Learning how to check backlinks of a website is mostly learning which source to trust for which job. For your own site, Google gives you a free view of the links it knows about. For anyone else’s site, you need a third-party backlink tool, which can only report the links its own crawler has found. The process is the same in every tool: enter the domain, read the summary, open the full list, then compare it with the competitors you are trying to beat.
Your own site: start with Search Console
If you own the site, open Search Console’s Links report before you pay for anything. It shows top linking sites, top linked pages and top linking text, all drawn from Google’s own data. That makes it the closest you will get to what Google actually sees.
The catch is that the report is sampled. It shows a selection of links, not every single one, and it cannot be used for any site you do not own. Our guide to the Search Console Links report explains how to export it and what the sampling means for an audit. For most site owners it is enough to spot new links, lost links and odd anchor text.
How to check backlinks of a website you don’t own
For a competitor, you need a backlink tool. Semrush sets out the standard process in its guide to finding competitor backlinks, and it applies to any tool with a link index:
- Enter the competitor’s domain in the backlink tool.
- Review the overview: total backlinks and referring domains.
- Open the backlinks list, which shows the anchor text, the linking page, the target URL on the competitor’s site and an authority metric for each link.
- Sort and filter the list to find the links worth acting on.
Start with referring domains rather than total backlinks. A single site can link thousands of times from a sidebar or footer, which inflates the backlink total without adding much. The number of distinct sites linking is the better guide to how widely a competitor is cited.
Then look at the target URLs. Most sites earn links to a small number of pages: a homepage, a tool, a data study, a well-known guide. Sorting by target URL shows you which of a competitor’s pages attract links, which is often more useful than the links themselves. It tells you what kind of content earns citations in your niche.
Before you trust the summary, open a dozen links from the list and look at them in a browser. You will learn quickly whether the profile is made of editorial mentions in real articles, directory listings, forum signatures or scraped copies. That ten-minute check tells you more about a competitor’s link building than any single metric.
What to read in a backlink report
Every backlink tool shows roughly the same fields. Here is what each one is good for.
| Field or source | What it tells you | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Referring domains | How many distinct sites link to the domain | Counts differ between tools |
| Total backlinks | How many individual links the tool found | Sitewide links inflate it |
| Anchor text | The words used to link, and how natural the profile looks | A sample, not the full picture |
| Linking page | Where the link sits, and the context around it | Pages can change or vanish after the crawl |
| Target URL | Which of the site’s pages attract links | Redirected targets may be grouped differently |
| Authority metric | A tool’s estimate of the linking site’s strength | Each tool calculates its own; they are not comparable |
| Search Console Links report | Links Google knows about, for your own site, free | Sampled, and only for properties you own |
Anchor text deserves a separate look. A natural profile is dominated by brand names, bare URLs and generic phrases. A profile heavy with exact-match commercial anchors suggests links that were placed rather than earned. Our guide to anchor text covers what a healthy mix looks like.
Find competitor backlinks you are missing
One competitor’s backlinks are a list. Several competitors’ backlinks, compared, are a prospect list. That comparison is a backlink gap analysis, and most tools offer it. In Semrush, the “Best” tab “shows the domains that link to all your competitors” but not to you.
Those domains matter because they have shown they link to sites like yours, more than once. A site that links to every competitor except you is a far warmer prospect than a random site in your niche. Enter three or four competitors that actually outrank you, not the biggest brands in the industry. If you are unsure who they are, our guide to finding your real SEO competitors shows how to pick them from the results you compete in.
Turning the list into links
The Semrush guide groups the next steps into four moves. Each one uses a different part of the report.
- Replicate quality links. Directories, resource pages and roundups that list competitors will often list you too, if you fit.
- Replace broken backlinks. When a competitor’s linked page now returns an error, the sites linking to it have a dead link to fix. The method is covered in our guide to broken link building.
- Create better content. If one competitor page attracts most of its links, build a stronger version and pitch it to the same sites.
- Build media relationships. Journalists who cite competitors regularly are worth knowing; they cover your topic.
Put the prospects in a sheet with the linking page, the competitor it links to, the reason it linked and the angle you will pitch. Skip anything that looks like a paid placement or a link network; copying those copies the risk too. For a wider set of tactics beyond competitor research, see our guide to how to get backlinks.
The limitation: every tool sees a different web
No backlink tool has a complete map of the web. Each one reports the links its own crawler found, on its own schedule, so referring domain counts for the same site can differ noticeably between tools. Links can also disappear after a tool records them, and a tool may keep showing them for a while. Google’s own view, in Search Console, is sampled and limited to sites you own.
Treat any backlink count as an estimate and compare like with like: the same tool, the same metric, the same date. When a specific link matters, open the linking page and check that it is still there. For more on link prospecting, browse the link building archive.
Frequently asked questions
How can I check a website’s backlinks for free?
For your own site, use Search Console’s Links report, which is free but sampled. For other sites you need a third-party backlink tool; check what its free version allows, as limits change.
How do I find my competitors’ backlinks?
Enter the competitor’s domain in a backlink tool, review referring domains, then open the backlinks list to see anchor text, linking pages and target URLs.
Why do backlink tools show different numbers?
Each tool only reports the links its own crawler has found, so counts differ between tools. Compare figures from the same tool only.
What is a backlink gap?
The sites linking to your competitors but not to you. Semrush’s “Best” tab shows the domains that link to all your competitors.
The takeaway Use Search Console for your own links and a backlink tool for competitors. Read referring domains, anchors and target pages, then run a gap to find warm prospects.
