Analyze the complete backlink profile for any domain. Discover referring domains, link types, anchor text distribution, and domain authority metrics with our powerful, free SEO tool.
Our free backlinks checker is a comprehensive SEO tool designed to help website owners, digital marketers, and SEO professionals analyze any domain's backlink profile. Understanding your backlinks—or your competitors' backlinks—is essential for developing effective link building strategies and improving your search engine rankings.
Backlinks, also known as inbound links or incoming links, are hyperlinks from external websites that point to your domain. Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo use backlinks as a primary ranking signal, viewing them as votes of confidence from one website to another. Websites with strong, relevant backlink profiles typically rank higher in search results, receive more organic traffic, and establish greater authority in their niche.
Our backlinks checker tool provides instant access to comprehensive backlink data, including total backlink counts, referring domain analysis, anchor text distribution, and Domain Rating metrics. Whether you're conducting competitor research, auditing your own website, or planning a link building campaign, this tool delivers the insights you need to make data-driven decisions.
Since the early days of search engines, backlinks have been recognized as one of the most important ranking factors. Google's original PageRank algorithm was built on the concept that links from other websites serve as endorsements, and this fundamental principle remains relevant today. While modern algorithms consider hundreds of ranking factors, high-quality backlinks continue to be among the most influential signals for determining search rankings.
The value of a backlink depends on several factors. Links from authoritative, trustworthy domains carry more weight than links from unknown or low-quality sites. Relevance matters too—a backlink from a website in your industry or niche is more valuable than one from an unrelated source. The placement of the link on the page, whether it's in the main content or footer, also affects its value. Our backlinks checker provides all these details, including the source page URL, anchor text, and Domain Rating of each referring domain.
Beyond ranking benefits, backlinks drive referral traffic directly to your website. When users click on links from other sites, they arrive at your pages already interested in your content or offerings. This targeted traffic often converts better than cold traffic from other sources. By analyzing which backlinks generate the most referral visits, you can focus your link building efforts on similar high-value opportunities.
Domain Rating is a metric that measures the overall strength of a website's backlink profile on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100. A higher DR indicates that a domain has more authoritative backlinks pointing to it. When evaluating potential link building opportunities, prioritizing domains with higher DR typically yields better SEO results. Our tool displays the DR for each referring domain, helping you quickly assess link quality.
The number of unique domains linking to a website is often more important than the total number of backlinks. Having 100 backlinks from 100 different domains generally provides more SEO value than 100 backlinks from a single domain. Search engines value diversity in a backlink profile, as it indicates genuine popularity and authority rather than manipulative link building practices.
Dofollow links pass PageRank and directly influence search rankings. Nofollow links include a rel="nofollow" attribute that instructs search engines not to pass ranking credit through the link. While nofollow links don't directly boost rankings, they still drive traffic, increase brand visibility, and contribute to a natural-looking backlink profile. A healthy backlink profile typically includes a mix of both types.
Anchor text is the clickable text of a hyperlink. Search engines use anchor text to understand what the linked page is about. Natural backlink profiles have diverse anchor text patterns, including branded anchors (your company name), naked URLs, generic phrases ('click here'), and some keyword-rich anchors. Over-optimized anchor text can trigger spam filters and result in penalties.
Type any domain name into the search box. You don't need to include 'http://' or 'www.'—our tool automatically processes the input. You can analyze your own website, competitor sites, or any domain you're interested in researching.
The overview section provides key metrics at a glance: total backlinks, number of referring domains, dofollow/nofollow ratio, and Domain Rating. These high-level metrics give you an immediate understanding of the domain's backlink strength.
Scroll through the detailed backlink table to see each individual link. For each backlink, you'll see the source domain, specific URL, anchor text, link type, and first-seen date. Use the pagination to browse through all available backlinks.
Click 'Export CSV' to download the complete backlink data. The exported file includes all available information, making it easy to import into spreadsheets, other SEO tools, or your own databases for further analysis.
Analyze your competitors' backlink profiles to discover their link building strategies. Identify which websites link to competitors but not to you—these represent potential link opportunities. Understanding where competitors get their best links helps you develop targeted outreach strategies.
Regularly audit your own backlink profile to identify potentially harmful links. Toxic backlinks from spammy websites can hurt your rankings. Our tool helps you spot suspicious links that might warrant inclusion in a Google Disavow file.
Find high-quality websites that accept guest posts by analyzing where industry leaders get their backlinks. If a competitor has received a link from a relevant blog, that blog might be open to guest contributions from other industry experts.
Identify broken outbound links on high-authority websites in your niche. By offering your content as a replacement for dead links, you can earn valuable backlinks while helping website owners improve their user experience.
Track new backlinks to monitor the success of PR campaigns, product launches, or content marketing initiatives. Seeing new links appear shortly after a press release or viral content piece confirms your marketing efforts are generating results.
Successful link building requires a strategic approach combining content creation, outreach, and relationship building. Creating high-quality, valuable content naturally attracts backlinks over time. This 'earned media' approach includes publishing original research, comprehensive guides, infographics, tools, and other resources that people want to reference and share.
Active outreach accelerates link acquisition. After publishing noteworthy content, reach out to relevant websites, bloggers, and journalists who might find it valuable. Personalized emails explaining why your content would benefit their audience yield better results than generic mass outreach.
Guest posting remains effective when done thoughtfully. Focus on writing genuinely helpful content for reputable publications rather than churning out low-quality articles just for links. One well-placed guest post on a high-authority site can be more valuable than dozens of posts on obscure blogs.
Digital PR involves getting featured in news articles, industry publications, and online magazines. Responding to journalist queries through services like HARO (Help A Reporter Out) can earn high-authority links from major news outlets. Product launches, company milestones, and original research make excellent hooks for media coverage.
While backlinks are valuable, pursuing them through manipulative tactics can result in severe penalties from search engines. Google's Penguin algorithm specifically targets websites engaging in link schemes, and penalties can result in significant ranking drops or even complete removal from search results.
Practices to avoid include buying or selling links that pass PageRank, excessive link exchanges, using automated programs to create links, and participating in private blog networks (PBNs). These tactics might provide short-term gains but carry substantial long-term risks.
Focus on building links naturally through valuable content and genuine relationships. If you've inherited a toxic backlink profile or made mistakes in the past, Google's Disavow Tool allows you to request that certain links be ignored when assessing your site. Use our backlinks checker to identify suspicious links that should be disavowed.
Our backlinks database is powered by DataForSEO, one of the most comprehensive SEO data providers in the industry. The database contains billions of backlinks indexed from across the web, covering domains of all sizes from small blogs to major enterprises.
For free users, we provide access to cached backlink data that's refreshed on a weekly basis. This is sufficient for most research purposes and allows unlimited queries without any cost. Registered users can spend credits to fetch real-time data directly from the API, ensuring access to the most current information when timing is critical.
Our data includes several key attributes for each backlink: the source domain and full URL, target URL, anchor text, link type (dofollow/nofollow), the Domain Rating of the referring domain, and the first-seen date. This comprehensive data set enables thorough analysis for both basic research and advanced SEO strategies.
Backlinks are incoming links from external websites to your domain. They're one of the most important ranking factors because search engines view them as votes of confidence. High-quality backlinks from authoritative, relevant websites signal to Google that your content is valuable and trustworthy, helping improve your search rankings.
Domain Rating is a metric that measures the strength of a website's backlink profile on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100. It's calculated by analyzing the quantity and quality of websites linking to a domain. A DR of 50+ indicates a strong backlink profile, while DR 70+ is considered excellent. Our tool displays DR for each referring domain.
Dofollow links pass 'link juice' or ranking credit to the target website, directly influencing SEO. Nofollow links include a rel='nofollow' attribute that tells search engines not to pass ranking credit. While nofollow links don't directly boost rankings, they still drive referral traffic and contribute to a natural, diverse backlink profile.
Our free tier uses cached data that's refreshed weekly, providing reasonably current information for most research needs. Registered users can spend credits to fetch real-time data directly from our premium API partner, ensuring access to the most up-to-date backlink information when timing is critical.
Click the 'Export CSV' button to download all backlink data. The exported file includes source domains, full URLs, anchor text, link types, Domain Ratings, and first-seen dates. You can import this data into spreadsheets like Excel or Google Sheets, or use it with other SEO tools.
Yes! Basic backlink analysis using cached data is completely free with no signup required. You can check unlimited domains and export results. For real-time data, advanced features, and the ability to track backlinks over time, we offer affordable credit packages for registered users.
There's no magic number—quality matters more than quantity. A website with 50 high-quality backlinks from authoritative domains can outrank a site with thousands of low-quality links. Focus on earning relevant, high-DR backlinks rather than pursuing volume. Our tool helps you identify which links provide the most value.
Absolutely! Competitor backlink analysis is one of the most valuable use cases. Enter any competitor domain to see where they're getting links, identify potential link opportunities for your own site, and understand their link building strategies. This information is invaluable for developing your own SEO strategy.
