to their type.
2
TOP anchor backlinks by popularity displays the most popular anchor text in backlinks and the number of links with the specified anchor text.
TLD Map
The top-level domain map shows the distribution of referring domains by top-level domain zones. The table shows the number of domain zones and the ratio of zones by region.
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 many 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 many 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.
Referring Domains
In the Referring Domains report, you can find more detailed information about domains that link to your website.
The report contains:
1
URL addresses of referring domains.
2
Referring Pages — the number of pages from the domain that link to the analyzed domain.
3
Serpstat Domain Rank.
Malicious Sites
The report contains a list of links from malicious websites. To define websites as malicious we use a verification method similar to the algorithms of Google Chrome. Malicious websites are those blocked from viewing by the browser (it shows you a warning if the content you're trying to access 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 contains:
1
URL of the referring domain or subdomain;
2
Active backlinks — the number of links from the malicious domain to the analyzed site;
3
Platform — the type of platform/operating system for which this vulnerability is relevant;
4
Vulnerability type;
5
Date of the last check — the date when the vulnerability for the domain was last detected and confirmed.
If there are no such links to the website you're analyzing, you will see the following:
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 website optimization, which subsequently affects your rankings.
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 website optimization, which subsequently affects your rankings.
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 Backlinks report is a list of unique links referring to the analyzed site:
Above the table, there 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: the exact date and value.
Active backlinks table contains:
1
Link source, link anchor.;
2
External links. The number of unique external links from the referring page;
3
Follow/ Nofollow. Shows if a link has a follow/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 analyzed site.
5
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 One per page|One per domain switch. By default, One per page mode is enabled. When switching in the table, only one link from each domain will be displayed.
Lost Backlinks
This report is a table that shows a list of links to the analyzed website that were not found during the last check.
The structure of the report is 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 similar to the Active Links report; the only difference is the third date value in the last column: when the link was lost.
This table contains:
1
Link source, link anchor;
2
External links. The number of unique external links from the referring page;
3
Follow/ Nofollow. Shows if a link has a follow/nofollow attribute;
4
Link type. Shows a specific type of link;
5
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 detected that the link was lost.
In the header of the table there is a One per page|One per domain switch. By default, the 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.
This report includes:
1
Link source, link anchor;
2
External links. The number of unique external links from the referring page;
3
Follow/ Nofollow. Shows if a link has a follow/nofollow attribute;
4
Link type. Shows a specific type of link;
5
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 the analyzed website links. It is useful for analyzing outbound links and domains.
It lists the domains as well as the number of external pages, which is clickable and will transfer you to a more detailed report.
It lists the domains as well as the number of external pages, which is clickable and will transfer you to a more detailed report.
Anchors
Anchors report is a table containing a list of keywords used as anchors for inbound links.
The Anchors report includes:
1
Anchor. The content of the anchor linking to the analyzed site.
2
Referring domains. The number of domains that link to the analyzed site using the specified anchor.
3
Backlinks. The number of backlinks with a particular anchor.
4
Nofollow. The number of nofollow backlinks with the specified anchor.
The table is sorted by the number of referring domains in descending order by default. In the table's header, you can filter the results by the number of words in the anchor.
Top Pages
Top Pages report lists the pages of the analyzed domain that have received the most backlinks. By default, they are sorted by the number of referring domains in descending order.
The Top Page report includes:
1
Page URL;
2
Referring domains — the number of domains that link to the given page;
3
Backlinks — the number of pages that link to the specified page;
4
Referring IP-addresses — the number of unique IP addresses that link to the analyzed domain.
Batch Analysis
Batch Analysis is a comparative table that displays a list of entered competitors' domains, with their main performance 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 its 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 its 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 this kind of a report:
Here you can also see such options:
- 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! Credits will be spent for each domain in the list.
Click on the Add project button and you'll see a pop-up, where you can create your list of competitor domains for batch analysis.
Redirecting Domains
This report lists websites that entirely redirect the user to the analyzed website, and pass on the link juice.
Why do you need it? By conducting a comprehensive analysis of competitors, SEOs can get a better understanding of their backlink profiles. This data can then be used for creating their own link-building strategy.
To access the list of redirecting domains, select the Referring domains report on the sidebar, and switch to Redirected domains:
Why do you need it? By conducting a comprehensive analysis of competitors, SEOs can get a better understanding of their backlink profiles. This data can then be used for creating their own link-building strategy.
To access the list of redirecting domains, select the Referring domains report on the sidebar, and switch to Redirected domains:
Links Intersect
The Links intersect report consists of two comparative tables (a summary mini-dashboard and a main detailed dashboard) and a chart. Links intersect shows the common donor domains for the analyzed sites. Using filters, you can see donors that one of the analyzed sites does not have, but two others do.
The pie chart allows you to quickly access the data of interest, as all areas are clickable. When you select a section, the data from it will appear in the table.
To use this report, just enter two or three domains in the corresponding fields:
The pie chart allows you to quickly access the data of interest, as all areas are clickable. When you select a section, the data from it will appear in the table.
To use this report, just enter two or three domains in the corresponding fields:
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:
With this report, you can take 3 competitor websites and check which domains link to them. If these websites link to all of the competitors, they could also link to your website.
Also, you can compare the backlink profiles of two competitors. This way, you can find websites that link to two of your competitors but don't link to your website.
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.
With this report, you can take 3 competitor websites and check which domains link to them. If these websites link to all of the competitors, they could also link to your website.
Also, you can compare the backlink profiles of two competitors. This way, you can find websites that link to two of your competitors but don't link to your website.
Sorting and Filters
In the Backlink Analysis tool, detailed reports can be filtered. You can find the filter button in the upper right corner.
If the filter is activated, the filter button turns green. You can reset the filter by clicking the cross on the right.
If the filter is activated, the filter button turns green. You can reset the filter by clicking the cross on the right.
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, and 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, and different operators are available. Types of parameters:
- Link source
- Link anchor
- External link
- Link attribute
- Link type
- Target page
- Referring domain
- Domain rank
- Last update
- Date of link discovery
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 private. They are saved for the user and not available to other users.
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. We are constantly working hard to make it more efficient and functional! Now, analyzing the backlink profile of your site or competitors has become much easier, more convenient, and faster
How To Update Backlinks' Data For 500 URLs?
Update your backlink profile report for free with a list of 500 URLs per day with Serpstat Recrawling URL Tool!
Step №1: Go to the Backlink Analysis tool, and in any report, click on the spider button in the upper right corner.
- Make changes to your backlink diversity analysis and get a brand-new report based on recent changes.
- Use only relevant data for your link-building strategy.
- Check the success of adding links or removing malicious ones.
Step №1: Go to the Backlink Analysis tool, and in any report, click on the spider button in the upper right corner.
Step № 2: Add the list of URLs to the window and keep structure: https://url.com/, each on a new line.
Step № 3: Click "Submit" and expect updates within 24 hours.
* Links may not be updated if closed from indexing, using JavaScript technologies, unavailable, or protected from crawling.
Step №4: Work with updated links in reports.
Serpstat Recrawling URL Tool does not charge credits and is available for all users with a paid Serpstat plan.
* Links may not be updated if closed from indexing, using JavaScript technologies, unavailable, or protected from crawling.
Step №4: Work with updated links in reports.
Serpstat Recrawling URL Tool does not charge credits and is available for all users with a paid Serpstat plan.
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