Once you have a backlink profile, the next step is to perform an audit. The basic principle here is to identify the poor sites that link to your site.
The characteristics that define bad links include:
Sites that link to you are not indexed in Google search results . Site: Use the search operator in combination with your domain to see for yourself.
This site has nothing to do with what you offer as a business . You should always aim to build and get links from websites that are relevant to you.
The site looks like spam or contains malware . If your website looks bad, it's probably!
Sites with very low domain privileges . Moz's DA metric for determining domain strength can be run touch-and-go, but it's a great indicator to help you find spam links. However, be careful as some spam websites have high DA scores.
Links from forum spam . This means a deliberate attempt to comment on the forum for the purpose of building a link.
Links from link networks and link farms . These are websites specially created to link to the target page to pass the page rank. These are often included in irrelevant / paid links that are characteristic of bad links.
Check out this guide for more detailed advice on how to perform a robust backlink audit.
As you go through your backlinks, mark what you identify as poor by highlighting them. When you're done, filter the spreadsheet to show only the bad links, copy this list and paste it into a new tab.
Step 3: Create a denial file
Be sure to contact the site first to request the removal of the link before proceeding . This is not always possible. If you contact the site and there is no response, or if the link has not been removed, the next step is to deny the link. There are good and bad approaches, so be sure to check the guide for linking removal requests.
The denial file is a list of domains that you send to Google through your search console account, indicating that you want to ignore these backlinks. By doing so, Google will not consider these links when determining site permissions and rankings.
You should always deny links at the domain level so that Google ignores all links from that site . Edit the list to include only the domain.
for example:
Send denial file
bad example
Send denial file
Good analogy
Next, you need to add "domain:" before each line. This is the required format for denial files. To do this quickly and easily, enter = ”domain:” & A1 in column B.
If you drag this formula across column B, the list looks like this:
Send denial file
You need to lose the formula from these cells. Highlight and copy the entire column B. Then paste it in the same location, but select Paste as Value from the Paste Options menu . This leaves text in the cells as needed without formulas.
The denial file must be in .txt format . To create Cork Bicycle Repair Zone a text file, copy column B from your spreadsheet and paste it into one of the following:
TextEdit on Mac
Windows notepad
Save it somewhere in this file with a suitable name, such as " Your company's denial file date " for storage.
Step 4: Send the denial file
To submit a denial file, you need to log in to your search console account to access Google's denial tools.
Do you have a Google Search Console account? See this Google Search Console guide.
After logging in, select Site Properties from the drop-down menu as shown below.