Backlinks, the links from other websites to yours, are still one of the strongest signals search engines use to judge authority. Knowing who links to you, and to your competitors, helps you find link opportunities, spot problems and understand why some pages rank. The good news: you can see a lot of this data for free.
1. Google Search Console (your own site)
The most reliable free source for your own website, because the data comes from Google itself. Open Links in the left menu to see your top linking sites, your most linked pages and the anchor texts used. You can export the lists. Its limits: it only works for sites you have verified, and it shows a sample rather than every single link.
2. Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing’s free webmaster platform has a Backlinks report that shows referring domains, linked pages and anchor texts for your site, and lets you compare your profile with competitor domains. It is one of the few free official tools that shows data about other websites.
3. Free versions of the big SEO tools
Ahrefs, Semrush and Moz all offer limited free access to their link indexes:
- Ahrefs Free Backlink Checker: shows the top backlinks and referring domains of any domain or URL, plus its Domain Rating.
- Semrush: a free account includes a small number of daily searches in its Backlink Analytics report.
- Moz Link Explorer: a free account gives a limited number of monthly queries with Domain Authority and top links.
Each tool has its own crawler, so their numbers will not match. Use one consistently to compare sites.
4. Check the authority of the linking sites
A list of links is only useful if you can tell strong links from weak ones. Paste each referring domain into our free Domain Authority Checker to see its global ranking, PageRank and age in seconds.
5. Search for unlinked mentions
Search Google for your brand name excluding your own site, for example "seoon" -site:seoon.page. Pages that mention you without linking are the easiest links to win: a friendly email often turns a mention into a link.
6. Look at who links to your competitors
Run competitor domains through the free tools above and look for sites that link to several competitors but not to you: directories in your niche, resource pages, media that cover your industry. These are your most realistic opportunities.
How to judge if a backlink is good
- Relevance: a link from a site in your topic is worth more than a random one.
- Authority: links from well-known, trusted sites carry more weight.
- Placement: a link inside the main content beats one in a footer or a sidebar.
- Traffic: a link that real people click is a sign of a real website.
- Attributes: nofollow, sponsored and ugc links pass less value, though they still bring visibility.
What about toxic backlinks?
Google says it ignores most spammy links automatically. You only need the disavow tool if you have a manual action for unnatural links, or if you know someone bought links in your name. Disavowing good links by mistake can hurt you more than the spam ever would.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I check my backlinks?
Once a month is enough for most sites. Check more often after a campaign, a migration or a sudden drop in rankings.
Why do different tools show different numbers of backlinks?
Every tool crawls the web with its own bot and index size, and counts links differently. None of them sees exactly what Google sees.
Can I see all the backlinks of a competitor for free?
Not all of them. Free versions show the top links. For a complete list you need a paid plan of a backlink tool.