4 Best Backlink Checker Tools and How to Use Them – Detailed Guides

You probably wouldn’t want to spend so much resource and time on link-building without ensuring it’s working. So, how do you check the fruit of your efforts?

Backlinks are one of the two major pillars of your SEO campaign (the other being your content). While checking your content is straightforward, doing so for backlinks is not so much.

Lucky for us, there are several backlink checker tools online to help us with it. You only need to identify the good ones among them. That is why we made this article today.

In this article, we will go into detail about backlink checker tools and suggest some of the best ones to make it worth every penny.

What Are Backlink Checker Tools?

As the name suggests, you can check your domain’s backlink profile using a backlink checker tool. However, things aren’t so simple. Some of them also let you track historical data.

Presenting the data as a graph makes it convenient for the site owner. It lets them know the performance of each backlink over a long time.

For example, the following is a link summary of a site from 07/26/2021 to 08/01/2021 on a link checker tool-

Image source: sitechecker.pro

Most backlink checker sites also contain various other tools to integrate many parts of SEO into one. As such, you can use one for your whole link-building project. Ahrefs is one example.

What to Check Before Choosing a Backlink Checker Tool?

You will find tons of backlink checker tools online with attractive user interfaces and so much more. Are they all worth it? Definitely not.

Not to mention, some of them come at a cost, so picking the most suitable one is mandatory for your SEO’s ROI. Let’s list down the factors that determine a good backlink profile checker tool-

• Accuracy of Data: You may check your site’s backlinks on several tools and find completely different data. The accuracy is one of the significant aspects you must consider when using a tool.

In that regard, popular ones such as Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz Pro, etc., are usually the safest options.

• Historical Data Tracking: As we explained before, you need to check your past backlink data to compare and track your progress. Top-tier backlink checker tool will give you that option.

Basically, they will start saving your backlink profile from the moment you first sign up for their service with your domain URL.

Every time you return to the tool, it will update the data and show you your progression as a graph, chart, or table.

Other normal trackers will only show you only your domain’s current DA and backlinks without saving them on the way.

• Competitor Backlink Analysis: This one is simple. The backlink checker tool must also let you check the backlink profiles of other websites to allow competitor analysis.
• Filters: You will find many filters on a good backlink checker tool, letting you narrow down your backlink list within a specific location, period, type, etc.

These features will prove to be useful more frequently than you may expect.

• Payment Options: Some backlink checkers will appear free, while others come at a cost. The latter usually provides better options and features.

If you want some quick checking during the initial phases of your link-building, a free tool will do.

Tools like Ahrefs have a free backlink checking option (like in the following image), while you can go for the premium version for a more thorough result.

• User Interface: Finally, the interface of the backlink checker should be comprehensive and easy to understand.

The navigation should be a smooth experience as you will spend a long time on these tools.

4 Best Backlink Checker Tools- Step-by-Step Guide

Here is our list of the best backlink checker tools in no particular order. It is often better to check your backlink profile on multiple tools if you are cautious about the result’s accuracy.

Ahrefs

Website: https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer

Cost:

The up-to-date nature of Ahrefs makes it one of the best. The site gets updated with new backlink data every 15 minutes. Not to mention, its web crawler count is second after Google.

Using the Ahrefs backlink checker tools is fairly easy once you are accustomed. Firstly, there is the free tool that we mentioned above. Then there is the premium option.

Here is how you can use Ahrefs premium version for backlink checking-

• Go to Ahrefs and their Site Explorer section.
• Sign up while providing your website’s information to let the tool track its backlink profile.
• Check the ‘Referring Domains.’

Referring domains are unique websites sending backlinks to your domain. As you can guess, the graph must show increases in referring domains over time.

This growth should be gradual and not sudden. Sudden growth may indicate spam or link farms linking to your domain, requiring inspection.

• Also, the quality of the links matter. Check the Domain Rating (DR) of each referring domain. You can check the DR of each in the ‘Backlink Report’ page within Ahrefs.

Most referring domains should have DR of at least 50 or higher. If you find too many ones with low DR, that may cause issues. Requesting the site owners to remove them is an option.

If that doesn’t work, then you can send a ‘disavow’ file to Google not to crawl these links. You can do that directly within Ahrefs. Otherwise, you can go to Google Search Console for it.

• While you are on the Backlink Report page, use the filter- ‘404 not found’ to find all the backlinks sent to pages in your site that don’t exist anymore or have been moved to a new URL.

In that case, you can redirect each link using the 301 redirect attribute.

• Next, check the ‘total backlink.’ It is the total number of all the backlinks to your site.

While most of them must be followed for a high link equity, a good chunk should be no-followed.

• Check ‘Best by Link’ and select ‘External Links’ at the top to find the pages in your domain attracting the most backlinks.

They need your maximum focus to eliminate any broken links.

• Finally, you can use the same methods as above to check the backlink profile of another site.

Although, you can’t make any disavowed request to Google for any backlink to that site for obvious reasons.

• You can also compare your competitor’s backlink profile with yours using Ahrefs’ ‘Batch Analysis’.

Semrush

Website: https://www.semrush.com/analytics/backlinks/?msockid=03c43c2641196b7b050b2f82406a6a11

Cost:

While not having as much web crawling as Google or Ahrefs, Semrush has one of the largest backlink databases online, if not the biggest. They have excellent features to help audit backlinks.

Here is how you can do it-

• Head to Semrush. Start a project with your domain URL.
• Select the ‘Backlink Audit’ tool on the left and click on the ‘Start backlink audit.’

• Check the toxicity level of your site. It should be low. Any higher than that, and you may need to identify the toxic backlinks and remove or disavow them.
• Also, check the referring domains, analyze backlinks (total number of backlinks), and the authority score.

The authority score refers to Domain Authority (DA), which is kind of the same as DR.

• You will find the ‘Audit’ tab on the navigation bar beside ‘Overview’. Click it next to get a detailed view of your backlink profile.

From here, you can check the anchor texts of the backlinks, the URLs of the linking sites, their authority, and toxicity score.

Like DA or DR, toxicity scores also range from 0-100. The higher it is, the worse.

• Use the ‘toxicity score’ filter above to limit it within 60-100. Use the ‘Remove’ button to add the linking sites with high toxicity scores to the remove list.

The remove button looks like a paper airplane.

• Next, go to the ‘Remove’ tab. You can add your email here.

• Write and send emails from within the tool itself requesting sites to remove the backlinks to your page.

If they ignore your emails, disavowing the backlinks is your next option. The disavow button looks like- Ø.

• Once you add enough sites to the disavow list, visit the ‘Disavow’ tab. Export the links in a .txt file. Then, import it to the ‘Google Disavow Tool.’

• Next, go to the ‘Link Building’ tool on the left side of the screen. Configure it.
• Select the ‘Prospect’ tab. Click on the ‘Lost backlinks.’

The links you see here are backlinks you used to have but were lost for various reasons like your page moving to a new URL.

You can use the 301 redirects here to direct the backlinks to the newly moved place. Otherwise, you may email the site owner to replace their backlink with another page you own.

• Afterward, go to the ‘Backlink Analytics’ tool on the left. Select ‘Indexed Pages.’

Here, you can see unique backlinks that each page on your site is getting. It also includes the referring domains.

• Check the pages with the highest backlinks and referring domains. It will give you the type of content in your site that gets the most attention. Now you know which content to focus more on.

• While you are in the ‘Backlink Analytics’ tool, select the overview tab. Here, you can add more root domains and compare your competitors with your site.

You can also use the ‘Bulk Analysis’ tool to do this and get a more detailed result.

While checking the backlinks sent to your site, don’t forget to notice whether they are followed or not. You can go to the ‘Backlink Analytics’ and use the ‘referring domains’ tab for this.

Simply use the filters above to check the followed or no-followed links.

Linkchecker Pro

Website: https://app.linkchecker.pro/links

Cost:

Linkchecker Pro is another convenient backlink checker tool, given its simplicity and pleasant visuals. The site gives you the vital information needed for your website’s link-building.

It is also one of the most cost-effective options among the paid backlink checker tools.

Let’s show you how to use Linkchecker Pro-

• Visit Linkchecker Pro and sign up.
• Select the ‘Links’ tool on the left. Then, create a project with your domain.
• Select the project from the list, and the tool will display your total backlink count, followed or no-followed ratio, and index ratio.

You will also find the list of anchor texts on the bottom of the charts.

• Select the content tab on the top right of the charts, and you can see the types of content you have on your site, such as articles, comments, infographics, etc.

• Click the tab with the graph symbol to get a graph with the link and index dynamics.

The first one shows the backlinks you got over time, and the second one is for the ones that were indexed.

• Scroll down a bit from any tab, and you will get a table of all the backlinks to your site.

• You can find advanced filter options above the table to pinpoint specific types of links.

As you can see, there are also options to import or export links from here directly.

You will also see a ‘Users’ filter. What’s up with that?

In Linkchecker Pro, each project can have several users. It helps you divide the link builders into several teams if needed. Moreover, you can also check the performance of each team here.

• Select the ‘Performance Review’ tab (the one with the symbol of two figures), and it will show you a graph of each team’s performance.

You can also turn on alerts and notifications on the tool to notify you when you get backlinks.

• Click on your profile in the top right corner and select ‘Account Settings.’
• Scroll down, and you will see the ‘Alert’ section.
• Toggle on the ‘Email Alert’ or ‘Telegram Alert’ as you see fit.

• Next, go to the ‘Report’ tool from the left of the screen. Scroll down a bit, and you will get a table full of error backlinks or toxic links to your site.

Focus on them and fix them as soon as possible. If needed, remove or disavow them.

If you want to make a competitor analysis and compare them with your domain, you can use the ‘Batch Analysis’ tool on the left.

• Go to the ‘Batch Analysis’ tool and select ‘New Analysis.’
• Then toggle the various filters on/off as necessary. Add all the domain links in the blank table below.
• Click ‘Analyze’.

• Select the newly created batch analysis, and you will find a table full of data of all the domains you have added.

There are various other tools in Linkchecker Pro that you can use. We suggest you check them as necessary to grasp the full thing.

Google Search Console

Website: https://search.google.com/search-console/welcome

Cost: Free

Google Search Console obviously has the highest number of crawlers online. So, you can rest assured that the information you find here is up-to-date and accurate.

Here is how to use it to check backlinks-

• Go to Google Search Console and sign up with your domain. Verify your property (website).

• Select the property.
• Click ‘Links’ from the side.

• Select ‘Top Linking Sites.’

These are the websites that link to your domain the most. It doesn’t necessarily mean they have high DA or DR. They just sent you the most backlinks.

• Select ‘Top Linking Text.’

You will find a list of the anchor texts others used the most when linking to your site.

It is important since having any specific anchor text used too many times is a red flag by Google’s Anchor Text Guidelines.

If you find one like that, sending emails to the appropriate linking site owners to use different anchor texts may solve the problem.

• Select ‘Top Linked Pages’.
• Check it for both internal links and external links.

Here, the ‘top linked pages’ with external links on the left are pages that got the highest backlinks.

Meanwhile, the ‘top linked pages’ with internal links on the right are pages that received the highest links from another page in your domain. They are not backlinks, but still necessary.

If you find any toxic links or link spam, then disavow it using Google Search Console. We have already mentioned how earlier.

Unfortunately, you can’t run competitor backlink analysis using Google Search Console. On the good side, the tool is free and suitable for quick backlink checking.

Is Backlink Checking Still Necessary in the Mid-20s?

Given the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) generated results and voice searches, backlink checking has become even more relevant.

You need to ensure that the backlinks you are getting are from sites with high DA since Google is becoming more sensitive about it.

Of course, you also need to focus on on-site SEO, too. On-site SEO is becoming more essential by Google’s standard policies.

However, that doesn’t mean that off-site SEO methods, like backlinks, have gone out of usefulness. Rather, they are more necessary in order to keep up with the race.

Simply getting backlinks doesn’t suffice now. The links must be relevant and of high quality. Moreover, the anchor texts mustn’t be too generic either.

If you want to ensure all these, backlink checking once a week is almost mandatory.

Musfiqur Memo

Hey, I'm Musfiqur Memo, founder of RankPa.com. I've been dedicated to boosting businesses through specialized SEO and link building services, propelling your online success.