Backlinks remain one of the most powerful ranking factors in search engine optimisation. Understanding how to check backlinks on a website is essential whether you’re monitoring your own link profile, analysing competitors, or developing a comprehensive SEO strategy. At Duality Digital, we’ve helped countless businesses understand and improve their backlink profiles, and in this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about checking and analysing backlinks effectively.
Why Checking Backlinks Matters
Before diving into the how-to, it’s important to understand why backlinks deserve your attention. Search engines like Google use backlinks as votes of confidence. When reputable websites link to your content, it signals that your site provides valuable information worth referencing. According to research from Backlinko, the number of domains linking to a page correlates strongly with higher search rankings.
However, not all backlinks are created equal. A single link from an authoritative industry publication can be worth more than dozens of links from low-quality directories. That’s why regular backlink audits are crucial for maintaining a healthy link profile and protecting your site from potential penalties.
Understanding Your Backlink Profile
Your backlink profile is essentially the collection of all external links pointing to your website. A strong profile typically includes:
Diverse link sources – Links should come from various domains rather than concentrated from just a few sites. This diversity signals natural link acquisition rather than manipulative practices.
Relevant anchor text – The clickable text in a link should relate naturally to your content. Over-optimised anchor text with exact-match keywords can appear suspicious to search engines.
High-quality referring domains – Links from authoritative, trusted websites in your industry carry significantly more weight than links from obscure or unrelated sites.
Natural link velocity – Your backlink growth should appear organic over time rather than showing sudden, dramatic spikes that might indicate artificial link building.
Free Methods to Check Backlinks
Google Search Console
The best place to start checking your own backlinks is Google Search Console. This free tool from Google provides direct insights into how the search engine sees your link profile.
To access your backlink data in Search Console, navigate to the “Links” section in the left sidebar. Here you’ll find reports showing your top linked pages, your top linking sites, and your most common anchor text. While Google Search Console doesn’t show every backlink, it provides a reliable sample of the links Google considers most important.
The tool allows you to export your backlink data for deeper analysis, making it invaluable for tracking your link acquisition progress over time. For businesses just starting to monitor their backlinks, this is the perfect entry point.
Bing Webmaster Tools
Don’t overlook Bing Webmaster Tools in your backlink analysis. While Bing commands a smaller search market share than Google, its webmaster tools offer a different perspective on your link profile. Bing’s backlink data sometimes reveals links that Google Search Console doesn’t display, giving you a more complete picture.
The platform provides similar functionality to Google Search Console, including lists of linking domains, anchor text distribution, and the ability to export your data. Setting up Bing Webmaster Tools takes just a few minutes and adds another valuable data source to your backlink monitoring arsenal.
Premium Backlink Analysis Tools
While free tools provide valuable insights, premium SEO platforms offer more comprehensive backlink data and analysis features. These tools crawl the web independently, building massive databases of backlinks that often exceed what free tools can provide.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs has built one of the largest backlink indexes in the industry, claiming to crawl billions of pages daily. The platform’s Site Explorer tool shows detailed backlink profiles including total backlinks, referring domains, domain rating, and URL rating metrics.
What sets Ahrefs apart is its user-friendly interface and robust filtering options. You can easily segment backlinks by type (dofollow vs. nofollow), identify your best and worst links, and track new and lost backlinks over time. The tool also provides valuable competitive analysis features, allowing you to see exactly where your competitors are getting their backlinks.
SEMrush
SEMrush offers comprehensive backlink analytics through its Backlink Analytics tool. Beyond basic link metrics, SEMrush provides a “Toxic Score” for potentially harmful backlinks and offers suggestions for improving your link profile.
The platform excels at competitive backlink analysis, making it easy to identify link building opportunities by analysing where multiple competitors have earned links. This competitive intelligence can inform your own outreach strategy and help you discover valuable link prospects.
Moz Link Explorer
Moz Link Explorer uses the company’s proprietary Domain Authority and Page Authority metrics to evaluate link quality. These metrics, while not directly used by Google, provide helpful benchmarks for assessing the potential value of different backlinks.
Moz’s Spam Score feature helps identify potentially problematic links that might warrant disavowal. The platform also offers a Link Intersect tool that reveals sites linking to your competitors but not to you, highlighting potential outreach opportunities.
How to Analyse Competitor Backlinks
Understanding your competitors’ backlink profiles can reveal valuable opportunities for your own link building efforts. Here’s how to conduct effective competitor backlink analysis:
Identify your top competitors – Focus on websites that rank well for your target keywords and operate in your industry or niche.
Export their backlink data – Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to download comprehensive lists of your competitors’ backlinks.
Look for common link sources – If multiple competitors have earned links from the same websites, those sites are likely valuable targets for your outreach.
Analyse link contexts – Study how competitors earned their links. Were they mentioned in roundup posts? Did they contribute guest articles? Understanding the context helps you replicate their success.
Identify content gaps – Look for types of content that consistently attract links in your industry. Creating similar or better resources can help you earn comparable backlinks.
Red Flags in Your Backlink Profile
Not all backlinks help your SEO efforts. Some can actually harm your rankings if they appear manipulative or come from low-quality sources. Watch for these warning signs:
Links from link farms or PBNs – Private blog networks and link farms exist solely to manipulate search rankings. Links from these sources can trigger penalties.
Irrelevant industry links – A backlink from a gambling site to your accounting firm looks suspicious and provides little value.
Over-optimised anchor text – If too many of your backlinks use exact-match keyword anchor text, it may appear unnatural to search engines.
Sitewide links – Links that appear on every page of a website, typically in footers or sidebars, can seem manipulative if not disclosed as sponsorships or partnerships.
Rapid link acquisition – Gaining hundreds of backlinks overnight raises red flags unless there’s a clear reason like viral content or press coverage.
According to guidelines from Google’s Search Central, building links through manipulative practices violates their policies and can result in manual actions against your site.
Taking Action on Your Backlink Data
Once you’ve checked your backlinks and analysed the data, it’s time to take action. For problematic links that you cannot remove, Google’s Disavow Tool allows you to tell the search engine to ignore specific backlinks when assessing your site.
However, disavowing links should be a last resort. Focus first on identifying and replicating what’s working well in your existing backlink profile. Look for patterns in your best-performing content and the types of sites that naturally link to you.
At Duality Digital, we work with businesses to not only audit their existing backlinks but also develop strategic link building campaigns that earn high-quality, relevant backlinks through white-hat methods. Whether you need help analysing your current link profile or building new authoritative links, professional guidance can accelerate your SEO progress while avoiding common pitfalls.
Creating a Backlink Monitoring Routine
Checking backlinks shouldn’t be a one-time task. Establish a regular monitoring schedule to track your link profile’s health and growth:
Weekly checks – Monitor for new backlinks and quickly address any suspicious or negative SEO attacks where competitors might build spammy links to your site.
Monthly analysis – Review your overall backlink metrics, including total referring domains, domain authority changes, and anchor text distribution.
Quarterly audits – Conduct comprehensive reviews of your backlink profile, identify opportunities for improvement, and assess competitor developments.
Annual strategy reviews – Evaluate your link building efforts over the past year and set goals for the coming period based on what’s working.
Conclusion
Learning how to check backlinks on a website is a fundamental skill for anyone serious about SEO. Whether you’re using free tools like Google Search Console or investing in premium platforms like Ahrefs, regular backlink monitoring helps you understand your site’s authority, identify opportunities, and protect against potential penalties.
Remember that backlinks are earned through creating valuable content and building genuine relationships within your industry. While analysing and monitoring your links is crucial, the ultimate goal is developing a natural, diverse backlink profile that reflects your website’s genuine value to users.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by backlink analysis or want to develop a comprehensive link building strategy, Duality Digital is here to help. Our team specialises in ethical, effective link building that drives real results for our clients. Get in touch to learn how we can strengthen your backlink profile and improve your search visibility.
