Checklist: How to create a natural link profile in 2025
In the era of large-scale Google AI updates (such as the March 2024 Core Update and subsequent spam updates), link evaluation algorithms have changed dramatically. Search engines have learned to quickly calculate site networks (PBNs), purchased links from exchanges (Gogetlinks, Miralinks) and unnatural anchors.
Today, “link explosion” (buying 100 backlinks in a month) is almost guaranteed to lead to a shadow ban. How to increase the DR (Domain Rating) of a website safely? NBM-IT agency experts have prepared a technical checklist for white Data-Driven link building, relevant for 2025.
Stage 1: Preparatory hygiene
Before building new links, you need to clear your profile of toxic backlinks.
- Conduct a spam audit (Toxic Audit). Download all links via Ahrefs Site Explorer. Отфильтруйте доноры с DR < 5 и резким падением органического трафика за последние полгода. Это первый признак того, что донор попал под фильтр Google.
- Find 404 errors on the site. Check out the "Best by links" report in Ahrefs. If strong external links lead to remote pages on your site, set up 301 redirects to relevant new pages to regain lost Link Equity.
- Fix the anchor sheet. Ideal distribution in 2025: 70% - without anchor links (as URL:
https://nbmit.ru/or wordsздесь,источник), 20% - branded anchors (NBM-IT,NBM), and only 10% - commercial (exact occurrences likeвеб-разработка москва). - Make a Disavow list. Collect all “outright garbage” links (Indian catalogues, doorways) in
.txtfile and disavow via the Google Disavow Tool.
Stage 2: Competitive analysis and collection of targets
How many links do you need to beat your competitor? The answer lies in the analysis of the top.
- Intersect analysis. Use the Link Intersect tool. Find sites that link to at least three of your competitors but do not link to you. These are your warmest leads for an outreach company.
- Evaluate the growth dynamics (Link Velocity). If the niche leader receives an average of +5 links per month, your task is to increase 6-7 links per month. A sharp jump to 50 links will cause suspicion (algorithmic flag) among search engines.
Stage 3: Create Linkbait Content
In 2025, no one puts links just like that. To get an organic link, you need content that want link (Linkbait).
- Publish a Data article. Research with numbers, market surveys and fresh analytics. It’s easier for journalists and bloggers to refer to your graph than to collect statistics from scratch.
- Create a free microservice. A cost calculator, SEO analyzer or meta tag generator is evergreen content, which naturally acquires links from forums and specialized blogs.
- Expert comments (HARO/Pressfeed). Regularly respond to requests from journalists. In return, you receive a trusted, absolutely white Dofollow link from a reputable media outlet (News domain).
Stage 4: White-Hat Outreach Ecosystem
Outreach (direct letter to website owners with an offer of cooperation) is the only legitimate way of scalable link building.
- Broken Link Building. Find broken links on top sites in your niche. Write a polite letter to the owner: “Hello! You have a broken link in your article, this harms SEO. By the way, we have an excellent relevant article on the same topic, you can replace the link with ours".
- Relations with partners and suppliers. If you sell servers, ask the hardware vendor to place your logo in the “Our Partners” section. These are the most natural and powerful links for a corporate website.
- Guest blogging at Tier-1 level. Write expert articles for Habr, VC.ru, Cossa, Tinkoff Magazine. Look for narrow-profile Medium blogs. Avoid “link dumps” (sites created solely for selling links).
Read about how we built a cold email system with a response rate of 8% and reduced CAC in our Detailed case study on Outreach in 2025.
Summary: How to understand that a link is “natural”?
Answer 3 questions before trying to get a backlink:
- Does this site have live traffic? (DR 70 without organic traffic is a scam).
- Will a real user click on this link?
- Is the article relevant to the topic of your business?
If you answered “no” to at least one question, it is better to refuse such a link.
If you need systematic work on your reputation and organic promotion in search engines, check out our approach to B2B SEO promotion. We increase traffic safely and with financial guarantees of results.
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