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Free toxic backlink checker

Find spammy sites linking to you, see whether your anchor text looks natural, and build a disavow file if you really need one.

What does the backlink audit check?

  • Risky linking sites. Each of your strongest linking websites is graded for common spam signs: endings favoured by spammers, gambling, adult or pharmacy words, link-directory and "SEO" sites, machine-made names, and sites with almost no links of their own.
  • Anchor text. We read the home pages of those sites and collect the wording of their links to you. A natural profile is mostly your brand name and web address; lots of exact keyword phrases is a classic sign of bought links.
  • Disavow file. Tick the domains you want Google to ignore and download a ready-made disavow.txt.

The link data comes from Common Crawl's public web graph – the same index as our backlink checker and domain authority checker.

Do toxic backlinks hurt rankings?

Usually not. Google says its systems ignore most spammy links automatically, so a handful of junk links from scraper sites is normal for any website. Links become a problem when someone has bought or built them to manipulate rankings – then Google may ignore them all or, in serious cases, issue a manual action, which you'll see in Search Console under Security & manual actions.

Should I disavow links?

Only if you have a manual action for unnatural links, or you know links were bought (for example by a previous SEO agency) and can't get them removed. Disavowing good links throws away their value. Upload the file at Google's disavow links tool for your Search Console property.

What can't this audit see?

The web graph lists which websites link to you, not every individual page, so we grade your 50 strongest linking sites and read anchor text from their home pages only. Paid tools crawl deeper; for most small businesses this is enough to spot a problem.

Frequently asked questions

What is a toxic backlink?

A link from a spammy or low-quality website – often from link farms, hacked sites or paid link schemes – that exists to manipulate rankings rather than help readers.

Can a competitor hurt me with bad links (negative SEO)?

It's rare. Google is good at ignoring links you didn't build. If you see a sudden flood of spam links and a drop in rankings at the same time, audit them here and consider a disavow.

How often is the data updated?

Common Crawl publishes a new web graph every few months, and we load each one as soon as it's out.

Related guides

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How to get backlinks without buying them: 12 honest ways small businesses earn links from suppliers, local groups, the press and useful content.

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Want the fixes done for you? XKey is made by IceWork, a web studio in Blackpool. IceWork builds fast, search-ready websites – a 3-page site including domain and a year's hosting is £350 all in.