← Back to Blog
· By Jason from Backlink Harvest

How to Audit Your Photography Backlink Profile (With Free Tools)

How to Audit Your Photography Backlink Profile (With Free Tools)

Quick question: how many websites link to your photography portfolio right now?

If you don't know the answer, you're not alone. Most photographers have never checked. They know backlinks matter for SEO—maybe they've read about why stock photographers should care about them—but they've never actually looked at their own backlink profile.

That's like trying to grow your savings without ever checking your bank balance.

A backlink audit tells you where you stand. What's working. What's not. And most importantly, where the opportunities are.

Your backlink profile is the complete picture of every website that links to yours. It includes:

  • Total number of backlinks — how many individual links point to your site
  • Referring domains — how many unique websites those links come from (this number matters more than total links)
  • Link quality — whether those links come from reputable sites or spammy ones
  • Anchor text — what text the linking sites use for the hyperlink
  • Link distribution — which pages on your site receive the most links

Think of it as your website's reputation report card.

You might think backlink audits are for marketing agencies and SEO professionals. But photographers have unique reasons to pay attention:

If you upload to Unsplash, Pexels, or Pixabay, websites are already using your photos. Some of them might be crediting you with a link. An audit reveals which ones—and shows you how many are using your work without attribution.

2. You Can Spot Opportunities

When you see which types of websites link to you, patterns emerge. Maybe design blogs love your work. Maybe food websites use your photos constantly. These patterns tell you where to focus your outreach efforts.

3. You Can Catch Problems Early

Not all backlinks are good. Spammy websites linking to you can actually hurt your search rankings. An audit helps you identify toxic links before they become a problem.

The Free Tools You Need

You don't need expensive subscriptions to audit your backlink profile. Here are the best free options:

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is the most important free tool for any website owner, and it's directly from Google. Once you verify ownership of your site, you can access:

  • Links report: Shows external links (sites linking to you), internal links, and top linking sites
  • Top linked pages: Which of your pages attract the most backlinks
  • Top linking sites: Which domains link to you most frequently
  • Top linking text: What anchor text other sites use

How to check: Navigate to Links (in the left sidebar) → External Links. You'll see your top linked pages and top linking sites.

Limitation: Google Search Console only shows a sample of your links, not the complete picture. But it's the most accurate sample available because it comes from Google's own data.

Ahrefs' free backlink checker gives you a quick snapshot of any website's backlink profile. Enter your URL and you'll see:

  • Domain Rating (a score from 0-100 measuring your site's backlink authority)
  • Total backlinks and referring domains
  • Top 100 backlinks with their Domain Rating

Best for: Getting a quick overview and seeing your highest-quality backlinks. The free version limits results, but it's enough for a basic audit.

Moz's Link Explorer offers 10 free queries per month with a free account. You'll get:

  • Domain Authority score
  • Total backlinks and linking domains
  • Top pages by link count
  • Spam score (critical for identifying toxic links)

Best for: The spam score feature. If you want to know whether your backlinks are helping or hurting you, Moz's spam analysis is excellent.

Running Your First Audit: Step by Step

Here's the exact process to audit your photography website's backlinks in under an hour:

Step 1: Gather Your Numbers

Start with Google Search Console (if set up) for the most accurate data. Then cross-reference with Ahrefs and Moz.

Write down:

  • Total referring domains
  • Your top 10 linking sites
  • Which pages on your site have the most links
  • Your Domain Authority / Domain Rating score

Go through your top linking sites and categorize them:

🟢 High-value links: - Photography blogs and publications - Design and creative industry sites - News sites and major publications - Educational institutions (.edu domains) - High-authority general websites

🟡 Moderate-value links: - Small blogs that use your stock photos - Directory listings - Social media profiles - Forum mentions

🔴 Potentially harmful links: - Sites with extremely high spam scores - Link farms or obviously automated websites - Completely irrelevant sites (gambling, pharmaceutical spam) - Sites in foreign languages with no logical connection to your work

Step 3: Identify the Gaps

Now look at what's missing:

Missing attribution links: If you upload stock photos and see only a handful of backlinks from sites using your work, there's a massive gap between usage and attribution. This is your biggest opportunity.

Missing platform links: Check if your stock platform profiles (Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay) link back to your website. If your bio doesn't include your website URL, fix this immediately—it's free and takes 30 seconds.

Missing internal links: While you're at it, check your own internal linking. Does your homepage link to your portfolio pages? Does your blog link to your portfolio? Internal links help Google understand your site structure.

Step 4: Create Your Action Plan

Based on your audit, you'll likely have three categories of action items:

Quick wins (do today): - Add your website URL to any stock platform profiles missing it - Fix any broken links on your own site - Ensure your best portfolio pages are internally linked from your homepage

Short-term projects (this month): - Reach out to the highest-authority sites using your photos without credit - Build relationships with the sites that already link to you (they might link again) - Write guest content for sites in your niche

Ongoing monitoring (monthly): - Check for new backlinks - Monitor your Domain Authority trend - Watch for new sites using your stock photos

What Good Looks Like for Photographers

You might be wondering: what's a "good" backlink profile for a photographer?

There's no universal answer, but here are some benchmarks:

  • Referring domains: 20-50 is a solid start. 100+ is excellent. 500+ is exceptional.
  • Domain Authority: 15-25 is typical for a new photography portfolio. 30-40 means you're building real authority. 50+ puts you in competitive territory.
  • Link diversity: You want links from different types of sites, not just one or two domains linking to you repeatedly.
  • Relevance: Photography-related links matter more than random links. One link from a respected photography publication is worth more than 50 links from unrelated blogs.

The Monthly Check-In

Don't just audit once and forget about it. Set a monthly calendar reminder to:

  1. Log into Google Search Console and check for new linking domains
  2. Run a quick Ahrefs check on your domain
  3. Note any significant changes (positive or negative)
  4. Update your outreach list with new sites using your photos

This takes 15 minutes per month. The insights are worth hours of undirected effort.

Common Audit Findings (And What to Do About Them)

This is the most common finding for photographers who haven't focused on backlink building. Don't panic. Start with the fundamentals: upload quality photos to stock platforms, build your personal brand, and begin systematic outreach for attribution credits.

Diversity matters. If 90% of your links come from one source, Google sees that as less authoritative than links spread across many domains. Focus your outreach on new domains rather than getting more links from sites that already link to you.

If your Moz spam score is high or you see obviously spammy sites linking to you, don't panic. A few spam links won't destroy your rankings. If the problem is severe, Google's Disavow Tool lets you tell Google to ignore specific links. But for most photographers, this isn't necessary.

"My stock photos are everywhere but nobody credits me"

This is actually good news—it means there's a huge untapped opportunity. Every website using your photo without credit is a potential backlink waiting to happen. That's exactly what attribution outreach is designed to solve.

Start Measuring, Start Growing

You can't improve what you don't track. A backlink audit gives you the baseline you need to make informed decisions about where to invest your time and energy.

The photographers who grow their online presence fastest aren't the ones who work hardest. They're the ones who know exactly where they stand and focus their efforts on the highest-impact opportunities.

Your audit will reveal those opportunities. The question is whether you'll act on them.