Your link profile in SEO is essentially your website’s reputation score, built from every single backlink pointing to your domain. Google treats these links like endorsements. The more credible and relevant those endorsements are, the higher you climb in search results. Get it wrong, and you could find yourself buried on page five, or worse, penalised entirely.
I’ve audited hundreds of link profiles for Singapore businesses over the past decade. Some were beautifully clean. Most were a mess of forgotten directory submissions, dodgy paid links from 2015, and a handful of genuinely valuable editorial mentions buried underneath the noise.
This guide walks you through exactly what a link profile is, how to audit yours properly, what separates a strong profile from a toxic one, and the specific steps you can take to build something that actually moves the needle. No fluff. Just the technical detail you need to make better decisions about your backlink strategy.
What Exactly Is a Link Profile?
Your link profile is the complete inventory of every external hyperlink pointing to your website. Every blog mention, every directory listing, every forum post that includes a link back to your domain. All of it, taken together, forms your link profile.
But here’s where most business owners get it wrong. They think of it as a simple number. “I have 500 backlinks” or “I have 200 referring domains.” That’s like saying your hawker stall is successful because 500 people walked past it today. The number alone tells you almost nothing.
What matters is the composition. Google’s algorithm evaluates your link profile across multiple dimensions simultaneously, and understanding each one gives you a real advantage over competitors who are still just chasing link counts.
The Six Dimensions Google Evaluates
Domain authority of linking sites. A single link from a DR 85 site like The Straits Times or Channel NewsAsia carries more weight than 300 links from blogs with a DR of 5. Google’s PageRank algorithm, while evolved significantly since its original form, still fundamentally operates on the principle that authority flows from one page to another through links. High-authority sources pass more of that authority to you.
Topical relevance of linking sites. If you run an accounting firm in Singapore and you get a backlink from a fintech blog or a business advisory resource page, Google sees that as a highly relevant endorsement. A link from a fitness blog? Google can still count it, but the relevance signal is weak. Since the Hilltop algorithm update and subsequent refinements, Google has become extremely sophisticated at understanding topical relationships between sites.
Anchor text distribution. This is the clickable text within a hyperlink. Google uses anchor text as a strong contextual signal to understand what the linked page is about. A natural link profile will show a wide distribution: branded anchors (“Best Marketing Agency”), naked URLs (“bestseo.sg”), generic phrases (“click here,” “read more”), and a small percentage of keyword-rich anchors (“SEO services Singapore”). When keyword-rich anchors dominate unnaturally, that’s a manipulation signal.
Referring domain diversity. Ten links from ten different quality websites will always outperform 100 links from a single website. Google values breadth of endorsement. If many independent sources vouch for you, that’s a much stronger trust signal than one source linking to you repeatedly.
Link attribute types. Standard “dofollow” links pass PageRank and authority. Links marked with rel=”nofollow”, rel=”sponsored”, or rel=”ugc” attributes tell Google to treat them differently. A healthy link profile contains a natural mix. If 100% of your links are dofollow, that actually looks suspicious, because in the real world, many links naturally carry nofollow attributes from social media platforms, forums, and comment sections.
Link velocity and growth pattern. This is how quickly you’re gaining (or losing) backlinks over time. A steady, gradual increase looks organic. A sudden spike of 2,000 links in a single week, followed by months of nothing, looks like you bought a link package. Google’s algorithms are specifically tuned to detect these patterns.
Why Your Link Profile Matters More Than You Think
Google’s own documentation confirms that links remain one of the top ranking factors. In a 2023 confirmation during antitrust proceedings, internal Google documents revealed that their ranking systems still rely heavily on link signals, particularly for competitive commercial queries.
For Singapore businesses, this is especially significant. The local search market is concentrated. You’re competing against a relatively small pool of domains for keywords like “renovation contractor Singapore” or “corporate secretary services.” In these tight competitive spaces, the quality of your link profile is often the deciding factor between ranking positions 3 and 13.
I’ve seen this play out repeatedly. Two Singapore e-commerce sites with nearly identical on-page SEO, similar content depth, comparable site speed. The one with 45 referring domains from relevant, authoritative Singapore sites outranked the one with 300 referring domains from low-quality international directories. Every single time.
Strong vs. Toxic Link Profiles: A Technical Breakdown
Let me be specific about what separates a link profile that helps you rank from one that’s actively hurting you. This isn’t about vague “good vs. bad” categories. There are measurable characteristics you can check right now.
Characteristics of a Strong Link Profile
High referring domain quality with a natural distribution curve. When you plot your referring domains by Domain Rating (or Domain Authority), a healthy profile follows a rough bell curve. You’ll have a few high-DR links (60+), a larger cluster of mid-range links (20-60), and a tail of lower-authority links. This is what organic link acquisition looks like. Real websites that link to you naturally span the full authority spectrum.
Here’s a benchmark I use for Singapore SME sites. If at least 15-20% of your referring domains have a DR above 40, and you have a handful above 60, you’re in solid territory. If your highest-authority referring domain is DR 25, you have significant room to grow.
Topical clustering around your core business. When I audit a strong link profile, I can usually tell what the business does just by looking at the referring domains. An interior design firm with links from PropertyGuru, Qanvast, Home & Decor, and several renovation blogs has a profile that screams topical authority. Google’s topic-sensitive PageRank models reward this clustering heavily.
Anchor text that looks human, not algorithmic. Pull up your anchor text report. In a strong profile, you’ll see something like this distribution:
- Branded anchors (your company name, variations): 30-40%
- Naked URLs and URL variations: 20-25%
- Generic anchors (“click here,” “this website,” “learn more”): 15-20%
- Partial match keywords (“SEO tips for businesses”): 10-15%
- Exact match keywords (“SEO services Singapore”): 5% or less
These percentages aren’t rigid rules. They’re patterns I’ve observed across hundreds of profiles that rank well without triggering algorithmic filters. The key principle is variety.
Consistent link velocity with no dramatic spikes. Open your referring domains trend chart. A strong profile shows a generally upward trajectory with natural fluctuations. Some months you gain more links because you published something great. Some months are quieter. That’s normal. What you don’t want to see is flat-flat-flat-SPIKE-flat-flat.
Geographic relevance for local businesses. If you’re targeting Singapore customers, having a meaningful portion of your links from .sg domains, Singapore-based publications, and regional APAC sources strengthens your local relevance signals. This doesn’t mean every link needs to be from Singapore. But if you’re a Singapore law firm and 95% of your links come from Indian or Eastern European domains, something is off.
Characteristics of a Toxic Link Profile
Private Blog Network (PBN) links. These are networks of websites created solely to sell links. They often share hosting, have thin content, and link out to dozens of unrelated sites. Google has become remarkably good at identifying PBNs. In 2026 alone, I saw three Singapore businesses lose 30-60% of their organic traffic after Google devalued their PBN links during a core update. The links didn’t trigger a manual penalty. They were simply algorithmically discounted, which meant the rankings those links were propping up collapsed overnight.
How to spot PBN links in your profile: check if the referring domain has very few organic keywords itself (under 50), a suspiciously high outbound link ratio, generic or AI-generated content, and links to multiple unrelated industries on the same page.
Link farms and automated directory submissions. If you hired an SEO agency in 2014-2018 and they promised you “500 backlinks per month,” there’s a good chance your profile is loaded with these. They’re links from mass-submission directories, article spinners, and web 2.0 properties that serve no real purpose. Individually, most of these links are simply ignored by Google now. But in large quantities, they dilute your link profile’s overall quality signals.
Over-optimised anchor text concentration. This is one of the most common issues I find in Singapore link profiles. Someone decided their target keyword was “best renovation contractor Singapore” and made sure that exact phrase appeared as anchor text in 40% of their backlinks. Google’s Penguin algorithm, now integrated into the core algorithm and running in real time, specifically targets this pattern. If your anchor text report shows any single keyword phrase appearing in more than 10% of your backlinks, you likely have an over-optimisation problem.
Links from hacked or compromised sites. Sometimes your site gets linked from websites that have been hacked and injected with spammy outbound links. You didn’t ask for these links. You didn’t pay for them. But they’re pointing to your domain, and they can still cause problems. These often come from .edu or .gov domains that have been compromised, which makes them tricky because the domain authority is high, but the link context is completely irrelevant.
Paid links without proper disclosure. Google’s guidelines are clear: if you pay for a link, it must carry a rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow” attribute. Many Singapore businesses still buy advertorial placements on media sites without ensuring the links are properly attributed. If Google identifies a pattern of paid dofollow links, the consequences range from those links being discounted to a manual action against your site.
Foreign-language link spam. I see this constantly in Singapore audits. Hundreds of links from Chinese, Japanese, or Russian websites that have zero relevance to the business. These are typically the result of negative SEO attacks or automated scraper sites. While Google generally ignores these, a high concentration can muddy your profile’s geographic and topical signals.
How to Audit Your Link Profile: A Step-by-Step Technical Process
Knowing the theory is one thing. Actually sitting down and auditing your link profile is another. Here’s the exact process I follow for client audits, adapted so you can do it yourself.
Step 1: Gather Your Complete Backlink Data
You need data from multiple sources because no single tool captures every link. Start with these three:
Google Search Console (free). Log in, navigate to Links > External links > Top linking sites. Export this data. Google Search Console won’t show you every backlink, but it shows you the ones Google actually knows about and considers, which makes it the most authoritative source.
Ahrefs or SEMrush (paid). Enter your domain into the Site Explorer or Backlink Analytics tool. Export your full backlink list and your referring domains list separately. These tools typically index 2-5x more links than Google Search Console shows, giving you a more complete picture.
Cross-reference both datasets. I usually import both exports into a Google Sheet and use VLOOKUP to identify links that appear in one source but not the other. Links that appear in Google Search Console but not in Ahrefs are particularly interesting, because Google is explicitly telling you it’s aware of those links.
Step 2: Categorise Your Referring Domains
Once you have your combined dataset, sort your referring domains by Domain Rating (or Domain Authority) from highest to lowest. Then manually categorise each one into these buckets:
- Tier 1 (High Value): DR 50+, topically relevant, editorial links. These are your most valuable assets. Protect them.
- Tier 2 (Solid): DR 20-50, relevant or semi-relevant, legitimate websites. These form the backbone of most healthy profiles.
- Tier 3 (Neutral): DR under 20, legitimate but low-authority sites. Forum mentions, small blogs, niche directories. Not harmful, but not moving the needle either.
- Tier 4 (Suspicious): Sites that look like PBNs, link farms, or irrelevant foreign-language domains. Flag these for further review.
- Tier 5 (Toxic): Confirmed spam sites, hacked domains, or sites that violate Google’s guidelines. These need action.
For a typical Singapore SME website with 100-500 referring domains, this manual categorisation takes about 2-4 hours. It’s tedious work, but it’s the most valuable audit step because automated toxicity scores from tools like SEMrush are directionally useful but not definitive. I’ve seen SEMrush flag perfectly legitimate Singapore government directories as “toxic” because their algorithm didn’t recognise the domain pattern.
Step 3: Analyse Your Anchor Text Distribution
Export your anchor text report from Ahrefs or SEMrush. Create a pivot table that groups anchors into the categories I mentioned earlier: branded, naked URL, generic, partial match keyword, and exact match keyword.
Calculate the percentage for each category. If your exact match keyword anchors exceed 8-10% of total anchors, you have a potential over-optimisation risk. If branded anchors are below 20%, your profile may look unnatural to Google’s algorithms.
Here’s a real example from a recent audit. A Singapore dental clinic had 34% of their anchor text as “dental implants Singapore.” They’d been stuck at positions 8-12 for that keyword for over a year despite strong on-page optimisation. After we diluted that anchor text concentration through new link building with varied anchors and disavowing some of the worst over-optimised links, they moved to position 4 within three months. The on-page content didn’t change at all. The anchor text rebalancing was the only variable.
Step 4: Check Your Link Velocity Trends
In Ahrefs, go to the “Referring Domains” chart and set it to show new and lost referring domains over the past 12-24 months. You’re looking for two things.
First, is the overall trend positive? You should be gaining more referring domains than you’re losing over time. If you’re in net decline, your content isn’t attracting links, and older links are naturally decaying as pages get removed or sites go offline.
Second, are there any unnatural spikes? If you see a month where you gained 200 referring domains when your average is 5-10 per month, investigate those links. They could be the result of a viral piece of content (good), or they could be spam links or a negative SEO attack (bad).
Similarly, a sudden drop in referring domains can indicate that a major linking site removed your link, or that a batch of low-quality sites that were linking to you got deindexed by Google. Both scenarios are worth understanding.
Step 5: Benchmark Against Your Top Competitors
This is where the audit becomes strategically useful. Take your top 3-5 competitors for your most important keywords and run the same analysis on their link profiles.
Compare these specific metrics:
- Total referring domains (unique linking websites)
- Number of referring domains with DR 50+
- Number of referring domains from .sg or Singapore-based sites
- Their top linking pages (which content is earning them the most links)
- Their anchor text distribution patterns
This competitive gap analysis tells you exactly where you need to focus. If your competitor has 15 links from DR 60+ sites and you have 3, that’s your priority. If they’re earning links from a specific type of content (like industry reports or data studies), that tells you what content format to invest in.
I ran this analysis for a Singapore fintech company last year. Their competitor had 22 referring domains from finance and business publications. My client had 4. We created a Singapore-specific financial literacy report with original survey data, pitched it to those same publications, and secured 9 editorial links within 4 months. Their target keyword rankings improved by an average of 11 positions.
How to Clean Up a Toxic Link Profile
If your audit revealed Tier 4 and Tier 5 links, you need to decide how to handle them. This is where many business owners panic, but the process is straightforward if you approach it methodically.
When to Use Google’s Disavow Tool
Google’s Disavow Tool lets you upload a file telling Google to ignore specific links or entire domains when assessing your site. But here’s the critical nuance that most guides miss: you should only use the disavow tool when you have clear evidence of manipulative links that you cannot get removed manually.
Google’s John Mueller has said repeatedly that for most sites, Google is already good at ignoring low-quality links algorithmically. The disavow tool is primarily for situations where you’ve received a manual action, you’ve been the target of a deliberate negative SEO campaign, or you have a history of purchased links that you want to clean up.
If you disavow too aggressively, you risk telling Google to ignore links that were actually helping you. I’ve seen businesses disavow legitimate directory links and niche blog mentions because an automated tool flagged them as “suspicious,” only to see their rankings drop afterward.
The Manual Removal Process
Before reaching for the disavow tool, try to get toxic links removed at the source. Here’s the process:
Identify the contact information for the webmaster of each toxic linking site. Check the site’s contact page, WHOIS records, or use Hunter.io to find email addresses associated with the domain.
Send a concise, polite removal request. Don’t write a long explanation. Simply state that you’ve found a link from their site to yours, that you’d like it removed, and provide the specific URL where the link appears. Include your contact details.
Track your outreach in a spreadsheet. Note the date you sent each request, whether you received a response, and the outcome. Give each site 2-3 weeks to respond before following up once.
For links that can’t be removed manually (because the site owner doesn’t respond, or the site appears abandoned), add those domains to your disavow file. Format the file as a plain text document with one domain per line, prefixed with “domain:” to disavow all links from that entire domain. For example: domain:spammysite.com
Upload the file through Google Search Console’s Disavow Links tool. Note that this only affects Google. If you want to disavow links for Bing, you’ll need to use Bing Webmaster Tools separately.
How Long Does Recovery Take?
If you’ve received a manual action from Google (visible in Search Console under Security & Manual Actions), recovery typically takes 2-8 weeks after you submit a reconsideration request, assuming you’ve genuinely cleaned up the issues.
If your link profile issues are algorithmic (no manual action, but your rankings are suppressed), recovery is tied to Google’s core algorithm updates. This can take 3-6 months or longer, because Google needs to recrawl and reassess your link profile over time.
One Singapore e-commerce client came to us with a manual action for “unnatural links to your site.” Their previous agency had built approximately 400 links from a PBN over 18 months. We manually contacted 400 webmasters, got 127 links removed, disavowed the remaining 273 domains, and submitted a reconsideration request with detailed documentation of our cleanup efforts. The manual action was lifted 19 days later. Their organic traffic recovered to pre-penalty levels within 6 weeks after that.
Five Proven Methods to Build a Stronger Link Profile
Cleaning up toxic links is defensive work. Now let’s talk about offence. These are the link building methods that consistently produce results for Singapore businesses, ranked by effectiveness based on what I’ve seen work in practice.
Method 1: Create Data-Driven Content That Earns Editorial Links
This is the single most effective long-term link building strategy. Create original research, surveys, or data analysis that journalists and bloggers want to reference. When you’re the primary source of a statistic, people have to link to you when they cite it.
Here’s how to execute this for a Singapore business:
Identify a data gap in your industry. What questions do people in your sector frequently ask that nobody has answered with actual numbers? For example, if you’re in the F&B industry, “What is the average monthly rental cost for a 500 sq ft restaurant space across different Singapore districts?” is a question many people Google, but few authoritative sources answer with current data.
Collect the data. This could be through customer surveys (use Google Forms or Typeform), analysis of publicly available government data from data.gov.sg or SingStat, or aggregation of your own business data (anonymised, of course). You don’t need a massive sample size. Even a survey of 200 respondents, if well-structured, produces citable statistics.
Package it into a comprehensive report or blog post with clear, quotable statistics. Format the key findings as standalone statements that are easy for journalists to extract. “72% of Singapore SMEs spend less than $500 per month on digital marketing” is a linkable statistic. “Digital marketing is important for SMEs” is not.
Pitch the findings to relevant journalists and bloggers. Don’t send a generic press release. Write personalised emails to specific journalists who cover your industry. Reference their recent articles and explain why your data is relevant to their beat.
I helped a Singapore HR tech company create an annual “Singapore Salary Benchmark Report” based on anonymised data from their platform. The first edition earned 31 editorial backlinks from publications including Human Resources Online, The Business Times, and several regional HR blogs. The second edition earned 47. That single content asset now drives approximately 23% of their total organic traffic.
Method 2: Digital PR and Newsjacking
This is about getting your expertise featured in news articles and industry publications, with a link back to your site. It’s faster than creating original research, but requires consistent effort.
Set up Google Alerts for your industry keywords plus terms like “Singapore,” “new regulation,” “trend,” and “report.” When a relevant news story breaks, you have a window of 24-48 hours to offer expert commentary to journalists covering the story.
Build a media list of 30-50 journalists and editors who cover your industry in Singapore. Follow them on LinkedIn and Twitter. Engage with their content genuinely before you ever pitch them anything. When you do pitch, you’re not a stranger.
Newsjacking works particularly well in Singapore around regulatory changes. When new GST rules, MAS regulations, or PDPA updates are announced, journalists need expert sources to explain the implications. If you’re a tax consultant, an insurance advisor, or a data privacy specialist, being the first to offer a clear, quotable perspective can earn you links from major publications.
One practical tip: create a dedicated “Media” or “Press” page on your website with your spokesperson’s headshot, bio, and areas of expertise. Journalists often check this before deciding whether to quote someone. Make it easy for them.
Method 3: Strategic Guest Contributions on Relevant Industry Sites
Guest posting gets a bad reputation because it’s been heavily abused. But there’s a massive difference between submitting a thoughtful, expert article to a respected industry publication and paying $50 for a 500-word article on a random blog that accepts anything.
The key distinction is editorial standards. If the publication has an editorial review process, a real audience, and standards for what they accept, a guest contribution there is valuable. If they accept anything from anyone with a working email address, skip it.
For Singapore businesses, here are the types of sites worth contributing to:
- Industry-specific publications (e.g., Marketing Interactive for marketers, EdgeProp for property professionals, Tech in Asia for tech companies)
- Business associations and chambers of commerce that publish member content
- Professional bodies that accept practitioner articles (e.g., ISCA for accountants, Law Society for lawyers)
- Regional APAC publications that cover your industry across Southeast Asia
When pitching a guest contribution, don’t pitch your services. Pitch a genuinely useful article idea that serves their audience. “5 Common GST Filing Mistakes Singapore SMEs Make” is a useful article for a business publication’s audience. “Why You Should Hire Our Accounting Firm” is not, and no legitimate publication will accept it.
Include one contextual link back to a relevant page on your site within the article body, and your author bio link. That’s it. Don’t stuff three links to your service pages into a 1,000-word article. It looks desperate and most editors will remove them anyway.
Method 4: Broken Link Building and Link Reclamation
This is a technical but highly effective method that most Singapore businesses completely overlook. It involves two related tactics.
Broken link building means finding pages on other websites that link to resources which no longer exist (404 errors), then offering your own relevant content as a replacement. Here’s the process:
Use Ahrefs’ “Broken Backlinks” report on your competitors’ domains. This shows you pages that used to link to your competitors but now point to dead pages. If you have equivalent content on your site, reach out to the linking site’s webmaster and suggest they update the broken link to point to your resource instead.
You can also use the Check My Links Chrome extension to scan resource pages in your industry for broken outbound links. Resource pages (those “useful links” or “recommended resources” pages) are particularly good targets because they’re specifically designed to link out to helpful content.
Link reclamation is about finding unlinked mentions of your brand. People may mention your company name, your founder’s name, or your products in articles and blog posts without actually linking to your website. These are the easiest links to acquire because the person has already endorsed you. They just forgot to add the hyperlink.
Set up a Google Alert for your brand name, your founder’s name, and your key product names. When you find an unlinked mention, send a brief, friendly email: “Thanks for mentioning us in your article. Would you mind adding a link to our site so your readers can find us easily?” The conversion rate on these requests is typically 15-25%, which is significantly higher than cold outreach.
I used this exact approach for a Singapore co-working space brand. We found 43 unlinked brand mentions across blog posts, news articles, and listicles. We reached out to all 43. Twenty-one added the link. That’s 21 new backlinks acquired with nothing more than a polite email, no content creation required.
Method 5: Local Singapore Link Building Through Community and Partnerships
This method is specific to businesses targeting the Singapore market, and it’s consistently undervalued. Local links from Singapore-based organisations carry strong geographic relevance signals that help with local search rankings.
Here are specific opportunities most Singapore businesses miss:
Singapore government and statutory board resources. Many government agencies maintain directories or resource pages for businesses. Enterprise Singapore, IMDA, and various industry-specific agencies often list companies that participate in their programmes. If you’ve received any government grants (like the PSG or EDG), check whether the administering agency has a directory of supported businesses.
Industry associations and trade bodies. Membership in organisations like the Singapore Business Federation, Singapore Manufacturing Federation, or sector-specific associations often comes with a profile page and backlink on their member directory. These are typically DR 40-60 .sg domains, making them valuable local links.
Local event sponsorships and partnerships. Sponsoring a community event, a charity run, or an industry conference in Singapore often earns you a link from the event’s website. These links are topically relevant (you’re associated with your industry or community), geographically relevant (Singapore-based), and editorially given (the event organisers choose to feature their sponsors).
Educational institution partnerships. If you offer internships, guest lectures, or collaborate with Singapore polytechnics or universities on projects, you may earn links from .edu.sg domains. These carry significant authority. One client who regularly hosts NUS interns has earned backlinks from three different NUS department pages, each with a DR above 70.
Local business directories that actually matter. Forget mass directory submissions. Focus on the directories that real Singapore consumers actually use: Google Business Profile (not a traditional backlink, but critical for local SEO), Singapore Business Directory (SBD), Yellow Pages Singapore, and industry-specific directories like HungryGoWhere for F&B or Qanvast for renovation. Quality over quantity, always.
Advanced Link Profile Optimisation Techniques
Once you’ve cleaned up toxic links and started building new quality ones, there are several advanced techniques that can further strengthen your link profile’s effectiveness.
Internal Link Architecture and Link Equity Distribution
Most discussions about link profiles focus exclusively on external links. But how you distribute that acquired link equity through your internal linking structure is equally important for rankings.
Here’s the concept: when an authoritative external site links to your blog post, that page receives link equity. If that blog post then links internally to your key service pages, some of that equity flows through to those commercial pages. This is how smart SEO practitioners turn informational content links into ranking power for money pages.
Audit your internal links using Screaming Frog or Sitebulb. Identify which pages on your site receive the most external backlinks (your “link magnets”), then ensure those pages have clear, contextual internal links to your most important commercial pages.
A common mistake I see on Singapore business websites: the homepage receives 60-70% of all external backlinks, but it doesn’t link effectively to key service pages. The homepage might link to a generic “Services” page, which then links to individual service pages. That’s two clicks deep, and link equity diminishes with each hop. Instead, link directly from your homepage to your top 5-8 priority pages.
Link Intersect Analysis
This is one of my favourite techniques for finding link opportunities. A link intersect analysis identifies websites that link to two or more of your competitors but don’t link to you. The logic is simple: if a site links to multiple competitors, they’re clearly interested in your industry and are likely open to linking to you as well, if you give them a reason.
In Ahrefs, use the “Link Intersect” tool. Enter 3-5 competitor domains and your own domain. The tool will show you referring domains that link to your competitors but not to you. Sort by Domain Rating and work through the list from highest to lowest.
For each opportunity, visit the linking page and understand the context. Is it a resource page? A blog post that mentions multiple providers? A comparison article? Understanding the context tells you how to approach the outreach. If it’s a resource page, suggest your site as an addition. If it’s a comparison article, pitch the author on including your business in their next update.
When I run this analysis for Singapore clients, I typically find 20-50 actionable opportunities in the first pass. Not all of them will convert, but even a 10-15% success rate means 3-8 new quality backlinks from sites that are already proven to link within your industry.
Monitoring and Maintaining Your Link Profile Over Time
A link profile audit isn’t a one-time exercise. It requires ongoing monitoring. Here’s the maintenance schedule I recommend:
Weekly: Check Google Search Console for any new manual actions or security issues. Review your Google Alerts for brand mentions and newsjacking opportunities.
Monthly: Review new referring domains in Ahrefs or SEMrush. Quickly categorise any new links and flag anything suspicious. Check your link velocity trend to ensure it looks natural