# Module 8 — Measurement, risk and recovery

_What to count, what to ignore, what a bad profile really looks like, and what to do when something is genuinely wrong._

## Checklist

- [ ] Report referring domains as the headline number, never total backlinks
- [ ] Check whether any link spike is matched by a referring-domain spike before celebrating it
- [ ] Report distinct links rather than raw link counts, and state which index and which date
- [ ] Show links and domains lost alongside links and domains gained
- [ ] Keep a dated referring-domain snapshot for every reporting period
- [ ] Compare your Trust Flow distribution against an unbought profile before calling anything toxic
- [ ] Check anchor distribution and network overlap before concluding a profile is unnatural
- [ ] Verify a manual action in Search Console rather than inferring one from a traffic drop
- [ ] Treat disavow as a last resort tied to a specific, documented situation
- [ ] Never disavow on the basis of a third-party toxicity score alone
- [ ] Compare referring-domain snapshots on a schedule to catch lost links
- [ ] Stop relying on 404 monitoring to find lost links, because it finds almost none

## Lessons

8.1. What to measure and what to ignore — https://www.advancedlinktraining.com/course/measurement-and-risk/what-to-measure/
8.2. Building a link report that survives scrutiny — https://www.advancedlinktraining.com/course/measurement-and-risk/building-a-link-report/
8.3. Spotting an unnatural profile — https://www.advancedlinktraining.com/course/measurement-and-risk/spotting-an-unnatural-profile/
8.4. Manual actions and disavow — https://www.advancedlinktraining.com/course/measurement-and-risk/manual-actions-and-disavow/
8.5. Running an ongoing program — https://www.advancedlinktraining.com/course/measurement-and-risk/running-an-ongoing-program/

AdvancedLinkTraining.com — a resource by Hartzer.com