When to Start Building Backlinks

Don't Start With Backlinks Until You Know What's Limiting Growth | Website Audit Notes #2

Traffic is low? Backlinks may not be the next SEO priority. Learn how a website audit helps identify whether authority, architecture, content organization, trust signals, or search demand is actually limiting growth.

By Sannidhi | 19th Sep 26

Blog > Website Audit Notes

I've heard the same request from clients who want to start building backlinks because rankings have stalled, traffic hasn't grown as expected, or SEO feels incomplete. But when I audit the website, the first opportunities often have nothing to do with backlinks. They usually involve website architecture (URL structure, internal linking), content organization, topical authority, trust signals, or user experience.

A similar question comes up regularly in SEO communities:

"I've finished On-Page SEO and Technical SEO. Traffic is still low. Should I start building backlinks?"

It sounds like the next logical step. I think it's actually a diagnosis question before it's a link-building question. Low traffic doesn't automatically mean a website needs more backlinks. Sometimes backlinks are the right next investment. Sometimes they're solving the wrong problem.

The observation

A website can have low traffic for several completely different reasons.

• Pages might not be ranking.

• Pages might be ranking, but for low-volume searches.

• Pages might be targeting the wrong search intent.

• The website might genuinely need stronger authority to compete.

Those scenarios can look very similar in performance reports, but they require very different SEO decisions.

What's actually happening?

Backlinks help search engines understand that other websites consider your content valuable or worth referencing. That doesn't mean every website with limited traffic has an authority problem.

I've worked on websites that reached first-page rankings for primary and long-tail keywords without deliberate link building. Some of those pages also appeared in AI Overviews. That happened because my focus was on building topical authority, strengthening trust signals, improving website architecture, and creating a strong user experience first.

That's why I don't start with the question, "How do I build backlinks?" I start with the question, "What is preventing this website from growing?" If important pages consistently sit on page two or page three against stronger competitors, authority becomes a reasonable hypothesis. If the website still has architectural issues, weak internal linking, overlapping content, or missing trust signals, backlinks may not be the change that moves the needle.

What I would Look For

Before recommending a link-building campaign, I'd want to verify what the website is actually telling me. 

A competitor backlink gap analysis is still a useful exercise. I'd use it to identify relevant industry, local, editorial, or partnership opportunities—not simply reproduce every backlink competitors have earned.

The takeaway

Backlinks are an important part of SEO. They're just not the first answer to every traffic problem. When I audit a website, I try to identify the bottleneck before choosing the tactic. Sometimes that bottleneck is authority. Sometimes it's website architecture, internal linking, topical authority, trust signals, search intent, or simply limited search demand.

A website audit should tell you what needs attention first. Link building becomes much more effective when it solves the right problem instead of becoming the default next step. 

Please share feedback:

Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Bluesky, and Mastodon

Related posts:

* Wrong Location Page

* Location Page URL and Website Architecture

Other posts:

* Diversify Beyond Google

* Investing in Parasite SEO

* Social Media Content Ideas

Image credit: Main image.