How to Analyze Your Website’s Backlinks Using Ahrefs & Excel (Without Being an SEO Expert)

If you’re a small business owner investing in SEO, you’ve probably heard the term “backlinks” more than a few times. Maybe your SEO agency sends you reports filled with charts, numbers, and industry jargon… and you’re left wondering, “Is any of this actually helping my business grow?”

Now, let’s be honest — SEO has evolved. Today, Google cares deeply about quality content, user experience, and how useful your site is. But that doesn’t mean backlinks don’t matter. They still play a big role in showing search engines that your website is trustworthy and worth ranking.

What’s changed is how we measure backlink value. It’s no longer about how many links you have — it’s about where they’re coming from, whether they’re relevant, and whether they actually build your site’s reputation.

In this blog, I’ll walk you through a simple, DIY process using Ahrefs and Excel so you can:

• Understand the quality of your backlinks (good or spammy)
• Validate what your SEO vendor is doing
• Spot red flags before they cause ranking issues

You don’t need to be an SEO expert — just a business owner who wants visibility into what’s working and what’s not.

What You’ll Need:

• Ahrefs account (you can use a trial or pay for one month if needed)
• Microsoft Excel (or Google Sheets)
• About 20–30 minutes of your time

Step-by-Step: How to Analyze Your Backlinks

Step 1: Log in to Ahrefs and Enter Your Domain

Go to https://ahrefs.com and enter your website URL in the search bar. This will take you to your Site Explorer — where the backlink magic happens.

Step 2: Go to the “Backlinks” Section

On the left menu, click “Backlinks.” This shows you every website that has linked to your site.

• You’ll see columns like:
  • Referring Page
  • Domain Rating (DR)
  • Anchor Text
  • Traffic
  • Link Type (DoFollow or NoFollow)

Step 3: Export the Backlink Data

Click the Export button on the top right of the backlink report. Choose CSV format.

Now, open the file in Excel or Google Sheets.

Step 4: Clean & Filter in Excel

Here’s where the real insights happen. Focus on a few key columns:

Domain Rating (DR) – Quality of the linking site (0–100 scale)

• Good DR: 40+
• Bad DR: Below 10, usually spammy

→ Tip: Add a conditional format in Excel to highlight DR < 10 in red.

Anchor Text – The clickable text in the link

• Relevant anchor texts are good.
• Spammy anchors like “cheap pills,” or non-sense keywords? Bad sign.

→ Tip: Sort and scan for anything weird or off-brand.

Traffic – How much traffic that referring page gets

• Higher traffic usually means better-quality backlink.

Step 5: Identify Red Flags

Look out for these warning signs:

• Backlinks from unrelated or foreign-language websites
• DR less than 10 with strange anchor text
• Lots of links with exact same anchor text (could look unnatural to Google)
• Sudden spike in low-quality backlinks

If you see these, talk to your SEO vendor — ask why they’re there, and what’s being done about them.

Step 6: Check the Growth of Your Backlink Profile

Back in Ahrefs, go to “Referring Domains” > “New & Lost” to see how your backlinks are changing.

• Are you gaining quality links over time?
• Losing more than you gain?
• Is growth natural or are there sudden spikes?

This gives you a bird’s-eye view of how your backlink profile is shaping up.

Key Takeaways for Business Owners

• You don’t need to be technical to understand backlink quality
• Ahrefs + Excel = simple & powerful combo to spot issues
• Trust, but verify what your SEO vendor is doing
• Focus on quality over quantity — a few strong links beat hundreds of weak ones

Real Talk: What to Ask Your SEO Vendor

Here are some smart questions you can ask after your analysis:

• “Can you explain why we’re getting backlinks from these low-DR sites?”
• “What’s your strategy for getting high-authority links?”
• “I noticed some spammy anchor texts — are these being disavowed?”

These show you’re paying attention and keeping them accountable — which means better results for your business.

Like this guide? Want a simple checklist or Excel template for backlink analysis? Download the Free Backlink Tracking dashboard, where you just dump the data & it you can easily conduct your own analyses.