Backlink Monitor
Watch your backlink profile for new wins + sudden losses.
What it is
The MONITOR + AUDIT canonical home for the Backlinks workflow — watches every backlink you've earned (via the Backlinks Submitter) and surfaces health, risk, audit, and recovery actions. Six panels: (1) Health status table — Live / Missing / Dead / Errors per row with filter pills + sort by DA + 30-row pagination + a 'Recover via Outreach' button on every Dead/Missing row that pre-fills a link-restore pitch in the Outreach module. (2) Anchor-text diversity Penguin classifier with risk verdict. (3) Auto-monitor schedule (off / weekly / biweekly / monthly) — controls how often we re-check every backlink. (4) Spam-neighborhood scanner with per-domain 'keep' allowlist for false positives. (5) Google-format disavow .txt generator. (6) Since-last-monitor emerald strip + ReportActions in hero (PDF · HTML · Print · Share). FREE module — zero credit cost. Backlinks flow in automatically from the Backlinks Submitter. Cross-link banner at the top routes you back to Backlinks when you want to BUILD more.
Why it matters
Losing 10 high-authority backlinks in a week can crash your rankings. Catching it the day it happens means you can email the site owner and recover most of them — recovery rates run ~50% when you act inside the first 7 days. The 'Recover via Outreach' button closes that loop in one click. An over-optimized anchor profile triggers Penguin penalties; this module warns you before Google does. And the Brain wire emits two new Forge signals on every check (backlink_lost + anchor_overoptimization) so the niche cohort benchmark sees what's happening across customers.
How to use it (step-by-step)
Follow these in order. Each step is 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
Step 1
Backlinks flow in from the Submitter
Every backlink you mark 'live' in the Backlinks (Submitter) module appears here automatically — no manual entry. The cross-link banner at the top of the page routes you there when you want to BUILD more.
Step 2
Click 'Check now' to run a health check
FREE. We live-test every backlink in parallel (10-way concurrency — 200 links drop from ~30s to ~5s). Each link comes back Live, Link missing, Dead, or Error. Auto-checks also run on your per-project schedule (mirrors the Backlinks scheduler — minute=20 dispatcher) or daily by default if you haven't set a cadence.
Step 3
Filter + sort the table
Status pills above the table (All / Live / Missing / Dead / Errors) narrow the view. Sort is always by referring DA desc. 30-row pagination for Agency tier with 200+ backlinks. Hover a row for the violet highlight.
Step 4
Recover Dead + Missing links with one click
Every Dead and Missing row has a 'Recover via Outreach' button. Click it → we create a BacklinkProspect row + open the Outreach composer pre-filled with the source domain + the 'link_restore' pitch angle template. ~50% recovery rate in the first 7 days.
Step 5
Watch the anchor-diversity card
6-bucket Penguin risk verdict (exact_match / partial_match / branded / generic / naked / image) with rose / amber / emerald borders. If exact-match climbs above 30%, vary your next 5 backlinks toward branded. The Brain wire fires an 'anchor_overoptimization' Forge signal when you cross the threshold.
Step 6
Use the spam-neighborhood scanner
Flags backlinks on low-trust TLDs (.xyz / .tk / .ml / .cf / .gq / .top / .click / .loan) + PBN clusters (≥4 backlinks from the same domain root). False positive on a legit niche site? Click 'Keep' to add it to your per-project allowlist — it won't be flagged on future scans.
Step 7
Only use the disavow file if penalized
Download the GSC-format .txt file built from your low-DA / dead source domains. The file itself contains a giant warning — DO NOT upload it preemptively. Wait for Google to send you a manual-action notice.
Step 8
Export the report
Hero top-right ReportActions: PDF · HTML · Print · Share. Sky-blue Monitor accent. Sections: health snapshot + status mix + anchor diversity + spam neighborhood findings + top-25 backlinks table.
Every incoming link, checked automatically.
Add the links pointing TO you (from your backlink portfolio) and Outerank polls each one on a schedule. Status, anchor text, target URL — all monitored without you running a finger over the keyboard.
- Schedule-based polling (you set the cadence)
- Status pill: live · pending · dead · errors
- Anchor drift detection
- 404 / 410 / redirect catches inside 7 days
Monitored links · today
Anchor-mix risk band, surfaced.
Outerank tracks your full anchor distribution and grades the mix. Too much exact-match = Penguin risk. Too little branded = unnatural. The Anchor Diversity card warns you BEFORE Google penalizes.
- 6-bucket anchor mix
- Risk band: safe / mid / high
- Remediation suggestions per anchor tone
- Brain flags drift toward risk
Anchor mix
Notifications when a link dies.
When a link goes dead or its anchor changes, you get a notification. No more discovering a lost backlink 6 months later via a competitor analysis. The link economy is volatile — Outerank closes the loop.
- Email + in-app notification on link death
- Anchor-drift notification
- Per-link history (every check stored)
- Brain rolls up significant losses
Today's alerts
Dead · techcrunch.com/.../profile-x — was live 7 days ago, now 404.
Anchor drift · g2.com/products/x — anchor changed from "the all-in-one SEO tool" to brand only.
Status mix + trend, client-ready.
The status donut + the anchor diversity card together = the backlink hygiene report you'd otherwise build manually in a spreadsheet. Outerank ships the report and updates it continuously.
- Status donut (live / pending / dead / error)
- Anchor mix card (6 buckets)
- Trend: link gains / losses per week
- Download / share / print like every Outerank module
Health snapshot
Why Outerank
What link-hygiene spreadsheets forget to update.
The whole link-monitoring loop, automated end-to-end.
Auto-polled status checks
No manual check-the-link-list rituals. Schedule polling and Outerank tells you when one dies.
Anchor-mix risk band
Most monitors don't surface anchor-mix risk. We do — and Brain warns you BEFORE penalties.
Notifications, not just dashboards
Email + in-app pings when a link dies or an anchor drifts. Closes the loop with zero check-the-tool effort.
Client-ready report inline
The status donut + anchor card IS the backlink hygiene report. No separate report-builder.
What costs credits
No surprises. Browsing and viewing saved results is always free.
Pro tips
- →Don't obsess over a single lost link. Patterns matter — losing 5+ in a week is the real signal. Use the 'Missing' + 'Dead' filter pills to spot streaks fast.
- →Recover Missing links inside 7 days. The page is up, the anchor was removed — most owners restore it when politely asked. The 'Recover via Outreach' button does the heavy lift for you.
- →Keep anchor risk in the emerald zone: mostly branded + generic + naked anchors, < 20% exact-match. If you're at medium-risk, vary your next 5 links toward branded.
- →Use the spam allowlist when a real niche site gets flagged. The TLD blocklist (.xyz/.top/.click etc.) is conservative — sometimes a legit niche site lives there. 'Keep' button = one-click false-positive suppression.
- →Disavowing good links can hurt you more than spam ever does. Only touch the disavow tool if Google sent you a manual action.
- →Pair with Backlinks (Submitter) for the full workflow: build new in Backlinks → watch + recover here. Cross-link banner at the top moves you across.
Plain-English glossary
Every bit of jargon on this page, explained.
- Live / Dead / Link-missing
- Live = the backlink still exists and points to you. Dead = the page is gone (404). Link-missing = the page loads but your link was removed.
- Anchor text
- The clickable words used for a link. A natural mix matters; too many identical keyword anchors looks manipulative to Google.
- Exact-match anchor
- An anchor that is exactly your target keyword (e.g. 'cheap leather bags'). A few are fine; too many trigger penalty risk.
- Penguin
- Google's algorithm that penalizes spammy or over-optimized backlink profiles. The anchor-diversity card keeps you on its good side.
- Disavow file
- A list you can give Google telling it to ignore certain toxic backlinks. Powerful but risky — only use it if penalized.
- Toxic / spam backlink
- A link from a low-quality or spammy site that can drag your rankings down rather than help.
Questions, answered
Site Audit FAQs
Where do the backlinks come from?
Does anything here cost credits?
How does 'Recover via Outreach' work?
Why are some legit niche sites flagged as spam?
How often does the auto-check run?
What's the difference between this and the Backlinks module?
Should I submit the disavow file?
A link shows 'Link missing' — what now?
Does this module feed Brain?
How we compare
Honest comparison — where we win, where the big tools win.
vs. Ahrefs Alerts
Ahrefs has lost/new-link alerts but costs $129/mo and doesn't grade your anchor risk, build a disavow file, OR offer one-click recovery via outreach. We bundle all four. Free.
vs. Monitor Backlinks / LinkMiner
Comparable monitoring, but we add the anchor-diversity Penguin classifier + spam-neighborhood scanner + one-click 'Recover via Outreach' handoff + per-domain false-positive allowlist.
Ready to try Backlink Monitor?
Open it on one of your projects.
Come back here whenever you need a refresher.