An artist’s portfolio, film blog, podcast page, or transport photography site can be beautifully made and still struggle to reach new readers. One reason may be the links pointing to it from other websites. A regular backlink audit helps you understand which sites link to your work, whether those links are useful, and where problems may be holding back search visibility. It is a practical part of looking after a creative website, alongside publishing strong work and keeping pages easy to use.
Backlinks are links on other websites that lead to yours. A recommendation from a respected arts publication, festival, gallery, or specialist transport forum may help readers discover your work and give search engines useful context. Links from unrelated, low-quality, or suspicious pages are less helpful. The aim of an audit is not to collect the biggest possible number of links. It is to assess the links you have and decide whether any action is needed.
Start with a clear picture of your website
Before reviewing links, decide which pages matter most. A freelance illustrator may want people to find a portfolio and commissions page. A film site might prioritise reviews, interviews, or a podcast archive. For a transport photographer, the key pages could be a gallery, print shop, or location guide. Knowing your priorities makes it easier to judge whether incoming links are relevant and whether they lead visitors to a useful destination.
Collect data from a search analytics platform or backlink tool, then save the results in a spreadsheet. Useful details include the linking website, the page that contains the link, the page on your site it points to, and the words used for the link. Tools do not always show every backlink, so treat the list as an overview rather than a complete record. An SEO audit guide can also help put backlink checks into the broader context of technical health, content, and indexing.
Check relevance and quality
Open a sample of the linking pages and ask a few straightforward questions. Does the site cover a subject related to your work? Is the link placed in a real article, resource list, or interview where it makes sense? Does the page appear to be written for readers, or does it exist mainly to publish links? A link from a local gallery listing might be valuable to an emerging artist even if the site is small. Relevance and genuine readership can matter more than a familiar name or a high score from a tool.
Look for patterns rather than judging every link in isolation. Many links with identical commercial wording, pages stuffed with unrelated links, or a sudden burst of links from sites you do not recognise may deserve closer inspection. They are signals to investigate, not automatic proof that your site has been penalised or that every link should be removed.
Review the pages and link text
The destination matters as much as the source. If a festival article links to a page that has since moved, visitors may hit an error instead of seeing your work. Check for broken pages and redirect important old URLs to the closest relevant current page. Also review the link text, sometimes called anchor text. It should describe the destination naturally. A variety of references to a creator’s name, project, or portfolio is usually more believable than dozens of identical keyword-heavy phrases.
Consider the visitor’s experience, too. A backlink to an outdated event announcement may bring people to a dead end, while a link to a well-organised archive or current project page can help them explore. Updating the destination or asking the referring site to correct a broken URL can make an existing link more useful without chasing new ones.
Decide what to do about questionable links
Most website owners do not need to react to every unfamiliar backlink. First, check whether it actually causes a problem and whether you can contact the site owner to request a correction or removal. Keep a record of what you found and any messages you sent. Disavowing links through search engine tools is a specialised step and is not a routine cleanup task; use it only when there is a strong reason and you understand the consequences.
For independent creators, a sustainable approach is to earn links through work people genuinely want to share. Publish useful behind-the-scenes notes, exhibition information, interviews, location guides, or well-labelled project pages. Build relationships with relevant organisations and collaborators, and make it easy for them to link to the right page. Avoid schemes that promise a large number of links without a clear editorial reason.
Make the audit part of your creative workflow
Online publishing often involves more than writing or making the artwork itself. A podcaster, for example, may need to budget for editing as well as promotion; this guide to podcast video editing cost outlines factors that can affect production expenses. Osdire is one place where buyers can find freelancers across creative and technical categories, but whichever route you choose, plan the work around your format, schedule, and budget.
Set aside time every few months to check new links, revisit important destinations, and note meaningful changes. Compare what you find with referral visits and search performance, but do not expect an audit alone to produce instant growth. For an arts, entertainment, or transport website, a healthy backlink profile is built gradually through useful work and relevant recommendations. Regular checks help you protect that foundation and make it easier for the right audience to find what you create.