Backlink search, then a curated list that you can maintain
A list is only as good as the habit of tending it. Here is a column plan, a pruning rhythm and a sketch of what changes.
SEOBacklinkList editorial team ·
Search is the easy half
Finding sites is simple. Keeping them honest is the work.
A backlink search can start from a competitor's profile in Ahrefs, from your own Search Console report, or from filters in a marketplace such as ours. Whatever the source, a row means nothing without a date next to it, and a note on who checked it.
That is the whole point of a curated list: each entry carries evidence, and an old entry is flagged before it misleads you.
Re-open the five oldest rows and update the date, or mark them dropped.
02
Every quarter
Sort by date checked and retest anything older than ninety days.
03
After a Google update
If a core update lands, as in March 2024, look for donors that lost traffic.
04
Before an order
Read the page again, even if the row is fresh.
05
Every year
Archive the sheet, copy forward only the keep rows, and start the next one with the date in the file name.
Where the first rows come from
Start with your own neighbourhood. Sites that already link to rivals in your niche appear in a rival's profile in Ahrefs or Semrush, and the free views described in the checker guide will surface a few too.
Add sites you read yourself. Add people you have quoted. Skip anything you cannot describe in a sentence.
When you want volume with metrics attached, filter the marketplace by niche, language and Domain Rating, and copy the candidates into the sheet. The catalogue holds 50,000+ vetted donors, and each row shows its price, so you can set a ceiling before you start. A search is a shortlist. Nothing more, and the basket charges nothing.
A before and after, as a sketch
Picture a hypothetical owner of a small online shop for hiking gear. Before: a downloaded list of 400 sites, no dates, no notes, nothing opened.
After a weekend of work, the same owner has 35 rows. Each has a niche, a date, a last-post note and a verdict. Eleven of them are marked keep. The other 365 were removed because nobody could say what they were.
An invented case, with invented numbers. It shows a direction, not a result, and the owner still cannot know what Google will do with any link placed. A smaller, truer list is easier to act on and to explain.
How long a row stays trustworthy
Not long. Ninety days is a sensible default for traffic figures and for the question of whether a blog still posts.
Sites change hands quietly. A new owner may switch the niche, add a block of casino links or delete the archive, and none of that shows in a metric until months later. If you buy links, the price page explains how metrics map to cost, and the catalogue keeps its own inventory current.