A sample audit workflow for a local business, with clear separation between observations and recommendations.
This is a sample workflow, not a real client case study. Consider a local home services company reviewing how other sites reference its website. The team wants to identify useful opportunities without treating every unfamiliar link as a threat.
Gather and organize evidence
Export known backlinks, combine duplicate URLs, and record the source tool and review date. Group links by the page on the business site they point to, then identify obvious editorial references, supplier pages, local organizations, and directories.
Inspect the strongest examples
Open the linking pages and ask whether the source is genuine, whether the content is relevant to local customers, and whether the link has a clear reason to exist. Investigate patterns only when multiple signals point to the same concern.
Prioritize practical actions
- Fix broken destination pages that still receive useful referrals.
- Update business details on legitimate partner and community pages.
- Improve the resource that local publishers may want to cite.
- Document suspicious patterns and seek expert review before taking disruptive action.
Revisit the inventory after meaningful site or campaign changes. A careful audit produces a short, evidence-based action list rather than a pile of domain scores.