Free first step
Ahrefs backlinks check for a blog you abandoned
Before you pay for a single new link, find out what the old blog already owns. This routine takes about ten minutes and works with any backlink tool.
Where to begin
Open the referring domains report, not the backlinks list
An old blog may have thousands of raw backlinks from a handful of sites. Referring domains collapse that noise into the number that matters. Sort by traffic or Domain Rating, then read the top forty by hand.
- Referring domains tell you who vouches for you
- The target URL column tells you which pages earned it
- HTTP status tells you which of those pages can still pass value
The ten-minute routine
- 1
Pick your tool
Ahrefs, Semrush, Majestic and Moz all show referring domains. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for sites you verify, and Google Search Console's Links report costs nothing and shows what Google itself has recorded.
- 2
Export referring domains
Download the list with the target URL and the first-seen date for each link. Sort by the domain's own traffic, then by Domain Rating.
- 3
Mark the dead targets
Paste the target URLs into a crawler such as Screaming Frog and flag anything that returns 404, 410 or a redirect loop. Those are links you earned and cannot use.
- 4
Read twenty links by hand
Open the linking pages. Is the link still there, is it dofollow, does the surrounding sentence still make sense for your topic?
- 5
Write a one-page verdict
Three columns: keep, repair, ignore. This sheet drives every later decision, including whether to buy more links at all.
What each tool shows an old-blog owner
| Tool | Best for | Weak spot |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Webmaster Tools | Backlinks and broken-link reports for sites you verify | Only your own verified domains |
| Google Search Console | What Google reports for your own site | Sampled, no competitor view |
| Semrush backlink audit | Toxicity flags and exportable lists | Flags often need human review |
| Majestic | Large historical index, trust and citation figures | Interface is dense for beginners |
| Moz Link Explorer | Quick Domain Authority comparison | Smaller index than the leaders |
What to write down after the audit
- Total referring domains, and how many are on topic
- The five strongest linking domains by traffic
- Every target URL that now returns 404 or redirects somewhere unrelated
- Links that moved from dofollow to nofollow or sponsored
- Anchors that look spammy, with the linking page noted
- Pages that earned links and are worth refreshing
Reading the results without panic
A long list of low-quality referring domains looks scary. It usually is not. Since Penguin 4 went real-time in September 2016, Google mostly ignores junk links rather than punishing the site for them.
Disavow remains a tool for unusual cases, such as a manual action in Search Console or a clear pattern of paid links you placed yourself. For most revival projects the file stays unused, and a wrong entry can throw away a link you needed.
Look instead for what is missing. If the blog once ranked for a topic and the linking pages that supported it have vanished, you have found the gap that a few relevant new placements can fill.
And if the dead targets dominate your sheet, the next stop is the redirect map, not the marketplace.
Audit questions we hear most
Is an Ahrefs backlinks check enough on its own?
Not quite. Every vendor crawls the web differently, so a link can show in one index and not another. Use two sources, usually Ahrefs or Semrush plus Search Console, and trust the links that appear in both before you act on them.
How many old links is a good number to still have?
There is no threshold. Ten relevant links from living pages beat a thousand from scraped directories. Judge by relevance and whether the linking page still exists, then compare with competitors in your niche using the same tool.
Should I disavow bad backlinks on an old blog?
Rarely. Google says it discounts most spammy links automatically. Disavow only when you received a manual action or know you paid for a clear scheme. Otherwise leave the file empty and spend the time on repairs.
Why do some links vanish between audits?
Pages get deleted, sites close, or the tool's crawler simply did not revisit them. Re-check lost links by opening the page yourself before you count them as gone.