Link Audit to Uncover Hidden Risks for Mid‑Size SaaS

A link audit that surfaces toxic inbound links and tells you when to disavow or reclaim is a practical way to protect a mid‑size SaaS site. Follow this concise workflow to run the audit without overwhelming your team.

Gather All Inbound Link Data

Export the full backlink list from Google Search Console and any third‑party tool you already use. Combine the files into a single spreadsheet and add columns for Domain Authority, Link Type (follow / no‑follow), and Context (blog, forum, directory, etc.). Keeping everything in one place removes the “tribal knowledge” bottleneck that often slows audits.

Flag Potentially Toxic Signals

Create a quick filter using the signals below. Any link that meets two or more criteria should be reviewed further.

• Low domain authority (below the average of your clean links)
• Spam‑my‑type anchor text (exact match brand terms, over‑optimized keywords)
• Links from link farms, private blog networks, or sites with a high “spam score” in your tool
• Sudden spikes in links from unrelated industries

This two‑signal rule catches most risk without drowning you in false positives.

Evaluate Each Flagged Link

For every flagged URL, answer three questions:

1. Relevance – Does the linking page talk about a topic related to your product or industry?
2. Trustworthiness – Is the host site reputable (e.g., has a clear editorial process, no malware warnings)?
3. Impact – Does the link appear on a high‑traffic page that could pass authority, or is it buried in a comment thread?

Document the answers in the spreadsheet. If a link fails relevance or trustworthiness, it is a candidate for removal or disavow.

Decide: Disavow or Reclaim

Use the table to choose the right action.

Situation	Disavow	Reclaim
Spammy site, no editorial contact, low relevance	✅
Legitimate editorial link with wrong anchor, contact possible		✅
High‑authority site linking to outdated content		✅ (request update)
Paid link that violates Google policy	✅

Disavow when the host is low‑quality or unresponsive. Reclaim when the site is reputable and you can ask for a better anchor or a refreshed citation. This clear decision point keeps the process from stalling.

Implement and Monitor

Upload the disavow file to Google Search Console and send outreach emails for reclaimed links. Set a quarterly reminder to rerun steps 1‑3 so new toxic links are caught early. The audit becomes a repeatable part of your SEO calendar rather than a one‑off project.

Comppound’s audit system codifies these steps in a single, shareable spreadsheet, so anyone on the team can follow the same logic without reinventing the wheel.

Quick Recap Checklist

1. Export and merge all backlink data.
2. Filter with the two‑signal rule.
3. Answer relevance, trust, impact for each flagged link.
4. Apply the decision table to disavow or reclaim.
5. Schedule the next audit.

Why a Single Spreadsheet Matters When you pull data from multiple sources, each tool formats columns slightly differently. By normalizing everything into a master sheet you create a “single source of truth” that any team member can open and understand. In practice, this means:

• Consistent naming – rename columns to Source, Target URL, Domain Authority, Link Type, Anchor Text, Context.
• Timestamp – add a Fetched At column so you can see when each row was pulled. This prevents accidental re‑use of stale data during quarterly repeats.
• Version control – store the file in a shared drive that keeps a revision history (Google Drive or a Git‑based repo). If a teammate makes a mistake, you can revert without losing the entire audit.

A clean spreadsheet also simplifies the next step: filtering. With all the numbers in the same sheet you can apply a single filter rule instead of toggling between three different dashboards.

Quick‑Start Template If you prefer not to build the sheet from scratch, copy the starter template we use in our own audits. It includes pre‑filled drop‑down lists for Link Type (follow, no‑follow) and Context (blog, forum, directory, news). The only custom work required is pasting the raw export from Search Console and any third‑party backlink tool you trust.

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Refining the Two‑Signal Rule The two‑signal rule is deliberately loose: a link must meet at least two of the listed risk factors before you flag it. In many cases a single factor, such as a low domain authority, does not merit removal because the link could still bring traffic. Here are a few refinements you can add without blowing up the false‑positive count:

Additional nuance	How it changes the rule
Domain authority threshold – instead of using the overall average, calculate the median of your clean links and set the low‑DA cut‑off at 20 points below that median.	Keeps the filter adaptive as your backlink profile grows.
Spam‑type anchor text – require the anchor to be exact‑match and appear in more than three URLs from the same domain.	Filters out legitimate brand mentions that happen only once.
Industry mismatch – if the linking site’s primary topic is unrelated (e.g., a gardening blog linking to a SaaS analytics tool), treat that as a third signal.	Captures silo‑breaking links that are unlikely to pass editorial review.

You can implement these refinements directly in the spreadsheet using conditional formatting. Highlight rows that meet the enhanced criteria in red; this visual cue helps reviewers focus quickly.

Example of a Toxic Link Say you run DataPulse, a B2B SaaS with 45 employees that provides real‑time dashboards for marketing teams. During the export you notice a link from www.farmtools.com pointing to your pricing page. The backlink has:

• Domain Authority = 12 (well below your median of 38)
• Anchor text = “DataPulse pricing” (exact match)
• Context = forum comment on a site about agricultural equipment

Because it meets three signals, low DA, exact‑match anchor, and industry mismatch, it is automatically flagged. In this case, the site has no editorial contact and the link sits in a comment thread, making it a clear candidate for disavow.

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Standardized Review Checklist When you open a flagged URL, walk through the three questions with a short checklist. Capture the outcome in the spreadsheet columns Relevance, Trustworthiness, and Impact as Yes, No, or Partial. A concise example:

Question	Answer	Note
Relevance	No	The article discusses tractor maintenance, not data analytics.
Trustworthiness	Partial	Site uses HTTPS but has no author bio.
Impact	No	Link is buried in a paginated comment list, low traffic.

If any answer is No, treat the link as a disavow candidate unless you see a realistic path to reclamation (e.g., the site accepts guest posts). This checklist removes subjectivity; two reviewers will arrive at the same decision.

When “Partial” Means Reclaim A Partial rating often arises when the host site is reputable but the anchor text is sub‑optimal. For instance, a reputable industry blog might link to your case study with the anchor “best SaaS tools”. Here you can:

1. Locate the author’s email (usually listed on the by‑line).
2. Send a short, courteous outreach: “Thanks for linking to our case study. Would you consider updating the anchor to our brand name? It helps our readers find us more easily.”

If the author responds positively, you have reclaimed the link. If they do not reply after a reasonable follow‑up, you can move the link to the disavow list.

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Crafting the Disavow File Google recommends a plain‑text file where each line contains either a URL or a domain prefixed with domain:. To keep the file tidy:

• Group by domain – list the domain once, then all its URLs on subsequent lines.
• Comment lines – start a line with # to note why the domain was added (e.g., “# Low DA, spammy anchor”).

Example snippet:

# Low domain authority, irrelevant content
domain:farmtools.com
http://farmtools.com/old‑blog/post123
# Exact‑match anchor from a paid partnership
domain:paidpartner.net
https://paidpartner.net/resources/data‑pulse‑review

Upload the file in Google Search Console under Links → Disavow Links. The console will validate the format; if any line fails, it will return an error you can correct immediately.

Outreach Template for Reclaiming Links A short, polite email works best. Below is a reusable template you can adapt:

Subject: Quick tweak to your recent link to DataPulse

Hi [Name],

I noticed you linked to our [page] in your article “[Title]”. Thanks for the mention! Could we ask a small favor? Updating the anchor text to “DataPulse” would help our readers find the right product faster.

If you need a suggested wording, happy to provide one.

Best,

Track each outreach attempt in a separate “Outreach Log” sheet, noting the date sent, response status, and any changes made. This log becomes valuable evidence if you later need to show Google that you attempted to fix the link before resorting to disavow.

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Integrating the Audit Into Your SEO Calendar Running the full audit quarterly can feel heavy for small teams. Break it into smaller, repeatable tasks:

Month	Activity
January	Export latest backlinks, run the two‑signal filter.
February	Review flagged links, fill out the checklist.
March	Execute disavow uploads and outreach for reclamation.
April	Review outcomes, update the spreadsheet with any new information.
May‑July	Light monitoring: run a quick “new links only” export and apply the filter.
August	Repeat the full audit cycle.

By spreading the workload, you avoid the “big‑bang” feeling and keep the process visible on the team’s shared calendar. The audit then becomes a routine part of SEO maintenance instead of a project that lives in a backlog.

Measuring Success Without Numbers Even without publishing exact statistics, you can gauge whether the audit is paying off by checking a few qualitative signals:

See how we do it