How You Can Easily Assess Backlink Quality and Spot Toxic Backlinks That You Should Avoid at Any Cost

Backlinks are still one of the two cornerstones for getting great Google rankings and traffic.

The other cornerstone, you ask? - Great content, of course!

But... back to the links.

The critical factor is to get GOOD backlinks.

Why?

For two reasons...

Reason one: Only good links help you (and the higher the competition in your niche is, the truer this holds).

Reason two: With toxic links, your site can get slapped by Google at any time, throwing you back even way before base 1. This is a monster fail you should avoid at any cost.

This brings us to the critical question, of course:

HOW can I distinguish a good link from a weak one, and a weak one from a TOXIC one?

Here's how:

Step 1: You know the criteria that make up a good link.

Step 2: You know the criteria for a toxic link.

Step 3: You check the link at hand for these criteria.

What criteria make up a good link?

Domain authority: If you or I get a link from nytimes.com, this counts WAY higher than a link from billybobsplumbingserviceiowa.com. Why? Because the weight of a NY Times recommendation is WAY higher than that of poor old Billy Bob in Iowa (Sorry Bill!).

Topic relevancy: A link from a high authority domain within your industry or niche counts more than the link of a same authority domain outside your niche. Why? - Because the better your site is established WITHIN your topic or industry, the more relevant it seems to be.

Content integration: A link that's well integrated into the content of a webpage counts more than if it is buried in the footer. Why? Because obviously, it's a content-related citation and not an add-on just packed onto the site for link building purposes.

Let's not overdo it with details.

There are many more factors. But it doesn't help you, me, or your link-building success if we drift into paralysis by analysis.

So from the bottom of my heart: Let's keep things simple and actionable.

Try to get links from rather strong authority domains that are within your industry or niche, AND try to get them from within a relevant part of the content.

If you do the above, you can't go wrong.

Mind that these are not exclusive factors!

If someone from nytimes.com calls me and tells me she wants to link to my site from a completely topic-irrelevant page (for whatever reason she should do that), I will tell her ... YEAH!, DO IT.

In other words, if a link is high on domain authority, it doesn't necessarily need to be great in topic relevancy as well. - It would be even greater, but doesn't have to be.

Same the other way around: If I happen to be in the plumbing industry, also a link from billybobsplumbingserviceiowa.com is valuable for me. Even with a minuscule domain authority. Why? - Because of the topic relevancy.

Do you get the idea?

That would make my day if I could bring this point across.

What criteria make up a toxic link?

Now here comes the kicker:

A link can have all the criteria of a good link and still be very dangerous for your site.

How?

Simply, if this link comes from a potentially toxic site or neighborhood.

The site openly sells links.

The site obviously sells links.

The site is of low quality.

Why is all this dangerous?

Because Google still doesn't want you or me to BUY our links but to EARN them.

OF COURSE, there is a huge industry for buying and selling links.

BUT, if you overdo it, you can get slapped, lose all your rankings, and wake up with a major hangover.

The real problem is that this approach works so fine... until it doesn't.

A short story to explain:

A few years ago, there was an SEO Agency that DOMINATED the Google rankings for highly valuable keywords in a certain niche.

A look at their backlinks made me shudder. It was a collection of toxic waste.

But it worked for years.

Until the day that ALL of their sites disappeared from the rankings. Not to be seen again.

To make this rather long story short:

Check for the presence of the positive factors AND the absence of the toxic ones.

A few links with a little toxicity won't kill your site.

The dose makes the poison, as we all know.

How do I check a link at hand for these criteria?

How to check for the positive criteria?

You can check the domain authority by making a free lookup here, or by using one of the commercial tools (ahrefs.com, semrush.com, moz.com).

You will be able to assess the topic relevancy if you have eyes and can read (or use a screen reader to hear what the site is about).

The same goes for the integration of the link into the page. Just check where it is placed or will be placed.

How to check for the toxic criteria?

The simplest sign for a site that sells many links is if YOU get offered to BUY a link on this site without much effort.

There are link brokers with full lists of sites where I could buy a link at any time.

I know it's tempting.

And yes, I have fallen for the temptation with some sites before.

BUT, I don't base my whole link building on this.

Remember: The dose makes the poison.

That's it for the moment.

Got to leave.

I hope there was some value in it for you until here.

Above all, I hope that I've held up to my promise, which was to tell you...

How you can easily distinguish good links from bad ones and learn why it matters.

If you feel like, please let me know how I've been doing.

Thanks, cheers, and have a great rest of the day!

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