Get a Bird’s Eye View of Any Website’s Link Network

SEO

By Chris Barnhart On Nov 8, 2022

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When you look for backlink opportunities, do you sometimes spend hours going through dozens or hundreds of links? 

While slow and steady often wins the race, sometimes you need a shortcut to see the big picture. 

Now, you can have one! It’s on Semrush and it’s called the Network Graph. Use it to examine any website’s link profile and gauge its value in seconds.

Here’s what it looks like:

You’ll be able to spot if there are any potential problems in the link network, such as private blog networks (PBNs) or link schemes. And you’ll also be able to spot how much of a site’s backlinks are highly relevant to your niche. 

You won’t need to spend hours investigating backlinks, and you won’t need to comb through rows of data. 

Instead, you can get the full impression in seconds.

This graph will come in handy when:

• You want to save time while investigating a website’s authority and connections.
• You need a visual aid to help show someone their domain’s network of referring domains.
• You want to find niche-specific backlink opportunities.
• You want to discover the 2nd and 3rd-tier of links that link to your referring domains.
• You need insight into a site’s link health or potential connections to a PBN or link scheme.

How Does the Semrush Network Graph Work?

To bring you this Network Graph, Semrush studies its Backlink Analytics data in a few steps.

First, Semrush analyzes the most significant links for the domain you put in the search bar. We do this by gathering every referring domain’s Authority Score and the frequency of sending outgoing links to your site and other sites. The more links to your site, the more significant this referring domain is.

In this step, Semrush analyzes up to 12 first-tier links, followed by 10 second-tier, and 8 third-tier links for every site in the network. This means your Network Graph could have a total of 960 websites identified (12x10x8=960). 

Next, Semrush determines if the link network is “moderate,” “relevant,” “reputable,” or a “toxic network.” This conclusion comes from analyzing the health and relevancy of the domains found in the network.

The more niche-relevant backlinks, the more reputable the network. The most niche-relevant sites will be marked green. You’ll also see a percentage score telling you what percentage of the sites in the network are considered highly relevant. 

What to Look For in a Network Graph

When you look at a Network Graph, you should be able to get an overall impression in a few seconds. Then, you can dive deeper by clicking on the nodes in the web and investigating the tiers of links. 

For your first impression, here are the main signals to follow:

• Larger dots indicate sites with a high Authority Score, meaning they likely have lots of backlinks and trust in the eyes of Google. Smaller dots are less authoritative.
• Green dots indicate sites that are highly relevant to your niche. 
• Red dots indicate sites that are potentially a part of a manipulative link scheme.
  • A large green dot is a big authority in your niche.
  • A small green dot is a smaller niche site that has topical relevance.
  • A large gray dot is a big authority without a direct topical relevance.
  • A small gray dot isn’t a huge authority and also isn’t a topical authority in your niche, but it’s still a healthy backlink
  • A small red dot is a potentially dangerous link due to signs of a link scheme.
  • A cluster of red dots could be a link scheme like a private blog network PBN.
• A spread-out web of mostly green links is a sign of an overall healthy network.
• A web with multiple clusters of red links is a sign of a potentially dangerous network.

Wondering what these different networks might look like? Here are three examples.

Example 1: A reputable network graph

This domain’s network is considered reputable because of the high authority of referring domains and the fact that 42% of those domains are relevant to its niche. 

If you are in the same niche as this site and considering it for link building outreach, the graph tells us it’s a great target.

Example 2: A suspicious network graph

This domain’s network is considered suspicious because of the lack of high authority referring domains and the possible connections to link networks. This graph tells us to be wary of connecting your site to this site. Remember, engaging in link schemes goes against Google’s spam policies and will not help your SEO.