SOP #52 — Backlink Audit That Flagged a Manual Penalty Risk

SOP #52 — Backlink Audit That Flagged a Manual Penalty Risk

Aged site, $9k/mo, listed at 36x with 'strong link profile.' We audited before offering:

1. Pull full referring-domain list — sort by spam score and country.
2. Flag link velocity spikes — sudden gain of 400+ links in one month signals a buy. Result: 1,900 links appeared in a single month 14 months ago.
3. Sample 30 referring domains manually — check for PBN footprints (same IP class, same template, thin content). Result: 22 of 30 were a private blog network.
4. Check Search Console for manual-action messages — demand a screenshot of the empty Security & Manual Actions panel.

Outcome: the link spike preceded a 40% traffic drop already visible in the data. Seller blamed 'seasonality.' We passed. Penalty risk was the real story.

Save this — run it every deal.