How to check the backlinks of any website
For your own site, start with the free Links report in Google Search Console. For a competitor, use a backlink tool such as Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz or Majestic. Every source shows a sample, so here is what each one gives you and how to read it.
In short
- Google's Search Console help page says the Links report shows a sample of links, limits each table to 1,000 rows and lets you export up to 100,000 rows.
- Search Console only covers sites you have verified, so checking a competitor always means using a third-party backlink tool.
- Moz gives a free account 10 Link Explorer queries a month and Semrush gives a free account 10 queries a day, according to their own pages checked in October 2026.
- Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for sites you verify and shows up to 1,000 backlinks at once, according to Ahrefs' page in October 2026.
- Count referring domains before raw backlinks, because a hundred links from one site are still one site vouching for you.
There are two ways to see who links to a site. For a site you own, Google Search Console has a free Links report. For any other site, including competitors, you need a backlink tool such as Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz or Majestic, each of which crawls the web and keeps its own record of links.
Neither route gives you a full list. Google says its report is a sample, and every third-party tool only knows the pages its own crawler has visited. That is fine for most purposes. You are looking for patterns, not a perfect count.
Your own site: Google Search Console
Open Search Console, choose your property and click Links in the left menu. Google’s help page for the report, checked in October 2026, describes four tables:
- Top linked pages: which of your pages have the most links from other sites.
- Top linking sites: which websites link to you most.
- Top linking text: the most common anchor text used in links to you.
- Internal links: which of your pages your own site links to most.
The same help page sets out the limits. Each table is cut off at 1,000 rows. The export button gives you up to 100,000 rows, either as the most recently discovered links or as a wider sample. Google states plainly that the report shows a sample and “isn’t a comprehensive list”.
What the report does not show matters as much. There is no quality score, no date a link was lost, and no mark for whether a link is nofollow. It tells you that Google has seen a link. It does not tell you whether Google counts it.
Any site: third-party backlink tools
A backlink tool works like a small search engine. Its crawler follows links across the web, stores what it finds and lets you look up any domain or page. Because you do not need to own the site, this is how you check a competitor.
The usual steps are the same in every tool:
- Enter the domain, or a single page URL if you only care about that page.
- Open the referring domains report first. This lists each website that links at least once.
- Open the backlinks report to see the individual links, the linking page, the anchor and the target page.
- Filter by followed links, by date first seen, or by language, depending on your question.
- Check the new and lost reports to see what changed recently.
What the free versions give you
The limits below come from each company’s own pages, read in October 2026. They change often, so treat them as a snapshot. The sources are examples, listed in alphabetical order.
| Source | Cost | Whose site | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs free backlink checker | Free | Any site | Headline counts and a short list of the strongest links. The page did not state the exact cap when we checked |
| Ahrefs Webmaster Tools | Free | Verified sites only | Site Explorer data for your site, up to 1,000 backlinks visible at once |
| Google Search Console Links report | Free | Verified sites only | Sample of links, tables of 1,000 rows, export of up to 100,000 rows |
| Moz Link Explorer | Free account | Any site | 10 queries a month with a free Moz Community account |
| Semrush free account | Free | Any site | 10 queries a day across its research tools, including backlinks, according to a Semrush guide dated December 2025 |
| Paid plans | Subscription | Any site | Full reports, exports, history and alerts |
For a small site, Search Console plus Ahrefs Webmaster Tools covers your own links at no cost. Paid plans earn their price when you study competitors every week. Our Ahrefs desk review lists its current plans, and the backlink tools comparison sets the main tools side by side.
What to look at first
A backlink report is a long table. Five things in it answer most questions.
Referring domains, not raw links. One site can link to you from every page of its footer and produce thousands of backlinks. That is still one site. In Ahrefs’ study of one million keywords, published in January 2025, the number of referring domains tracked rankings slightly better than the raw number of backlinks.
Which pages get the links. Most sites find that the homepage and a few guides or tools hold nearly all of them. That tells you what people link to in your market.
Anchor text. A healthy list is mostly brand names, bare URLs and article titles. Rows of identical commercial keywords are a sign that links were placed, not earned.
Follow status. Links marked nofollow, sponsored or ugc are hints that Google may not count. Link attributes explains each one.
New and lost. A steady trickle of new referring domains is normal. So are losses: pages get deleted and sites close.
Checking a competitor
Run the same report on the two or three sites that outrank you. Three questions are worth answering.
First, how many referring domains do they have compared with you? This sets the rough size of the task. Second, which of their pages attract links? Those are formats you could match. Third, which sites link to several competitors but not to you? Those sites have shown they link to businesses like yours. Link gap analysis turns that third question into a prospect list.
Keep in mind that tools see less of some markets than others. Private networks often block third-party crawlers, so a competitor’s real profile can be larger than the report shows.
Three limits to remember
No tool sees everything. Each crawler covers a different part of the web, so two tools will report different totals for the same site on the same day.
A listed link is not a counted link. A link only has a chance of helping if Google has crawled and indexed the page it sits on. A third-party tool cannot tell you that for certain.
Authority scores are estimates. Domain Rating, Domain Authority and similar numbers are each vendor’s own calculation. What authority metrics measure explains what they can and cannot tell you.
One more caution: tools flag some links as “toxic”. Most odd-looking links from scraper sites are ignored by Google and need no action.
Where to go next
If you find links you earned that have since broken or vanished, link reclamation is usually the cheapest link work there is. To keep watching links over time instead of checking once, read how to track backlinks. Terms such as referring domain and anchor text are defined in the glossary.
Common questions
How do I check backlinks for free?
For your own site, use the Links report in Google Search Console and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, both free once you verify the site. For other sites, the free checkers from Ahrefs, Semrush and Moz show a limited sample.
Can I see a competitor's backlinks in Google Search Console?
No. Search Console only shows data for properties you have verified. To see who links to a competitor you need a third-party tool that crawls the web itself.
Why does Search Console show fewer links than Ahrefs or Semrush?
Google's help page says the Links report is a sample and is not a full list. Third-party tools run their own crawlers and keep their own indexes, so the counts never match.
How often should I check my backlinks?
A monthly look at new and lost referring domains is enough for most sites. Links you paid for or negotiated need closer checks in the first three months.
What is the difference between backlinks and referring domains?
A backlink is a single link. A referring domain is a website that links to you at least once. Ten links from one website are ten backlinks and one referring domain.
