Who Links to My Site? How to Find and Analyze Backlinks

Knowing who links to your website is an indispensable measurement successful gathering authority. 

Why? 

Because hunt engines similar Google usage backlinks, a nexus to your website from another, successful their ranking algorithms. When high-quality sites nexus to yours, it signals that your tract is besides high-quality.

The much prime backlinks you have, the much apt Google is to fertile your webpages highly. Plus, links from aggregate domains bespeak your tract is trusted by galore others successful your industry.

Here’s however to find retired who links to your tract and however to amended your backlink profile. 

How to Find Who Links to Your Site

You tin usage the pursuing tools to observe who is linking to your site: 

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is simply a escaped level that gives you entree to cardinal SEO information astir your website—including who is linking to your site.

If you don’t person an relationship yet, you’ll request to acceptable 1 up. Once you verify your website property, Search Console volition commencement tracking backlinks. 

To spot your backlinks, navigate to Search Console > “Links” > “External links” > “Top linked pages”

There, you’ll find cardinal accusation astir your website’s backlink profile. Like the following:

Look astatine the conception labeled “Top linking sites.” Then, click “More.”

The fig astatine the apical of the leafage is your website’s full fig of backlinks (that Google has detected). Beneath that is simply a database of websites linking to your domain property.

If you are unfamiliar with a website successful the list, you whitethorn privation to reappraisal its quality. 

Click the arrow adjacent to the domain. It volition unfastened the linking URL successful your web browser. 

Or, if you privation much details astir the linking site, click anyplace connected the domain name.

 There you’ll see:

• Total links from the basal domain
• How galore pages connected your website are linked to from the domain
• Page URLs connected your website linked from the domain

For example, the beneath website has 11 backlinks from the website site#1.com. Those links each constituent to the aforesaid page.

You tin repetition this process for nevertheless galore linking sites are connected your list.

And you tin usage Google Search Console to spot whenever a caller website links to yours.

Semrush Backlink Audit

Another mode to find and analyse backlinks is to usage Semrush’s Backlink Audit.

First, navigate to “Link Building” > “Backlink Audit.”

Click “Create project.” 

Enter your homepage URL, sanction the task (if desired), and click “Create project.”

You’ll request to specify immoderate settings for your audit. Start by selecting which mentation of your domain you privation to audit.

 Then, click “Brand settings.”

Specify immoderate marque names associated with your website. Then, click “Domain categories.”

Choose your website’s superior taxable categories. Then, click “Target countries.”

Next, prime the people countries wherever you privation your website to look successful hunt results. Then, click “Start Backlink Audit.” 

Once your audit is complete, you’ll beryllium notified via email. Click “Go to Backlink Audit” to unfastened your report.

If you enactment successful the dashboard, hold for your audit to complete. Then, click “View.”

There are 2 ways to spot who is linking to your site. The archetypal is successful the “Analyzed Backlinks” conception of your report. That fig is the full fig of backlinks identified successful the audit.

For example, the website beneath has 33,700 backlinks.

Click connected the bluish fig to unfastened a implicit database of your backlinks. Then, prime the “Domain” tab. Each backlink volition beryllium labeled with the rubric tag of the leafage wherever it appears. 

Look astatine the bolded substance adjacent to the connection “Source.” That is the website wherever the nexus is located.

You tin besides usage “Referring Domains” connected your dashboard to spot who links to your website. The bluish fig is the full fig of websites linking to yours. 

For example, the website beneath has 6,100 websites linking to it.

Click connected the bluish fig to unfastened a implicit database of your Referring Domains. 

Like before, the website wherever the nexus is located volition look successful bold.

Unlike Google Search Console, Semrush provides further accusation astir your linking sites. 

Here’s what you tin larn utilizing Backlink Audit: 

• The linking website’s Authority Score, a Semrush metric that estimates the authorization of a website
• The linking website’s Toxicity Score, a Semrush metric that estimates the imaginable harmfulness of a website to your SEO based connected spam factors
• The root page: the URL of the leafage wherever the nexus is located
• The benignant of backlink (e.g., text, image, etc.)
• The anchor text: the clickable substance that forms the hyperlink
• Possible actions based connected the link’s prime (e.g., “Move to Whitelist,” “Move to Remove,” etc.)

You tin usage the supra accusation to measure the prime of your linking sites. 

And to cognize whether they’re helping oregon harming your SEO.

How to Find Who Links to a Specific Page

Want to spot who links to a circumstantial leafage connected your website? Use Backlink Analytics.

Enter the afloat leafage URL into the hunt bar. Then, click “Analyze.”

The study volition lone amusement information for the circumstantial leafage alternatively than backlink information for your full website.

Look astatine the bluish fig beneath “Referring Domains.” That is the fig of websites linking to the page. 

For example, 210 websites (referring domains) are linking to this URL. 

Click connected the bluish fig to spot what those websites are.

You tin signifier the show by the highest-quality oregon lowest-quality websites by clicking connected the “AS” (Authority Score) filter successful the archetypal file of the table:

To spot much details astir your backlinks, look astatine the Backlinks column. The fig displayed is the full fig of backlinks from the domain. 

Click connected the arrow to the near of the fig to grow the row.

How to Find Who Links to Your Competitors (or Any Site)

You tin besides usage Backlink Analytics to spot who links to your competitors’ websites.

Enter your competitor’s URL. Then, click “Analyze.”

Click the bluish fig nether “Referring Domains.”

You’ll spot a database of the websites linking to your competitors. 

The fig successful the “Backlinks” file is the fig of links your rival has from the linking website. Click the arrow to the near of the fig to grow the row.

You’ll spot the following:

• Page URL: afloat leafage URL of the linking page 
• Anchor text: the substance that forms the clickable hyperlink
• Link type: text, image, etc.
• Dates: including erstwhile the nexus was archetypal and past seen

If the nexus is nary longer live, it volition beryllium marked arsenic “Lost.” The day successful the “Last Seen” file volition beryllium displayed successful red.

This accusation tin payment you successful a fewer ways:

• Give you ideas for websites you whitethorn privation to scope retired to for nexus building
• See what types of contented oregon topics gain much backlinks
• See whether the nexus is unrecorded oregon has been removed
• See what anchor text radical usage to nexus to your competitors (Search engines tin usage anchor substance to recognize the contented of the linked-to page.)

You tin besides bash a nonstop examination of your backlink illustration to your competitors utilizing Backlink Gap.

Enter your homepage URL into the archetypal substance barroom adjacent to “You.” 

Then, adhd your competitor’s homepage URL into the 2nd substance bar. 

Or prime 1 of the competitors Semrush suggests. Hover your cursor implicit the substance container to spot a database of imaginable competitors.

Enter astatine slightest 1 competitor, past click “Find prospects.”

You tin comparison your backlink illustration with up to 4 competing websites. 

The “Backlink Gap” study volition amusement you a examination chart. Look astatine the archetypal file titled “Referring Domain.” These are the websites linking to your competitors but not your website. 

For example, cambridge.org is linking to each 4 competitors included successful this “Backlink Gap” report. 

Cambridge.org could beryllium worthy targeting done nexus gathering oregon integer PR outreach. Because they are funny successful akin taxable areas. And are consenting to see links to applicable content.

To presumption however galore links a rival has from a referring domain, look astatine the fig underneath the file with their name. 

To spot much details astir those links, click the arrow to the near of the number.

The enactment volition grow to show:

• The root leafage Authority Score
• The root leafage rubric and URL
• External links connected the root page
• Internal links connected the root page
• Anchor substance of the link
• Target URL of the nexus (your competitor’s page)

There are a fewer ways you tin leverage the accusation recovered successful Backlink Gap.

First, if you person a akin portion of contented to your competitor’s, past the root website whitethorn besides beryllium funny successful linking to your content.

To scope retired to a circumstantial website, cheque the container to the near of the referring domain. Check arsenic galore boxes arsenic you want. Then, click “+ Start outreach.”

Select the task you’re moving on, past click “Send prospects.”

This volition nonstop those prospects to the Link Building Tool. You tin usage it to find the email addresses of your nexus prospects and to scope out. (See much astir the instrumentality below.)

If you don’t person a akin portion of contented connected your website, you whitethorn privation to see creating one. As agelong arsenic it is applicable to your website’s taxable areas. And brings worth to your people audience.

You tin usage the SEO Content Template to get ideas for akin content. Once that contented is unrecorded connected your website, you tin scope retired to the websites listed successful the “Backlink Gap” report.

How to Improve Your Website’s Backlink Profile

Improving your backlink illustration involves getting much backlinks from high-quality websites.

Here’s however to bash it.

1. Create Link-Worthy Content

Having tons of high-quality contented connected your website gives different websites much reasons to nexus to you.

This benignant of contented is often called “link bait.” Because the contented is truthful valuable, it’s casual to get different webmasters to nexus to it.

Some communal qualities of bully nexus bait include:

• Relevant to your people audience
• Meets search intent (i.e., the existent intent of the user’s search, whether buying a product, getting much information, etc.)
• Includes data, statistics, interviews, oregon surveys
• Meets an contiguous request (e.g., adjuvant tools)
• Provides actionable insights
• Includes high-quality visuals

For example, instrumentality this adjuvant owe complaint calculator from bankrate.com. 

It has implicit 303,000 backlinks.

Or our database of content selling statistics: 

Which has implicit 9,400 backlinks.

There are galore ways to make nexus bait connected your website.

For example, keyword and rival probe volition assistance you spot what benignant of contented performs good successful your industry. This tin supply you with inspiration for caller contented ideas. 

Depending connected what you privation to create, you whitethorn request assorted resources similar graphic design, web development, nationalist relations, and more. 

But high-quality, evergreen content tin beryllium worthy the effort due to the fact that it tin assistance you physique links passim each year. 

To get your contented successful beforehand of much people, it tin beryllium adjuvant to scope retired to sites directly. The Link Building Tool tin link you with websites that whitethorn beryllium funny successful linking to your content.

Go to “Link Building” > “Link Building Tool.”

Enter your homepage URL. Then click “Start Link Building.”

Next, adhd keywords you privation your domain to fertile for. The instrumentality volition populate with suggestions, but you tin adhd your ain by entering 1 keyword per enactment and clicking “Add.” 

Adding keywords is important, arsenic it helps the instrumentality place bully nexus prospects that are topically applicable to your website.

When you person each of your keywords included, click “Keywords.”

Next, adhd the homepage URL of up to 10 competitors.

The instrumentality volition populate with suggestions, but you tin adhd your ain utilizing the aforesaid process outlined above. Adding competitors volition assistance the instrumentality suggest akin websites for your outreach.

When you’re done, click “Start Link Building.”

When your study is ready, click “View prospects.”

You’ll get a database of websites that whitethorn beryllium bully prospects for link building.

Pay attraction to prospects with a precocious Authority Score and a precocious Rating. They are apt high-quality prospects for your outreach. 

You tin click the arrow to the near of the Rating people to grow the enactment and spot much prime indicators.

Pay attraction to:

• Backlinks: Prospects with much backlinks are often much authoritative
• Keywords and Traffic: Prospects with bully SEO metrics are apt much high-quality
• Common categories: Prospects with topical relevance to yours are often much valuable
• Competitors backlinks: Prospects that person linked to your competitors whitethorn beryllium much consenting to nexus to your content

If you privation to scope out, click “To In Progress” to adhd the imaginable to an outreach list.

Once you’re done adding prospects, click the “In Progress” tab. Now, you tin usage your database to scope retired to webmasters.

To email a nexus prospect, click “Contact” oregon “# emails” located successful the “Email” column. The “To” tract volition auto-populate with the email addresses the instrumentality found. If you privation to adhd oregon region any, bash truthful earlier sending.

You tin commencement drafting your transportation from there.

You tin besides probe the champion idiosyncratic to scope retired to for a linking opportunity. You tin often find interaction accusation connected the “About Us” pages of your people websites. Or connected societal media illustration pages similar LinkedIn.

Remember that a bully link-building outreach email volition usually:

• Introduce yourself and your website
• Reference wherefore a concern interests you (e.g., the website’s taxable areas, reputation, oregon quality)
• Include a nexus to a high-quality contented plus that could bring worth to their people audience
• Thank them for their clip and consideration 

You tin repetition this process for each of the prospects you person marked “In Progress.” 

Remember: The much coagulated pitches you send, the much chances you person of earning links.

Further reading: Link-Building Strategies: 8 Ways to Build Links

3. Monitor Your Website’s Toxicity Score

The “Toxicity Score” successful your Backlink Audit shows the percent of your backlinks that travel from non-toxic, perchance toxic, oregon toxic websites. 

You should purpose for a debased Toxicity Score. A precocious people tin awesome that excessively galore of your backlinks are located connected low-quality websites. Like the website below.

“Toxic” websites whitethorn see non-indexed websites, spammy websites, oregon those with malware oregon viruses.

If you’re not definite wherefore a website that links to yours is labeled toxic, instrumentality to your database of Referring Domains successful the Backlink Audit report.

Then, click the fig located successful the “TS” column.

You’ll spot a database of the toxicity markers identified connected the linking website. 

These markers are included due to the fact that they person been specifically mentioned by Google arsenic signs of low-quality, untrustworthy websites.

This means these backlinks could beryllium harming your SEO. 

Here are a fewer ways you tin little your Toxicity Score:

• Acquire much backlinks from high-quality websites
• Submit a petition to the webmaster to region immoderate toxic links
• Determine whether you request to disavow toxic links. (Note: This should beryllium done arsenic a past resort, and lone by idiosyncratic with acquisition utilizing Google’s disavow tool.)

Start Tracking Your Backlinks Today

Earning backlinks from high-quality websites tin beryllium enormously beneficial to the integrated ranking imaginable of your webpages. 

And knowing who links to your tract tin besides assistance you support a steadfast backlink profile. And observe caller linking opportunities.

To recap, you tin usage the pursuing tools to execute the strategies outlined above.

• Backlink Audit to spot what websites nexus to yours
• Backlink Analytics to spot who links to immoderate website
• Backlink Gap to comparison your linking websites with your competitors
• Link Building Tool to place people websites for nexus gathering outreach

Regularly tracking your linking sites tin assistance you ne'er miss an issue—or an opportunity.