By Andrew Linksmith, Head of Link Acquisition · Update:
Backlink Profile: How to Read Yours and Your Competitors'
A backlink profile is the complete set of external links pointing to a site, described by four properties rather than one number: how many distinct domains link to you, what anchor text they use, what types of links they are, and how that mix accumulated over time. Referring domains matter more than total backlinks, because one arrangement can generate thousands of links from a single source.
That last distinction is where most conversations about link profiles go wrong. A site with 40,000 backlinks and 60 referring domains has a weaker profile than a site with 900 backlinks and 400 referring domains — but the first number is the one people quote.
Six dimensions of a backlink profile
1. Referring domain count
Distinct websites linking to you. The closest single proxy for link authority, and the number to track month over month.
Benchmark: against page-one competitors, not in the abstract
2. Domain diversity
How concentrated your links are. If a fifth of your referring domains share hosting, templates or outbound patterns, that is one source presenting as many.
Warning: any recognisable cluster of 10+
3. Anchor distribution
Share of referring domains using each anchor type. The most detectable manipulation signal, and the easiest to get wrong deliberately.
Benchmark: median of three ranking competitors
4. Link type and rel mix
Editorial, contextual, footer, directory, and the split between followed and qualified links. A profile with no nofollow at all looks constructed, because real link accumulation is messy.
Normal: 15–35% qualified or nofollow
5. Topical relevance
Share of referring domains that operate in or adjacent to your field. Relevance remains the factor practitioners rate above raw authority for most campaigns.
Aim: majority relevant or adjacent
6. Publisher quality
Whether the domains linking to you have real readers. Ahrefs has reported that fewer than one site in ten in its index gets any organic traffic, so this is a genuine differentiator.
Track: share of referring domains with 500+ monthly visits
Dimension four is worth expanding because it produces a counter-intuitive rule. A profile consisting entirely of followed links is not a strong profile — it is an unlikely one. Real link accumulation produces a mixture: social profiles, forum mentions, syndicated copies, press listings, all of which are commonly qualified. A perfectly clean followed profile suggests every link was arranged.
What a healthy profile looks like
Healthy anchor distribution
Branded52%
Naked URL18%
Generic14%
Partial match11%
Exact match5%
Manipulated profile
Branded14%
Naked URL6%
Generic9%
Partial match28%
Exact match43%
Property | Healthy | Problematic |
Dominant anchor type | Branded and naked URL | Exact-match commercial |
Growth shape | Uneven but continuous | Flat lines punctuated by vertical steps |
Source variety | Media, blogs, directories, forums, partners | One format from many similar domains |
Followed / qualified mix | Mixed, with a meaningful qualified share | Almost entirely followed |
Publisher traffic | A visible core with genuine readership | High ratings, negligible audiences |
Topical spread | Concentrated in your field, with some adjacency | Scattered across unrelated industries |
One caveat that matters more than the table. "Natural" is niche-specific. A local services business will show far more directory and citation links than a software company; a news publisher will show far more incidental links than either. The correct reference is not a universal ideal but the profiles of the pages currently ranking for your terms — which is what the next section is about.
How to analyse a competitor's profile
Export referring domains for the top three ranking pages — Page-level, not domain-level. The page that ranks is the unit you are competing against.
Find the intersect — Domains linking to two or more of them and not to you. These are publishers demonstrably willing to link within your topic — the highest-conversion prospect list you can build.
Measure their monthly referring domain growth — Twelve months of history. This tells you the pace you need to match, which is a more useful budget input than any absolute target.
Calculate their anchor distribution — Take the median across all three. That median is your benchmark, replacing every generic percentage recommendation you have read.
Identify their strongest links and where they point — Not just which domains, but which of their URLs receive them. This shows you whether they are building to money pages directly or routing through content.
Look for digital PR fingerprints — Clusters of media links appearing in the same fortnight indicate a campaign. Find the asset that earned them and you have learned what works in your market.
Step two produces the single most actionable output in link building. A publisher that has already linked to two of your competitors has demonstrated both topical interest and willingness — a fundamentally different prospect from a cold target. Campaign planning around this is covered in how to run a link building campaign.
Benchmarks by niche and site size
The best illustration of why absolute benchmarks are useless comes from the search results for this industry's own head term. Looking at the US results for "link building services":
Position band | Referring domains to the ranking URL | Domain Rating | What it tells you |
Position 1 | ~1,300 | 74 | A decade of accumulated authority on one URL |
Positions 4–7 | 19–84 | 30–79 | The realistic competitive band for a new entrant |
Positions 8–14 | 1–94 | 41–91 | Some ranking URLs hold position with 1–4 referring domains |
Read that bottom row again. On a commercial head term with substantial search volume, pages sit on the first page of results with a single referring domain, while the top result holds roughly thirteen hundred. The question "how many links do I need" has no answer without specifying which position you are targeting — and the honest answer for most businesses is that positions four to seven are reachable at a fraction of what people assume.
Target | Typical referring domains to the URL | Realistic timeline |
Long-tail informational terms | 3–15 | 2–4 months |
Mid-competition commercial terms | 20–60 | 6–12 months |
Competitive commercial head terms | 60–150 | 12–24 months |
Position 1 on an established head term | Several hundred to 1,000+ | Multi-year |
How to improve a weak profile
Order matters here. Adding volume to a structurally skewed profile amplifies the skew, which is why the first two steps are corrective rather than additive.
Fix anchor skew first Months 1–3
If exact-match anchors sit above your competitor median, every new link should be branded or naked URL until the ratio corrects. Dilution is the only safe correction — you cannot retroactively change what has already been placed.
Reclaim what you have already earned Month 1
Fix broken inbound links pointing to 404s, collapse redirect chains, and convert unlinked brand mentions. This recovers authority you already paid for and costs almost nothing. Mechanics in how authority flows between pages.
Add topical relevance Months 2–6
If your referring domains are scattered across unrelated fields, prioritise publishers in your category even at lower domain ratings. Relevance outranks raw authority for most campaigns.
Build toward the intersect list Months 3–9
Work the publishers already linking to multiple competitors. Highest conversion, most direct competitive effect.
Then increase volume Month 6 onward
Only once the structure is sound. Cap monthly growth at roughly 20% of your current referring domain count so the curve stays continuous rather than stepped.
If the audit that precedes this turns up unexplained purchases in your history, run the seven-step audit before starting — you need to know what you are building on top of.
SERP benchmark figures are from Ahrefs SERP data for "link building services" (US), snapshot 30 July 2026, and can be reproduced with any backlink index. Organic traffic distribution figures: Ahrefs. Andrew Linksmith sells link building services. Google's guidance on link schemes is published in its spam policies.