A strong off-page SEO strategy is key to building authority in the pest control industry. In this phase, we analyze your backlinks to check if your site benefits from high-quality links that increase your visibility. We’ll also review external mentions and partnerships to see how well your brand is established online.
Backlink Audit
Step 1: Check the Site Has Do-Follow Links from High-Quality Domains (Domain Rating >50)
Go to Ahrefs Dashboard -> Enter the website URL -> Click a Search button – > Navigate to the Backlinks in the sidebar:

- Use a Backlink Analysis Tool: Start by using Ahrefs to analyze the website’s backlinks. Enter the domain to generate a list of referring domains and backlinks.
- Check Domain Rating (DR): In your backlink analysis tool, look at the Domain Rating (DR) or Domain Authority (DA) of the sites linking to the website. A good backlink comes from a domain with a DR of 50 or higher.
- Filter for Do-Follow Links: Verify that most backlinks are do-follow links, as these pass SEO value (link equity) to the site. In Ahrefs, you can filter for “do-follow” links specifically. No-follow links can still be valuable for traffic, but do-follow links are essential for SEO impact.
- Evaluate Quality: High-quality backlinks come from authoritative sites relevant to the pest control industry or related fields (e.g., home improvement and environmental blogs). Prioritize these backlinks and focus on building more from similar high-authority sources.
Step 2: Review Backlinks for Relevancy and Quality, Ensuring They Aren’t Spammy
Sort backlinks by “Linked Domains” & by “Anchor”:

Assess Relevancy: Review the backlink list and check whether the links come from relevant domains. Links from related industries (pest control, home services, environmental blogs, etc.) are ideal. If the backlinks come from unrelated or irrelevant sites, such as gambling or random directories, they may be considered spammy.
Check for Spammy Links: Look for any signs of spammy backlinks. These could include:
- Links from websites with a low Domain Rating (DR) (e.g., below 20).
- Links from “link farms” or directories with little or no content.
- Backlinks from foreign or non-English websites that have no relevance to the business.
Disavow Spammy Backlinks: If you find spammy or harmful backlinks, use Google Search Console’s Disavow Tool to prevent low-quality links from negatively affecting the website’s SEO performance.
Step 3: Evaluate Whether the Site Has Enough Backlinks to Compete in the Industry
Go to Ahrefs -> More -> Batch Analysis -> paste your domain and competitive domains:

- Analyze Competitors: Use tools like Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush to analyze the backlink profiles of top competitors in the pest control industry. Identify their number of backlinks and the quality of their referring domains.
- Compare Backlink Quantity: Compare the website’s backlinks with those of competitors. If competitors have more backlinks, you must focus on building high-quality backlinks to remain competitive.
- Evaluate Backlink Distribution: Verify if the backlinks spread across various pages, critical service pages, not just the homepage. Each critical page (e.g., termite control, rodent removal) should have its share of high-quality backlinks.
- Plan for Backlink Growth: If your backlink profile is lacking compared to competitors, create a strategy to build more high-quality backlinks. Strategies could involve guest posting, industry partnerships, or earning links through quality content.
Rankings Analysis
Step 4: Check if the Site Ranks in the Top 10 for Its Target Keywords
Ahrefs -> Enter the website URL -> Click a Search button – > Navigate to the “Organic keywords” in the sidebar:

- Identify Target Keywords: List the critical keywords for the website, including service-related terms (e.g., “pest control in [city],” “termite treatment,” “rodent removal”), as well as location-specific terms if applicable.
- Use a Keyword Ranking Tool: Tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush can help you track the site’s rankings for these target keywords. Enter the domain and pull the ranking data for your list of target keywords.
- Check Top 10 Rankings: Look for keywords where the site ranks in the top 10 results. These keywords will attract significant traffic to the site. Focus on the top 3 rankings that receive the highest click-through rates.
- Evaluate for Improvements: If keywords are not ranking in the top 10, optimize the content, acquire more backlinks, or improve on-page SEO for those target pages.
Step 5: Review if the Site Is Receiving Branded Traffic
In Ahrefs -> Organic Keywords -> More Filters -> Keyword -> enter your pest control business name:

- Identify Branded Keywords: Branded traffic refers to searches that include the business’s name, such as “[Pest Control Company] services” or “[Pest Control Company] reviews.” List all possible branded search terms for the site.
- Check Branded Traffic in Google Search Console: Log into Google Search Console and navigate to the Performance tab. Filter the results to show queries containing the brand name. This will give you an overview of how many searches the business receives for its brand-related terms.
- Evaluate the Volume of Branded Traffic: Check how much organic traffic the website receives. If there is a low volume of branded searches, this may indicate that the brand needs to build more recognition through marketing, SEO, or online reputation management efforts.
Step 6: Confirm Commercial Pages Are Getting Search Traffic from Google
In Ahrefs -> Top pages:

- Identify Commercial Pages: Commercial pages are those that directly drive conversions, such as service pages (e.g., “Termite Control,” “Rodent Removal”) or product pages. List these key pages.
- Check Traffic in Google Analytics: Open Google Analytics and navigate to the Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages section. Review the traffic metrics for the leading commercial pages. Pay attention to organic traffic to see how much is coming from Google searches.
- Verify Organic Search Traffic in Google Search Console: Cross-check the organic traffic data in Google Search Console. Navigate to the Performance > Pages report, and filter the results by “Google Search.” Look for the commercial pages and check they are receiving consistent search traffic.
- Evaluate SEO Performance: If commercial pages aren’t receiving much organic traffic, it may indicate a need for better optimization. Consider reviewing the keywords these pages target and whether they align with search intent.
Google Search Console Review
Step 7: Log into Google Search Console
Google Search Console link: https://search.google.com/search-console
Head over to Google Search Console and log in with your Google account. If you haven’t already added the site to Search Console, you’ll need to verify ownership first by following Google’s verification steps: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9008080?hl=en
Once the website is verified, you can proceed with specific checks.
Step 8: Select the Website

Select your pest control website from the property list in the top-left corner.
Step 9: Check for Warnings or Errors
Go to “Security & Manual Actions” -> Manual actions & “Security & Manual Actions” -> Security Issues:

Ensure the website doesn’t have any warnings from Google.
Go to the “Indexing” -> Pages tab:

Here, you’ll see any issues with the site’s indexing status, such as errors, warnings, or excluded pages.
- Errors: Look for pages that Google couldn’t index due to issues like 404 or server errors.
- Warnings: Review warnings like “Indexed, but blocked by robots.txt” or “Submitted URL seems to be a Soft 404.”
- Excluded Pages: These are pages Google intentionally excluded, such as duplicate pages or those with “noindex” tags.
If you see such issues, check each page separately to understand the issue. Different issues require different approaches: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7440203?hl=en
Step 10: Review User Experience
Go to Experience -> Core Web Vitals:

Check the “Experience” section for Page Experience, Core Web Vitals, or HTTPS issues to highlight any areas where the user experience may need improvement.
Step 11: Resolve Any Issues
If warnings or errors exist, click on each issue to see which pages are affected. Google often provides recommendations on how to fix these problems. Note any significant issues as part of your SEO audit.
Google Index Check
Step 12: Search for Important Pages in Google
Open Google and search for essential pages of your website using the following format:
site:yourpestcontroldomain.com

This search query will show you all the pages Google has indexed for the domain. Look through the results to confirm that critical pages, such as the homepage, service pages, service area pages, contact pages, and blog posts, are correctly indexed.
Step 13: Verify Key Pages are Indexed

Scroll through the search results to confirm that all necessary pages appear. If service area pages or blog posts are missing, Google might not index them. If so, you must submit them for indexing through Google Search Console.
Step 14: Look for Technical URLs or Unnecessary Pages
Check for any technical or unnecessary pages that shouldn’t be indexed, such as:
- Admin or login pages (/wp-admin/, or wp-login.php)
- Test pages (/test/)
- Thank you pages (/thank-you/)
- URLs with tracking parameters or session IDs
- Duplicate pages with URL variations (e.g., with or without “www”)
Just type on Google:
site:yourpestcontroldomain.com inurl:wp-admin
*replace wp-admin with a possible technical URL:

If you see any technical pages or pages with parameters that shouldn’t be in Google’s index, you’ll need to either block them using the robots.txt file or set them to “noindex” in the site’s meta tags.
Step 15: Fix Indexing Issues
Google Search Console -> URL Inspection -> Paste the URL to inspect -> Click “Request Indexing”:

If you notice any critical pages missing or technical pages indexed by mistake, take action:
- Submit missing pages through Google Search Console by using the URL Inspection tool. To do it – just paste a URL into the “Inspect any URL” field and hit the “Return or Enter” button on your keyboard.
- Block technical or unwanted pages using the robots.txt file or “noindex” meta tags to prevent them from being indexed.
Here you can read a robots meta tag specifications: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag
Step 16: Monitor Indexing Changes
After making changes, check the site’s indexing status regularly using the site:pestcontroldomain.com query and Google Search Console to confirm that only the right pages are indexed.