How to check a website's backlinks for free
I get this question a lot. You see a site doing well and you think: who links to them. You can check that. I will show you how to check backlinks, with real tools you can use today for free.
I have worked online for years and I have looked at links for all kinds of sites. I learned to look at less stuff, but look well.
What are backlinks
A backlink is a link from another site to yours. If a blog talks about you and links to your page, that is a backlink. Simple.
Google and Bing use those links as clues. They are not magic votes. One link from a normal site in your space is worth more than lots of links from strange sites.
Lots of links does not mean you rank first on Google. I have seen sites with few links doing well because they answer what people search for. Context matters more than the raw count.
When I say linking domain I mean the site that puts the link. When I say anchor text I mean the words you click on. When I say most linked page I mean the page that gets most links. With those three ideas you can read almost any report.
How to see who links to your site
If the site is yours, start with Google Search Console. It is free. You verify you own the site and you go to the Links report.
That report shows who links to you, with what text, and which of your pages get most links. The data comes from Google. It does not show the whole internet, only what Google has seen.
I look first at the top linked pages. That tells me what content people cite. Then I look at the sites that link. If I see normal blogs from my space, good.
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar. It is also free for sites you verify. It gives you another view of your links and it helps you see if Bing crawls you well.
Neither tool lets you check other peoples sites. Only sites you control. That makes sense. It is private data. For competitors you need other tools.
How to check backlinks on other sites
If the site is not yours you cannot use its Search Console. You need outside tools that crawl the web on their own.
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for sites you verify. You verify your site and you get a pretty clear link report.
For other sites, Ahrefs and Semrush have free checkers with limits. You put in a domain and they show a sample. They do not give you all without paying. They give enough to get the picture.
I first check how many different domains link, not the total link count. Then I check if those domains look real. Blogs from the space or useful resources. That smells good.
Do not trust the exact count from each tool. Each one crawls at its own pace. One will say one number and another will say a different one. Use those numbers to compare, not as absolute truth.
What to look at and what to skip
Look at the linking domains and check if they are normal sites in your topic. Look at the anchor texts and check if they describe what you do. Look at the most linked pages to learn what type of content gets mentions.
Skip the total count with no context. Skip auto comment links and sites built just to link out. Skip promises to get you hundreds of links in a week. That almost always ends badly. I prefer few normal links. I sleep better.
Do not obsess. Check your links once a month. Check a couple of sites you like to get ideas for content people cite. People link what helps them. That simple.
What I do not know: I cannot tell you which exact link will move you up on Google. Nobody knows. I can teach you to read the data. The rest depends on your content and your market.
If you want to see the links of another site and you get stuck with the tools, leave the site and your email in the form on this page and I will send them to you for free.
If you would rather we do it together, see SEO audit.