Free Backlink Audit Template + Step-By-Step Guide

When was the last time you checked who’s linking to your website?

I know how a backlink audit can feel so overwhelming– but it doesn’t have to be.

Having a template handy can make this process so much easier and a lot more effective.

So, I’ve put together a free Backlink Audit template for you to use and a step-by-step guide to help you make the most of it.

Free Backlink Audit Template

Click this Free Backlink Audit Template to get its copy in Google Sheets. If you prefer Excel, you can download it.

How to Use the Free Template to Audit Your Backlink Profile

Open your template and follow along with your own site’s data as you read.

Step 1: Gather All Your Backlink Data

First, collect the backlink data for your site. Pull data from multiple sources to be as comprehensive as possible. Here’s how:

↳ Export backlinks from Google Search Console

Log in to GSC and go to the Links report. Under External Links, you’ll see sections for “Top linked pages” and “Top linking sites.”

Click Export External Links > Latest links to download the backlink data in CSV or Google Sheets format​. It’ll give you up to 100,000 of the most recent backlinks.

I prefer it in Google Sheets but you can select the option you prefer.

↳ Extract backlink data from Semrush

Next, use SEMrush to get a more complete picture.

In SEMrush, go to Backlink Explorer, enter your domain, and click Analyze.

Go to Backlinks, click Export and select your preferred format to save the backlink data.

SEMrush’s database might reveal links that GSC hasn’t reported yet (since Google sometimes samples or delays link data).

Also export the Referring Domains list – this will list each unique domain linking to you, with useful metrics like the number of backlinks from that domain and its Authority Score. We’ll also use that for analysis.

↳ Import into the Google Sheets template

Now, take the backlink lists you exported and import them into the Raw Backlink Data tab of your Google Sheets template.

Copy-paste the data such that each backlink URL is on a separate row (along with any associated info from the export, like the linking domain or anchor text if provided).

It may have a lot of unnecessary columns. I have removed them so I only have the relevant data.

It’s okay if you have multiple exports – put them all in the sheet one after another. We will deduplicate and organize them in the next step.

↳ Remove duplicates

You might see a few same backlinks in both GSC and SEMrush exports. After pasting all data, quickly check for duplicate URLs and remove them so that each unique backlink appears only once in your list.

This can be done by using the Remove Duplicates function in Google Sheets.

Step 2: Organize and Prepare the Data in Your Template

Now, let’s set up the audit worksheet so we can systematically evaluate link quality in the next step.

↳ Set up columns for analysis

Now, add the links to the main sheet with their respective data in the following columns:

1. Linking Domain – The root domain of the site linking to you (e.g., example.com). You can extract the domain from the “Linking Page URL” using a formula or text-to-columns in Sheets.

2. Target Page – Which page on your site is being linked to. This helps you see if certain pages (like your homepage or a specific blog post) are magnets for many links, or if irrelevant pages are getting odd links.

3. Anchor Text – The visible text of the link. Anchor text gives context. It will help us inspect anchors for natural vs. unnatural patterns.

4. Link Type (Follow/Nofollow) – Note whether the link is “follow” (a normal backlink that passes SEO value) or “nofollow” (the linker marked it as not to be counted by search engines). A healthy backlink profile usually has a mix. If your data exports include this info (SEMrush does), include it. If not, you might need to spot-check later.

5. Authority Score – A metric to judge the strength or authority of the linking domain. In SEMrush, this is Authority Score (AS) on a 100-point scale. If you export from SEMrush’s Backlink Analytics, your “Referring Domains” list should already have an Authority Score for each domain. For the rest, you can use SEMrush’s Bulk Analysis to look up a domain’s score.

6. Status – This column will be used to mark the status of a backlink– whether it is active or broken.

7. Toxicity / Spam Score – SEMrush’s Backlink Audit tool provides a Toxicity Score (TS) for each linking page (0 to 100, higher = more toxic)​. If you don’t have a numerical score, you can use your own judgment. This just gives us additional context when assessing the links.

8. Relevance – Use it to mark a link Relevant or Irrelevant. For example, if your site is about fitness, and you have a backlink from a tech blog, you might mark that as “Irrelevant.” If you find many links from completely unrelated industries, it could be spammy links.

9. Category (optional) – Sometimes I add a column to note the category or niche of the linking site. This helps me decide better whether a link is relevant or not. And it helps to have an idea of what sort of sites links to you and which category/specific niche brings most backlinks.

10. Initial Assessment – Use this column to mark the link as Good, Suspicious, or Toxic. Initially, you might leave this blank and fill it in as you review each link in the next step.

11. Action – This will be filled at the end. After assessing each link, you can Keep, Remove, Disavow or Reclaim a backlink.

Feel free to customize the columns to your needs – the goal is to have all key info about each backlink on one row so you can systematically review them.

12. Notes – This column is for you to add notes during the audit. These notes will help you later when you finally take the action.

↳ Filling the metrics column

Use the data from SEMrush (or your tool of choice) to fill in the Authority Score and Toxicity Score for each backlink or at least for each linking domain.

For example, if you export Referring Domains from SEMrush, you can add it as a separate sheet in the workbook and use VLOOKUP(domain) to pull the AS or TS into your main sheet.

If a particular metric isn’t available for all links, focus on filling it for the domains you suspect might be problematic or those that have a lot of backlinks to you.If you are using SEMrush’s Backlink Audit tool directly, you might not need to do all this manually – it shows AS and TS for each link​.

Step 3: Evaluate Backlink Quality

Now, let’s start the actual auditing – evaluating each backlink and deciding which are good or bad.

↳ Examine the linking domain’s quality

Look at the Linking Domain and its Authority Score. A high score suggests it’s a trusted or popular site, whereas a low score means it’s a spammy or new site​.

I also do a bit of qualitative analysis. Check the domain name – is it something you recognize or that looks legitimate (e.g. NYTimes.com vs freelinks4u.biz)?

Also consider the domain’s relevance– Is it a site in your industry or a related field, or does it seem completely random? Backlinks from relevant, authoritative sites are great. But backlinks from unrelated, low-authority sites may be neutral at best, or harmful at worst.

↳ Check the linking page (source URL)

Sometimes a good domain can have a bad page, or vice versa. If something looks fishy, click the source URL (the actual page that links to you) to see it in context. I often do this for any link that I’m on the fence about.

When you visit the page, see whether the content is real and coherent. Is your link embedded naturally in a paragraph, or does it appear in a list of links? If the page is basically a “directory” or “list of links” page with no original content, that’s a bad sign.

If the page is full of gibberish or unrelated text, definitely suspicious.

On the other hand, if your link is in a well-written article or a legitimate resource page, that’s usually fine.

↳ Analyze the anchor text

Look at the Anchor Text of each backlink. Anchor text should ideally be relevant to your content, but not overly manipulative. Beware of over-optimized anchors – e.g., if your site is about “SEO tools” and you find a lot of backlinks with the anchor “best SEO tools free download”, that could indicate someone built those links to manipulate rankings.

A natural link profile has a variety of anchors: your brand name, the URL itself, generic terms (“click here”), and some descriptive keywords.

If you see anchors that are outright spammy or unrelated to your content, mark those links as suspicious.

↳ Look at Follow vs NoFollow

If a link is nofollow, it generally doesn’t pass ranking benefit (per Google). Nofollow links aren’t harmful (Google just ignores them in ranking calculations), but they also won’t help you rank.

In an audit, I usually focus on follow links for quality concerns, because those are the ones that could actively affect SEO.

However, if you find tons of nofollow links from shady sites, it could still indicate an attempted spam (even if Google doesn’t count them, it clutters your profile).

Typically, you don’t need to disavow nofollow links since they shouldn’t be influencing rankings anyway. Keep the follow/nofollow context in mind but weight your concern more on follow links.

↳ Assess Authority Score (AS) and Toxicity Score (TS) together

A high Toxicity Score (e.g. 70+ on SEMrush) is a strong indicator the link might be bad. If TS is high, inspect that link extra carefully – often you’ll find it’s a spam blog, a link farm, or an irrelevant directory.

Also look out for low Authority Score domains (especially coupled with high TS). A brand-new site or a minor blog might have low AS but still be legitimate – so low AS alone is not a death sentence. But low AS + weird anchor text + content in a foreign language that has nothing to do with you = likely toxic.

↳ Group by domain for patterns:

Rather than looking at each of hundreds of links in isolation, also look at the domain level. Is there a domain that has, say, 50 backlinks to you, all with weird anchors? That’s probably more significant than a domain with one odd link.

Use a pivot table or the “Referring Domains” tab in Semrush to see if any domain stands out. For example, if a certain domain has 30 links to your site – it could be spam. You could disavow the whole domain rather than each URL individually, in such cases.

Conversely, if a reputable domain has multiple links to you (e.g., an industry news site linked to several of your blog posts), that’s usually great news.

↳ Flag each link or domain as Good, Suspicious, or Toxic:

In the “Initial Assessment” column in your sheet, mark:

→ “Good” for backlinks that are clearly legitimate and beneficial. These are typically from solid websites, relevant content, with no red flags. You keep these, of course.

→ “Suspicious/Potentially Toxic” for backlinks that give you pause. Maybe the site looks low-quality or the link seems unnatural, but you’re not 100% sure it’s outright harmful. Flag these for deeper investigation. Sometimes I’ll label these “monitor” or add a note like “check if part of PBN” or “looks spammy, likely disavow.”

→ “Toxic/Bad” for backlinks that you determine are definitely unwanted. These could be obvious spam (porn links, casino link networks, hacked site links, etc.), or links that violate Google’s guidelines (like links you know were paid for or part of a link scheme). We will plan to remove or disavow these in later steps.

If you have a gut feeling a link is sketchy, you’re probably right. (In my early SEO days, I was too optimistic and left some dubious links in place – only to get a manual penalty later for “unnatural links”. Now I’d rather err on the side of caution and eliminate anything that even smells like spam.)

↳ Document your reasoning in Notes (optional but recommended)

Jot a quick note why you marked something as toxic or suspicious. E.g., “Site is a link farm page, has 100+ outgoing links” or “Unrelated Russian site, likely spam”.

This is helpful if you’re going to have to explain to a client or team member why you disavowed something, or just for your own memory if you revisit the audit later.

Alright, now we have identified the “toxic” backlinks. Next, let’s take action on those.

Step 4: Identify and Prioritize Toxic Backlinks for Removal or Disavow

By now, your spreadsheet has a bunch of links marked “Toxic” or “Suspicious.” Now, it’s time to either remove or disavow them. But before jumping into either, let’s refine our list:

↳ Review the Toxic/Suspicious links

Filter or sort your sheet to show only the links (or domains) you labeled as Toxic/Suspicious.

Now, go through this filtered list and double-check if each truly warrants action. Sometimes on a second look, you might downgrade or upgrade the severity. (For example, you marked something toxic in a hurry, but on second glance, maybe it’s just low-quality but not actively harmful – you might choose to leave it alone if it’s nofollow or very insignificant. Or vice versa.)

↳ Use the template to mark the action

Update your “Action” column in the sheet for each bad link/domain:

→ Mark “Remove” for those you plan to remove.

→ Mark “Disavow” for those you will include in the disavow file.

If there are links you’re still unsure about, you could mark “Monitor” or leave as Suspicious for now, but ideally try to make a decision. (If in doubt, and the link adds no value, disavow to be safe. Disavowing won’t hurt you if the link was neutral– it only asks Google to ignore a link that you weren’t counting on anyway.

↳ Don’t forget “broken” backlinks

While dealing with “toxic” links, also pay attention to backlinks pointing to broken pages on your site. Check if any of your top linked pages in GSC are 404s or if SEMrush’s Backlink Audit shows a number of “Broken backlinks” (links to pages that return 4xx/5xx).

If you find any, mark them Reclaim (Broken) in the template. You’ll want to fix those by restoring the page or setting up a 301 redirect from that broken URL to a relevant page. This way, you reclaim the value of those backlinks.

This isn’t a disavow or removal action, but it’s an important part of a full backlink audit to maximize your link equity.

Step 5: Take Action – Remove, Disavow, or Reclaiming Backlinks

There are essentially three actions to take with bad or broken links (and a fourth in case you want to “monitor” a link).

↳ Create and Upload a Disavow File

Sort the list by “Disavow,” and select and copy all the links with this marker. Create a new Google Sheets/Excel file and paste them there.

Use the domain:example.com format to disavow the entire domain​. If a domain has multiple pages linking to you, this will cover them all– the existing and the new ones too.

↳ Use the Disavow Tool

Go to Google’s Disavow Links Tool and select your website property.

Then, upload the list of backlinks you want to disavow in the .txt format. Google will process this, and moving forward, those links will be effectively ignored in Google’s algorithm.

Keep in mind, it can take some weeks for Google to recrawl and fully discount those links, so changes aren’t instant.

↳ Confirm and document

Once uploaded, note in your spreadsheet the date of disavow. Keep a copy of the disavow file content in the sheet. If you ever audit again or need to update it, it’s good to know what you already disavowed.

Important: Be extremely careful with disavowing​.

Only disavow links you are confident are bad. If you mistakenly disavow good backlinks, you’re throwing away SEO value. The disavow tool is a last resort for links you can’t remove.

Be Vigilant to Keep a Healthy Backlink Profile

Backlink Auditing is not a one-time task– you need to tidy your backlink profile every once in a while to make sure it’s free for toxic links. I know this whole task can be quite tedious but using this free backlink audit template can make it a lot easier.

What more you can do to keep your backlink profile healthy?

↳ Keep your site free of PBN backlinks

↳ Make sure you only have quality backlinks.

↳ Monitor your backlinks with the right tools.

↳ Know and track the important backlink metrics.

Frequently Asked Questions