By the top of this information, you’ll know tips on how to analyze your individual web site’s backlinks (hyperlinks from different web sites pointing to your web site), tips on how to discover competitor backlinks, and tips on how to discover new backlink alternatives.
Why Backlinks Matter
Backlinks from respected, related web sites sign to engines like google that your content material is reliable. And that may enhance your probabilities of rating greater in search outcomes and attracting extra site visitors.
In our 2024 Rating Components research, we discovered that 8 out of the highest 20 components with the strongest correlation to rating are associated to backlinks.
And whereas some top-ranking pages we analyzed had 1000’s of backlinks, the median variety of backlinks for top-ranking pages is barely 13. Which implies you don’t essentially want 1000’s of backlinks to rank extremely.
5 Methods to Discover Backlinks
The under instruments assist you discover backlinks to your web site—and a few choices allow you to discover backlinks to any web site.
1. Google Search Console
Google Search Console helps you discover which websites hyperlink to you together with helpful info just like the anchor textual content (the clickable a part of hyperlink) they use and what number of hyperlinks level to every web page in your web site.
Right here’s tips on how to discover backlinks on your web site with Google Search Console:
- Check in to your Google Search Console account
- Click on “Hyperlinks” within the left-hand navigation menu
- Evaluation the “Exterior hyperlinks” studies
- Click on “Extra >” to drill into particular studies
The particular studies you may click on into are:
- High linked pages: Reveals which pages in your web site have probably the most backlinks and what number of distinctive domains hyperlink to every one. So you may spot which pages are most engaging and the place you would possibly must construct extra hyperlinks.
- High linking websites: Lists the domains that hyperlink to your web site most often. Which reveals your strongest backlink sources and helps you consider the standard and breadth of referring domains.
- High linking textual content: Shows probably the most generally used anchor textual content in backlinks to your web site. So you may monitor for selection, relevance, and potential over-optimization (over-optimized anchor textual content is an overuse of the key phrases you need to rank for, which may seem unnatural to engines like google).
To export all of your backlinks, click on “Export Exterior Hyperlinks” and choose “Extra pattern hyperlinks” to export all backlinks. Or “Newest hyperlinks” to export your latest backlinks.
You can too export any of the person studies.
Google Search Console is beneficial while you want a fast take a look at your backlinks. And it received’t result in information overwhelm.
2. Semrush Backlink Analytics
Semrush’s Backlink Analytics instrument attracts on a database of greater than 43 trillion hyperlinks to allow you to discover your web site’s backlinks and competing websites’ backlinks.
First, enter your area (or a rival’s) and click on “Analyze.”
You’ll then see a high-level overview of that area’s hyperlink profile, like Authority Rating—a rating from 0 to 100 that measures your web site’s search engine optimization high quality. Websites with greater scores have a greater probability at rating greater.
You can too view the variety of referring domains (what number of domains hyperlink to not less than one web page in your web site). And a community graph. So you may perceive the relevance of your backlinks.
For an in depth take a look at the positioning’s particular person backlinks, go to the “Backlinks” tab.
You’ll see insights for every hyperlink just like the web page’s Authority Rating, anchor textual content, and hyperlink attributes (further details about a hyperlink).
Backlinks from related websites with excessive Authority Scores may be extra priceless than these from websites with low scores. However hyperlinks from high-authority websites will also be more durable to get.
3. Bing Webmaster Instruments
Bing Webmaster Instruments enables you to see your web site’s backlinks and means that you can evaluate your self with as much as two different websites.
Create and configure your Bing Webmaster Instruments account should you haven’t. After which head to your dashboard.
Click on “Backlinks” to see the domains that hyperlink to you, the pages that hyperlink to you, and the anchor textual content websites use.
Clicking “Obtain all” downloads the chosen report as a CSV file.
Click on “Backlinks To Any Website” to view the identical info for as much as two different websites.
Lastly, click on “View detailed report” for one of many studies.
Choose “Add filter” to filter the info.
For instance, within the “High Referring Domains” report, you may filter information to solely present domains that hyperlink to your entered rivals and never you.
4. Backlink Audit
Semrush’s Backlink Audit instrument analyzes the standard of your web site’s backlinks, so you recognize which forms of backlinks your web site might must carry out higher in search outcomes.
To get began, configure an audit for the Backlink Audit instrument.
The “Overview” tab provides you info on the variety of backlinks you could have. Together with what share are comply with versus nofollow.
Nofollow hyperlinks probably don’t cross authority to your pages. Wholesome backlink profiles have each nofollow and comply with hyperlinks.
As an example this, we reviewed the highest 100 web sites from Semrush Rank in June 2025. On common, we discovered that 71% of the backlinks have been comply with. And 29% have been nofollow.
When you’ve got a lot of nofollow hyperlinks, you’ll probably need to spend time getting comply with hyperlinks.
You can too assessment your backlinks’ anchor textual content (clickable hyperlink textual content).
Scroll right down to the “Backlinks by Anchor Sort” and click on “View full report.”
You’ll get an inventory of all of your backlinks with their anchor textual content. Ideally, you’ll have a mixture of completely different anchor textual content. As diverse anchor textual content usually signifies pure backlink profiles.
5. Various Free Backlink Checkers
When you’re utilizing free instruments like Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Instruments, it is value working your web site by means of just a few further backlink checkers that may uncover additional information. To present you a extra full view of your backlink profile.
Listed below are 4 different free backlink checkers to discover:
- search engine optimization Evaluation Instruments has a backlink checker that exhibits you high backlinks, misplaced backlinks, and new backlinks
- Linkody has a backlink instrument that exhibits you as much as 100 referring domains with anchor textual content and comply with/nofollow attributes
- SEOptimer has a backlink checker that exhibits a abstract of your backlink profile and your high 10 backlinks
- seobility presents a instrument that exhibits a complete record of your web site’s backlinks (restricted to 3 checks per day)
3 Methods to Discover New Backlinks for Your Website
After accumulating information in your web site’s backlinks and your competitor’s backlinks, you may give attention to discovering new backlink alternatives by means of hyperlink hole analyses, damaged hyperlinks, and misplaced backlinks.
1. Carry out a Competitor Hyperlink Hole Evaluation
A competitor hyperlink hole refers to backlinks your rivals have that your web site does not have. And these hyperlinks may be priceless alternatives—if a web site is already linking to related content material, there’s probability they’d take into account linking to yours as nicely.
Go to Semrush’s Backlink Hole instrument, enter your area and as much as 4 competing domains, and click on “Discover prospects.”
The ensuing report enables you to type domains utilizing six tabs:
- Greatest: Domains pointing to all entered rivals however to not you
- Weak: Domains that time to you lower than your entered rivals
- Sturdy: Domains that time solely to you and to not any entered rivals
- Shared: Domains that time to each you and all entered rivals
- Distinctive: Domains that time to just one entered area
- All: All linking domains discovered
Take note of the “Greatest” tab. As these are the domains that don’t presently hyperlink to you however are probably prepared to.
Use the checkboxes to examine off websites you’d like hyperlinks from. Prioritize related websites with excessive Authority Scores.
Then click on “+ Begin outreach.”
Clicking this button sends prospects to the Hyperlink Constructing Instrument. The place you may observe your outreach efforts. (We’ll present you ways to do that later.)
2. Discover Damaged Hyperlinks
Damaged hyperlink constructing is while you discover webpages with hyperlinks that don’t work and counsel a related web page of yours to interchange the damaged hyperlink.
Discover damaged hyperlinks to a competitor’s web site by going to the “Listed Pages” report in Backlink Analytics and checking the field subsequent to “Damaged Pages.”
Then, click on the quantity within the “Backlinks” column subsequent to a web page.
You’ll see the precise pages that hyperlink to the required web page. Together with which web page the hyperlink is from and the hyperlink’s anchor textual content.
Evaluation the websites and see should you can attain out to them with a working web page they will hyperlink to as an alternative of your competitor’s web page. Prioritize your outreach efforts by reaching out to websites with the very best Web page Authority Rating.
3. Discover Misplaced Backlinks
Misplaced backlinks are hyperlinks your web site used to have you can attempt to get better to take care of your web site’s search engine optimization.
Within the “Backlinks” tab inside Backlink Analytics, click on “Misplaced and Very important” to get an inventory of high-priority backlinks to earn again.
To strive recovering misplaced backlinks:
- Evaluation the supply web page to know why you misplaced the hyperlink (e.g., is your content material outdated?)
- See when you have any up to date or related items of content material the web page can hyperlink to. And even have a look to see whether or not the web page was not too long ago up to date.
- Contact the positioning proprietor and ask them to hyperlink to your web site once more
Michelle Symonds, Founder and Managing Director at search engine optimization company Ditto Digital, seen a sluggish, regular drop in search visibility throughout some vital weblog posts when working a content material audit for a consumer. And suspected misplaced backlinks have been inflicting the drop in rankings.
“Probably the greatest options of Backlink Analytics is seeing which hyperlinks have been misplaced resulting from one other web site’s construction adjustments—not elimination. We discovered just a few high-authority placements, primarily from visitor posts and associate round-ups, the place the linking web site had redesigned or shifted content material. The hyperlinks weren’t deleted maliciously, they’d simply damaged quietly.”
She notes that primarily based on inner information, her workforce is normally capable of reclaim roughly 50% of misplaced backlinks resulting from web site construction adjustments.
To examine which backlinks have been probably misplaced to web site construction adjustments (for instance, a web site removes a web page that had a backlink), Michelle used the “+ Add filter” possibility, chosen “Misplaced points,” and checked the field subsequent to “Web page redirect.”
It is a nice method as a result of shedding a large variety of backlinks over time might affect your site visitors and rankings.
Streamline Constructing Backlinks by Automating Your Outreach
Automating your outreach helps you safe extra backlinks in much less time.
Semrush’s Hyperlink Constructing Instrument has built-in workflows to simplify discovering contacts and sending outreach emails—so you may keep organized and work extra effectively.
Open your challenge after configuring the Hyperlink Constructing Instrument and click on “Prospects” to see an inventory of potential backlink alternatives.
Undergo the record and click on “To In Progress” subsequent to any hyperlink you’d like to amass.
Whenever you’re finished, click on the “In Progress” tab to see the complete record of internet sites you’d like backlinks from.
Click on the blue “Contact” button subsequent to a given prospect to draft and ship your outreach e mail.
An e mail editor will open the place you may ask for a backlink. Which works finest while you:
- Supply a high-quality, related piece of content material
- Preserve your e mail temporary and well mannered
- Tailor your e mail to the recipient so it doesn’t sound such as you’re utilizing a template for mass outreach
Then, you may simply ship your emails and monitor your progress inside the instrument.
Need to strive constructing backlinks to your web site?
Attempt Semrush’s Hyperlink Constructing Instrument at this time.
