How we use Link Research Tools

Quick Backlinks Tool

The QBL gives fast information about any website and its backlinks.
Example use:

  • If somebody offers you a link on their website you can quickly (less than 60 seconds) decide if it is going to be worthwhile or not
  • If you find an expired domain that is for sale, you can quickly decide if it is worth investigating further before purchase

Quick Domain Compare

QDC is a tool which compares your own site with the competition and gives a quick idea of who is doing best and why.
Example use:

  • A client can’t work out why they aren’t doing as well as their competitor; you can quickly tell them why
  • You can use the QDC to tell a prospective client about their competitors to help close the deal. It is so quick you can use it whilst being on the phone
  • If you are taking on a client for Link Detox you can use the QDC to see the number of linking TopDomains and so correctly price the work

Backlink Profiler

The Backlink Profiler is like the QDC but it gives much more detailed information.
Example use:

  • You can see abnormal inbound link structures at a glance and thus confirm a Penguin Penalty
  • You can get a very complete list of all (sitewide filter = off) backlinks to a site, this can be very useful in severe Penguin Penalties when we want to get a list of every single backlink that has been disavowed and make sure that Google crawls them using Link Detox Boost
  • You can find all the ‘mentions’ of your site or brand and then contact the site owner. You can either do this manually or use the automated PitchBox integration. You can then ask for them to be turned into real links.

Juice Tool

The Juice Tool is amazing, it can give very detailed information about a huge number of domains (up to 10,000 at a time).
Example use:

  • If you have a huge number of backlinks from a BPL report of your competitor, you can import these into JUICE and very quickly work out where their strongest links are
  • If you are looking for a powerful expired domain (for example for a PBN) and have a big list from Register Compass or ExpiredDomains.net you can easily import these into JUICE and find the strongest ones very quickly. You can do further investigative work using Link Detox

Competitive Keyword Analyzer

We don’t use CKA as much as we should here, probably because we see more people with ranking problems than people who want to rank better for more keyphrases. The CKA shows you who is ranking well for your chosen 10 keyphrases, which may surprise you.
Example use:

  • Find the less obvious phrases and find out who is ranking for them, then explore their backlinks with BLP or DTOX and try and get a link there yourself.

Competitive Landscape Analyzer

Christoph C Cemper may need to confirm this, but we believe that the CLA was the ‘thing’ that came before Link Detox. CLA gives you so much information about your niche and what the online market is like.
Use CLA to…

  • Find out what the NoFollow/Follow Ratio for your niche really is
  • Find out what the Brand/Compound/Money/Other anchor text ratios are like in your niche
  • Work out how to sculpt your link profile to look like the link profile of the top sites.

Competitive Link Velocity

The CLV tool is used to spot trends in the speed of link building. Link velocity spikes happen in many niches, especially seasonal sites or sites that are associated with annual events. CLV is a comparison tool that shows anomalies in your niche.
Some typical uses:

  • If a client suspects he has been hit by a negative SEO attack you can usually confirm this with a CLV report
  • If you want to do a ‘churn and burn’ campaign for a specific event like ‘Mothers’ Day’ you can use CLV to monitor what you can get away with. You can examine the normal rate of link building within your niche and try and fit in with the competition. By doing this you can make a boat load of cash and still be able to use your websites and associated properties next year.
  • CLV is a a tool often used to help with the firing of your current SEO company!

Competitive Link Detox

CDTOX is a stunning and phenomenal tool. If you are serious about your web site ranking well and continuing to rank well, then CDTOX is essential. The problem with any blind Detoxing or Link Profile Sculpting is that you do not have a clue what your competition is doing. You can guess at the amount of crappy links you can get away with or you can follow magic ratios that some know-it-all on Warrior Forum has told you – but you are heading for trouble. Don’t risk that, use CDTOX instead.
Here’s why:

  • Find out the DTOXRISK of your site and competitors and see where you are not fitting in with the top 5 or top 3
  • Find all the strong, healthy links used by your competitors and go after those links (either manually or with PitchBox)

SERP Research Tool

I have a feeling this might be one of the most underused tools in the box. The SERP tool allows you enter 20 keyphrases and then find out who is ranking for those and get a pretty good idea why.
Use the SERP Tool to:

  • Find sites that rank for your keyphrases that you might be able to get a link from
  • Examine the metrics of the sites that are ranking and see if you can replicate them

Contact Finder

Now that Link Research Tools has the possibility of integration with PitchBox we don’t tend to use the Contact Finder so much.
Example uses:

  • Webmaster outreach for Link Removal
  • Find owners of expiring domains to make them an offer outside of any auctions
  • Find details of webmasters for link requests
  • Find new clients of sites that have been penalised

Common Back Links Tool

The CBLT is one of our favourite weapons in the LRT arsenal. By finding backlinks that are common to multiple sites in your niche you can be sure you are on the right track if you can get a link there.
Use CBLT for:

  • Finding sites where you really should have a backlink

Link Juice Thief

LJT is one of the more cunning tools in the LRT toolbox. You can use LJT to find out where your competitors link to, if you can get a link there, it means that your competitor is indirectly linking to you. Cunning indeed!
Use LJT for:

  • Finding sites that you may be able to get a link with that you would have otherwise never thought of

Missing Links Tool

MLT can be used to find the backlinks that your competitors have but you don’t.
Use MLT for:

  • Finding relevant “on topic” sites where you might be able to get a link

Link Check Tool

The LCT checks a list of existing links against your domains, to check they are still worthwhile having and/or whether any links have disappeared.
You can use this for:

  • Analysing link pyramids (for those who still do them!)
  • Checking any links that you have bought or are renting – LCT can be set to run weekly for this purpose

Link Alerts

We use Link Alerts all the time here. They can be used for a variety of uses:

  • Get alerted every time your competitors get a new link and see if you can get a similar one
  • Get alerted every time you get a new link so that you can check if you want to lose it, keep it or improve on it
  • Monitor link activity during a suspected negative SEO attack
  • During a Manual Action Penalty Removal: monitor link acquisition during the crucial time between sending a Reconsideration Request and receiving an answer from the webspam team

Link Detox Tool (DTOX)

The famous and mighty Link Detox tool has many uses including the obvious.
Use DTOX for:

  • Fixing Algorithmic Penguin Penalties
  • Fixing Manual Penguin Penalties
  • Monitoring the link profile health of your site
  • Finding the healthy and strong links that your competitor has and going after them yourself
  • Testing the health of potential links that you might be able to acquire (‘What If Mode’)
  • Domain Brokering: Examining a large list of  expired or expiring domains to see which are worth buying (‘Review Mode’)

Link Juice Recovery Tool

One of our favourite tools, LJR is used to find non existent pages on your site that have inbound links. By either recreating the page or doing a 301 redirect you can recover the link juice.
Some applications of LJR are:

  • Recovering link juice on your own site after a large redesign
  • Recovering link juice when buying an expired domain

Strongest Subpages Tool

The SSPT is an excellent tool that can quickly tell you which are the strongest pages on a site.
Use SSPT for:

  • Deciding which pages to guest blog on or buy advertising/paid links on
  • Sculpturing your link juice in your own site for better on page SEO

Meet the Author

Rick Lomas

Rick became 'interested' in Google Penalties when Google Penguin 1.0 almost made him homeless in 2012. Since then he has become an expert in fixing Google Algorithmic Penalties and Manual Actions. Rick has cleared hundreds of Google Manual Actions since 2015. He has saved businesses $millions. He has a 100% success rate in penalty removal.