Define the evidence

Create a referring-site record that distinguishes owned sites, commercial partners, paid placements and independent editorial references. The categories help explain why a link exists. A company-controlled magazine linking to its main website is a legitimate navigation relationship, but it should not be counted as independent third-party endorsement. Decide whether the report counts unique domains, individual pages or live links, and keep the unit consistent.

Make it operational

Use available link reports as discovery tools, then inspect the relevant pages before classifying important references. Record the source URL, destination, context, relationship and verification date. Search Console’s links report is not a complete live inventory, so avoid treating an export as proof that every listed link remains present. Recheck material references periodically. Report independent sites alongside other relationship categories rather than hiding useful partner distribution or presenting every external domain as earned editorial authority.

Imagine this

Hypothetical example

A brand’s journal earns a link from an unrelated industry guide and also receives links from two company-owned sites. The report records one independent referring website and two owned-network sources. The distinction gives the team an honest view of external recognition and controlled distribution.

Make it practical.

Use this checklist as you read. Checks are not stored.

References & further reading

Further reading: Search Console links report ↗

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