Definition
A link profile audit is an exhaustive analysis process of all backlinks pointing to a website. The goal is to evaluate the overall health of the link profile, identify toxic or risky links, spot improvement opportunities, and guide future link building strategy. A complete audit examines: total number of backlinks and referring domains, quality and authority of source domains (DA, DR, TF, CF), anchor text distribution, dofollow/nofollow ratio, diversity of link types (editorial, directory, forum, comment), topical relevance of source sites, link acquisition velocity, and any presence of toxic or spammy links. A link profile audit is essential after a Google penalty, before a link building campaign, during a site acquisition, or as part of a comprehensive SEO audit. The main tools used are Ahrefs, SEMrush, Majestic, Moz, and Google Search Console.
Key Points
- Exhaustive backlink analysis to assess link profile health
- Examines source quality, anchor distribution, dofollow/nofollow ratio, relevance
- Essential after a penalty, before a link building campaign, or during an SEO audit
Practical Examples
Post-penalty audit
After a traffic drop linked to a Penguin penalty, conduct a complete backlink audit with Ahrefs and Majestic. Identify toxic links (high spam score, penalized sites) and submit a disavow file to Google.
Pre-campaign audit
Before launching a link building campaign, audit your current profile to identify weaknesses: lack of topical diversity, anchor over-optimization, low authority of source domains. Adjust your strategy accordingly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Conduct a complete audit at least every 6 months, with monthly monitoring of new links via SEO tool alerts. In case of a sudden traffic drop, launch an immediate audit to check whether toxic links are involved.
Combine Google Search Console (free, direct Google data) with a tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush for a complete view. Majestic is also excellent for Trust Flow and Citation Flow analysis. No single tool sees 100% of links.
Go Further with LemmiLink
Discover how LemmiLink can help you put these SEO concepts into practice.
Last updated: 2026-02-07