Link building has consistently remained one of the highest rated essentials in search engine optimization, and it includes inbound links as well as those located on your website or landing pages. Once you’ve inserted links or obtained backlinks from other online locations, however, you need to monitor the performance and functionality of those links periodically.
With the constantly changing structure of the Internet today, links are almost like many websites here today and gone tomorrow. You may have placed backlinks on sites that seemed to have staying power, only to find out (often too late) that the site was taken down or removed and your links have been lost. If a link is not generating traffic or gets lost or removed, you need to know so you can take action to repair or replace the link before you lose site visitors and potential clients.
With proper link tracking methods in place, you would find out almost immediately when links change, disappear, become modified, or stop working the way you want them to. There are many different tools available for link tracking that will tell you everything you need to know about the activity of your links.
Here are five best resources for tracking and monitoring backlinks that you should consider as part of your overall site/page analysis:
1. SoloSEO
SoloSEO Link Building & Management is a pay program ($29 for up to 5 domains) that provides detailed data about off-site links and how well they are performing. It also provides a Link Build It! function that lets you strengthen your link building strategies while browsing other websites that you could benefit through backlinking from.
2. Ahrefs
Ahrefs Site Explorer & Backlink Checker provides tools that are recommended by many industry experts, and offers a very in-depth backlink reporting system for both your own links and those of your competitors.
3. Majestic SEO
Majestic SEO offers several different tools focusing on link acquisition and monitoring. They have backlink checkers and link monitoring reports to make it easy for you to see where your links are coming from and how well they are doing.
4. BuzzStream
BuzzStream Link Building offers information on ramping up your link building strategies, and provides tools for monitoring link performance. It also includes backlink tracking and reporting, list management, and link prospecting research.
5. Cognitive SEO
Cognitive SEO has developed a comprehensive SEO tool kit with a variety of resources for monitoring backlinks and inbound links, and provides extensive detail on the performance of your SEO link strategies.
The SEO realm is in just as much flux as the Internet itself, with the “rules” for optimizing websites changing on an almost daily basis, it seems. Don’t let your link building strategies hinder your SEO efforts due to a failure to properly monitor and track link activity.
Whether you are doing your own SEO, hiring an agency to handle it, or even outsourcing your needs to an SEO reseller, keeping track of your link functionality and activity should be one of your top monitoring priorities. Make sure you choose a link tracking program that provides you with the data you need to stay on top of your website and link performance.