FREE Backlink Checker

A strong backlink profile is important for organic growth. It’s the one constant that hasn’t changed all that much despite SEO evolving significantly in the past few years. 

This free backlink tool helps you perform a quick analysis of any domain’s backlinks. I also find it useful for evaluating the quality of a link prospect. 

Start by entering your domain name in the form at the top of this page, then hit "Analyze".

In the results, you’ll immediately see some metrics about your site, including:

• Authority score
• Total referring domains
• Number of backlinks
• Number of referring IPs

Next, scroll down to see the actual backlinks that your site has including the anchor text, follow status, and score.

Links that are marked “dofollow” are passing authority from the referring site. From a search engine perspective, those backlinks are like endorsements from their site to yours. So they hold great importance for improving your overall rankings.

You can dive deeper to uncover powerful backlink data by signup up for a free Semrush account.

While the free tool only shows you a brief snapshot, you can still use it to obtain valuable info about your website’s backlink profile.

Here are some practical use cases where I find using this tool quite helpful (especially when I’m on the go without immediate access to a full SEO tool). 

Use Case 1: Gauging Your Domain vs Competitors 

Everything in SEO is relative. There’s no perfect Authority Score. What really matters is how you’re positioned in relation to your direct competitors.

The backlink analyzer at the top of this page is great for taking a peek into your competitor’s key backlink metrics.

First, take note of your authority score, referring domains, backlinks, and referring IPs. Then repeat the process for a few of your competitors. 

If all of your direct competitors have:

• Higher authority score
• Significantly more backlinks and referring domains

Then you’ve got work to do. 

In my experience, on-page optimization can get you far, but it needs support from off-page signals as well. 

So how do you do that? By acquiring high-quality backlinks. 

For continued progress, you need to be able to compete on equal ground. That’s only possible if you’re matching the Authority Score and have a comparable amount of backlinks to your immediate competitors. 

Use Case 2: Checking Ranking Potential for Difficult Keywords

The Authority Score metric can help you make an educated guess about the keywords your website can rank for with relative ease.

In my opinion, it’s sensible to approach any SEO project by prioritizing your low competition keywords and go after the easier wins. 

This is especially true when your Authority Score is on the low side. If you pick difficult keywords to optimize for first, there’s a good chance you’ll struggle to rank at the top without building a good amount of strong backlinks at the same time. 

For websites in the medium-to-high range of Authority Scores (so at least 50), there’s more leeway. You can target more difficult keywords (medium to high) and expect improvements to your search engine positioning. 

So when you’re running through your list of keywords to optimize your content for, this simple Authority Score check is a great place to start.

Use Case 3: Evaluating Backlink Opportunities

The Authority Score is a good indicator of the quality of a website. You can use this score to inform your decisions about whether you should be procuring a link from a website.

To do this, enter the website that you’re interested in acquiring a link from. You can repeat this for a bunch of websites and shortlist the ones with higher Authority Scores.

Links from stronger domains are more impactful. But I strongly recommend performing due diligence for every link you’re considering. 

The Semrush referral network graph works wonders for weighing the overall quality and relevance of a domain's backlinks.

You can use the backlink analyzer along with our free website authority checker for a deeper analysis and obtain a snapshot of organic traffic, top ranking keywords and pages.

With that information, you can determine relevance and organic performance of the linking domain to ensure your backlinks produce the desired impact.

Why Do I Need High-Quality Backlinks?

When reputable websites link to your content, it sends a clear signal that your information is valuable and trustworthy.

A backlink from a respected website carries the most weight.

Imagine the local diner getting recommended by a renowned chef in a national publication. That’s more likely to attract more customers than word of mouth from a neighbor.

High-quality backlinks are invaluable because they:

• Improve your search engine positioning: Google and other search engines view relevant backlinks as a vote of confidence. They boost your website's credibility, which improves rankings.
• Drive referral traffic: Backlinks attract relevant users to your content. This can increase engagement, shares, and conversions about the content.
• Enhance discoverability and crawling: When you post content, you want it seen right away. Having more backlinks makes it easier for Google and other search engines to find and crawl new and updated content.

But most importantly, generating high-quality backlinks is one of the strongest mechanisms for improving your domain's Authority Score.

The Authority Score, in turn, has a direct correlation with rankings. In a Semrush's study on Google ranking factors, this relationship was pretty clear as many top-ranking pages were found to belong to websites with healthy Authority Scores.

Not All Backlinks Are Equal

All backlinks can drive referral traffic and increase visibility. However, not all backlinks will provide SEO value.

Focus on getting high-quality, relevant backlinks. These should come from trusted websites.

Backlinks from high-authority domains are the most effective in enhancing your online presence and achieving your marketing goals.

Also, consider the "Follow" column in our free backlink backer. Some links include a “rel=” (short for relationship) attribute in the link’s HTML code that tells search engines to ignore it for SEO purposes.

The rel= attribute can provide more specific information depending on its value:

• nofollow – Don’t follow the link.
• sponsored – This link goes to an affiliate website or some other sponsored page.
• ugc – The link points to user generated content.

One sign of a natural backlink profile is having a good mix of nofollow and "follow" links. Make sure 

Try Top Backlink Tools

Now that you understand backlinks, it’s time to develop a strategy to get more.

Here are some link building tools that I use to build backlinks.

Backlink Analytics

Semrush's Backlink Analytics tool lets you see the backlink profile of any website.

You can analyze:

• Referring domains
• Anchor text (i.e., the text of the link)
• Authority score for each website

It's similar to our free backlink checker at the top of this page. But the data is more detailed.

It offers a goldmine of information if you're looking to find new backlink opportunities for your own site.

Backlink Audit

Semrush's Backlink Audit tool identifies broken backlinks so you can fix them and reclaim that lost link juice. 

The tool provides a wealth of information you can dig into about linking sites and specific links.

If you spot a broken link, simply reach out to the website owner and ask them to update the link.

Getting backlinks from authoritative sites is great, but getting backlinks from spammy or untrustworthy sites can negatively affect SEO. The tool also assesses the overall health of your backlink profile and identifies potentially toxic links.

Once you identify them, you can disavow toxic backlinks so they don’t pull your website lower in the search engine results. 

Backlink Gaps

The Backlink Gap tool compares your backlink profile to competitors and reveals websites that are linking to your competition, but not to you.

Simply add your main website in the first field. Then, add up to three competitors.

You’ll get a report with a list of prospective websites. Then, you can start reaching out to ask for links.

Link Building Tool

The Link Building Tool provides a list of backlink prospects and lets you reach out to them directly within the platform.

You can track your progress, manage contacts, and even personalize your outreach emails.

Once you have a full understanding, you can try:

• Guest Blogging: Writing blog posts for other websites in your industry will help you to get links.
• Creating Infographics: Infographics are visually appealing and shareable. They're likely to attract links from other websites.
• Public Relations and Promotion: Mention in news articles and press releases are often accompanied by links.
• Participating in Communities: Answering questions in forums and comment sections is a great way to get natural backlinks.

Get Full Backlink Analysis with Semrush

With Semrush, you'll increase your chances of acquiring high-quality backlinks. And these links will play a critical role in driving your website’s success.

After you've tried our free backlink checker, sign up for a free Semrush account to continue your backlink analysis.