Backlink Monitoring: How to Track New and Lost Backlinks (and Get Them Indexed)
How to monitor backlinks for clients: track new and lost links, spot removed or changed links, check whether backlinks are indexed and report it clearly.
Backlink monitoring is the routine of checking a site’s links to see which are new, which have been lost and which have changed. For agencies, it protects the links clients paid for and catches problems before they show up in rankings.
This guide covers how to monitor backlinks, why links disappear, how to check whether backlinks are indexed and how to report it to clients. When links come from white label link building services, monitoring is also how you hold the provider to its replacement policy.
Why backlink monitoring matters
- Paid links can disappear. A page is deleted, edited or moved, and the link goes with it.
- Links can change. An anchor is rewritten, or a followed link becomes nofollow.
- Lost links can mean lost rankings, especially for pages that relied on a few strong links.
- New links can be harmful. Spammy links appearing suddenly are worth knowing about.
What to track
| What | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| New links | See what the campaign and the site are earning |
| Lost backlinks | Catch removals early, while replacement is still possible |
| Changed links | Spot new nofollow tags or rewritten anchors |
| Linking page status | A 404 or redirect on the linking page means the link is gone |
| Indexing | Unindexed linking pages pass no value yet |
| Anchor mix | Keep the profile natural over time |
How to monitor backlinks step by step
1. Keep a list of every link you build
Record the live URL, target page, anchor, link type, date and price for every link. This is the list you check against each month, and it matters more than any tool.
2. Check those links monthly
Confirm each link is still live, still points to the right page, still uses the agreed anchor and hasn’t become nofollow. A crawler or backlink tool can check a list of URLs in minutes.
3. Review the whole profile quarterly
Use a backlink tool’s new and lost link reports to see the wider picture: links you didn’t build, lost links from important sites and any sudden spikes in low-quality links.
4. Act on what you find
- Removed link you paid for: ask the provider for a replacement.
- Lost link from a strong site: contact the site owner. Often it was removed by accident during a redesign.
- Link moved to a new URL: check the old page redirects, so value still passes.
- Suspicious new links: note them. Google is good at ignoring spam, so a disavow file is rarely needed unless there’s a manual action.
Link tracking sheet: the columns to use
| Column | Example |
|---|---|
| Live URL | The page the link is on |
| Target page | The client page it points to |
| Anchor text | The exact clickable text |
| Link type | Guest post, niche edit, citation, mention |
| Follow / nofollow | Follow |
| Date live | The day you confirmed it |
| Last checked | The date of the last check |
| Status | Live, lost, changed, replaced |
| Indexed? | Yes / no |
| Notes | Replacement requested, site contacted |
One row per link, one tab per client. It takes minutes to update each month and answers almost every question a client will ask.
How to check if backlinks are indexed
A link only passes value once Google has crawled and indexed the page it’s on. To check:
- Search Google for the linking page’s URL with the
site:operator. - If it doesn’t appear, the page may not be indexed yet.
- Check again in a few weeks; new pages can take time.
How to get backlinks indexed
Most “link indexer” services promise to force indexing. You don’t need them if the links are on good pages. Instead:
- Prefer pages that are already indexed. This is one reason niche edits on existing articles are found quickly.
- Make sure the linking page is linked internally on its own site, so Google can find it.
- Choose sites with real traffic, which Google crawls more often.
- Be patient. New guest posts on healthy sites usually get indexed without any help.
If a linking page stays unindexed for months, it’s often a sign the site itself has quality problems, which is worth knowing before you buy from it again.
Reporting backlinks to clients
Clients want to know three things: what was built, whether it’s still live and what it’s doing. A good link report shows:
- Every link with its live URL, target page and anchor
- Status: live, lost or replaced
- New links earned naturally, not just the ones you built
- Rankings and traffic for the target pages
Keep the anchor column visible; it’s how you keep the anchor text mix balanced month after month. The same report can sit inside your monthly SEO reporting for clients, so link building is shown next to the results it supports.