LinkGuard Blog

Insights, Tutorials & Best Practices

Expert knowledge for SEO professionals. Learn how to build, monitor, and protect your backlink profile with our comprehensive guides.

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All SEO Strategies (22) Link Building (17) Technical SEO (10) Case Studies Product Updates Tutorials Industry News Checklists (10)

SEO Strategies

A single website connected by many links to one node labelled one referring domain, beside many separate sites each linking once, illustrating breadth versus volume in a backlink profile
SEO Strategies

Referring domains vs backlinks: what's the difference?

Your tool shows 4,000 backlinks and 180 referring domains for the same site, and acts like you already know which one to trust. One backlink is one link; one referring domain is one site that links to you, however many times. Here's why the gap matters, which number tracks with rankings, and the blunt thing Google said about counting either of them.

Andrei

Andrei

Jun 24, 2026 • 9 min
Backlink monitor comparison 2026: Ahrefs suite vs Linkody vs the acquired Monitor Backlinks — which to pick — LinkGuard
SEO Strategies

Ahrefs vs Linkody vs Monitor Backlinks: which backlink monitor in 2026?

Three tools people keep comparing for backlink monitoring — a full SEO suite, a cheap dedicated monitor, and one that quietly got acquired. An honest head-to-head on what each actually does, what it costs in 2026, and how to pick. Written by someone who builds a fourth one.

Andrei

Andrei

Jun 22, 2026 • 11 min
Semrush Backlink Audit walkthrough: set up the project, read the Toxicity Score, build the disavow file — LinkGuard
SEO Strategies

How to use the Semrush backlink audit tool, step by step

A plain click-by-click walkthrough of Semrush's Backlink Audit: where to open it, how to set it up, how to read the Toxicity Score, and how to build the disavow file. Plus the one step every other tutorial skips — what to actually do once the audit finishes.

Andrei

Andrei

Jun 22, 2026 • 9 min
A dashboard showing the same brand with three different AI visibility scores from three engines, illustrating how noisy and non-standardized AI-mention measurement is
SEO Strategies

How to check if ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI mention your brand

You did the work to get cited by AI search. Now: is it working? Here's the honest, mostly-free way to check whether ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI mention your brand — and why every '$99/month AI visibility score' is noisier than it looks. From a backlink tool that doesn't sell you one.

Andrei

Andrei

Jun 20, 2026 • 11 min
An AI answer box citing a named source above a list of blue links, illustrating how AI search engines quote content instead of just ranking it
SEO Strategies

How to get cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews

Most Google searches now end without a click. So the question stopped being 'how do I rank?' and became 'how do I get the AI to mention me?' Here's what actually earns a citation in AI search in 2026 — and an honest look at where backlinks still fit, from someone who sells a backlink tool.

Andrei

Andrei

Jun 20, 2026 • 12 min
Backlink audit workflow: toxicity score to disavow file to ongoing monitoring — LinkGuard
SEO Strategies

Semrush backlink audit: what it checks, and how to run one without Semrush

Semrush's Backlink Audit gives every referring domain a toxicity score and a one-click disavow file. Useful — but it's a paid, point-in-time cleanup. Here's what it checks, how to run the same audit free with Google Search Console, and the ongoing job an audit doesn't cover.

Andrei

Andrei

Jun 01, 2026 • 9 min