Link building is one of the most crucial aspects of any successful SEO strategy. It is pretty much the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own, and when done right, it can significantly boost your site’s search engine rankings. However, it is important to know that link building is not a one-size-fits-all approach, strategies that may work for a particular website, industry or niche are not guaranteed to work for others. In order to ensure your efforts are paying off, you need to take time out to comprehensively measure and analyse the results. But, have no fear, for in this article we’ll explore the key link building metrics you should be tracking to gauge the success of your link building efforts. 1. Quantity and Quality of Backlinks The first and most straightforward metric to measure when looking into backlinks is usually the total number of backlinks your website has acquired. An increase in the quantity of backlinks is typically a positive sign. However, it should be noted that not all backlinks are created equal, so it’s crucial to consider other metrics as well. Put some focus on the quality of backlinks, as a healthy backlink profile includes a diverse range of sources. Measure the diversity of your links by analysing factors like anchor text, referring domains, relevance, and the authority of the linking page. Certain tools like Moz’s Domain Authority and Ahrefs’ Domain Rating can help you evaluate backlink quality. A natural link profile is often a mix of editorial, directory, and other link types. 2. Anchor Text Distribution It is important to ensure that your anchor text distribution is balanced and natural as over-optimized anchor text can raise red flags with search engines. Tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush can also help you to analyse your anchor text profile. 3. Referring Domains and Referral Traffic Ensure that you track the number of unique referring domains that are linking to your website as gaining links from a broader range of domains can positively impact your site’s authority. Another related and essential metric is the amount of referral traffic you receive from backlinks. Use tools like Google Analytics to monitor which links are driving the most visitors to your site so as to gain some valuable insight. 4. Click-Through Rate (CTR), Indexation and Conversion Rate If you have links on pages with call-to-action (CTA) elements or featured content, make it a point to monitor the CTR. It is essential to know how many people are clicking through from those links. It is also necessary to check how many of your backlinks have been indexed by search engines as links that aren’t indexed don’t provide SEO value. From there you can proceed to track the number of conversions driven by specific backlinks. This metric helps to measure the effectiveness of link-building efforts in generating leads, sales, or other desired actions. 5. Penalty Risk One other thing to note and thoroughly evaluate is the risk of incurring penalties due to low-quality links. Constantly monitor the inference of low-quality links and make use of tools to both identify and disavow these potentially harmful links. 6. Competitor Analysis, Local and Industry Citations Always compare your link profile to competitors, use every tool at your disposal to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their backlink profiles as it can help you to improve your own strategy. If you have a local business or industry-specific website, track local and industry citations as well to measure the success of your link building within specific niches. 7. Analytics (Growth Over Time, Social Signals and Cost per Link) Ensure that you measure how your backlink profile has grown over time. Steady, organic growth is more valuable than sudden spikes. Links shared on social media can also contribute to your link building efforts as well as the aforementioned spikes. So, it is crucial to monitor the number of times your content is shared across different platforms. Also, consider how much you’re spending on link-building campaigns and calculate the cost per acquired link as this metric helps assess the efficiency of your efforts. Regularly reviewing these metrics ensures that all your link building efforts align with your SEO goals and help improve your website’s overall search engine visibility. Now, if all or some of the tips and steps outlined in this article seem impossible, time-consuming or overwhelming it may be time to look to a professional agency for assistance and At AdHang, we are experts in SEO and link building. Contact us today to learn how we can help you create and implement a successful link-building strategy tailored to your specific needs.