Ask any SEO or digital marketer what they open every week and a backlink checker will be on the list. These tools record which sites link to yours, how those links are changing and what your competitors’ link profiles look like. If you are new to backlinks, this article explains why they matter, what a checker actually does and which tools are worth using in 2026.
Last updated: 2026. Vendor pricing changes frequently; we describe plan structure rather than quoting figures.
The Importance Of Backlinks
A backlink is a link from another website to a page on yours. Links are how the web is wired together, and they were the original insight behind Google: a page that many relevant, reputable pages link to is probably worth ranking. Google no longer publishes PageRank scores, but links remain one of the signals it uses to judge which pages deserve to rank for a query.
Not all links count equally. A link from an established site in your own subject area, placed in the body of an article with descriptive anchor text, carries more weight than a footer link from an unrelated directory. Links marked with the nofollow, sponsored or ugc attribute are treated as hints rather than endorsements. A steady flow of relevant, editorially given links is the foundation of a durable SEO campaign; a burst of low-quality links from link farms can trigger a manual action.
You cannot manage what you cannot see, and that is where backlink checkers come in. They crawl the web, store every link they find in an index, and let you query that index for any domain: yours, a competitor’s, or a site you are considering approaching for a link. The best ones also refresh their index daily so you notice a lost or newly gained link within a day or two.
Before paying for anything, open Google Search Console > Links. It is free and lists your top linked pages, top linking sites and most common anchor text straight from Google’s own data. It does not show competitors or link metrics, but it is the one source that reflects what Google actually knows about your site. The tools below add competitor analysis, alerts and quality scoring on top.
Best Backlink Checkers
Ahrefs
Ahrefs built its reputation on backlink data and its link index is still the reason many SEOs pay for it. Site Explorer shows referring domains, total backlinks, Domain Rating, anchor-text distribution, new and lost links over any period, and the estimated organic traffic of each linking site. The Link Intersect report lists sites that link to several competitors but not to you, which is the most efficient way to build a prospect list.
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for sites you verify through Search Console and includes the full backlink profile of your own domain, which is enough for many small sites. Analysing competitors or exporting large reports requires a paid plan; there is no longer a low-cost trial.
Semrush
Semrush is an all-in-one marketing suite, and Backlink Analytics is one of its larger modules. Enter a domain and you see referring domains, backlink types (text, image, form, frame), follow versus nofollow split, top anchors and the pages that attract the most links. Backlink Gap compares up to five domains side by side.
Backlink Audit is the tool that sets Semrush apart for clean-up work. It assigns each referring domain a Toxicity Score based on dozens of signals and lets you build a disavow file directly from the report. It can also connect to Search Console so Google’s own link list is included. A free account permits a limited number of requests per day; paid tiers scale by projects and reporting limits. Semrush’s keyword data pairs well with our image SEO and SEO tools guides if you want the wider picture.
Moz
Moz created Domain Authority and Page Authority, the 1–100 scores that many marketers quote when comparing sites. To be clear, Google does not use them; they are Moz’s estimate of how likely a site is to rank based on its link profile. Used that way, for comparison and prioritisation, they are handy.
Link Explorer shows inbound links, linking domains, anchor text, a Spam Score for each referring domain and links gained or lost over time. A free Moz account gives a small monthly quota of Link Explorer queries, and the MozBar browser extension shows DA and PA for any page you visit. Moz Pro adds the full suite of rank tracking and site audits. If backlinks are all you need, Moz is one of the pricier ways to get them; the free tier and the extensive learning centre are the parts most small sites use.
Linkody
If you want a backlink tracker rather than a marketing suite, Linkody is the focused option. It monitors every link to your domain and emails you when one is removed, redirected or switched to nofollow, so you can contact the site owner before the space goes to a competitor. Each link shows follow status, anchor text, the linking page’s metrics and whether it is still live.
You can tag links by campaign, track competitors’ new links to find prospects and generate a disavow file for anything you decide is harmful. Linkody is priced by number of monitored domains and is considerably cheaper than the suites above, which makes it a sensible companion to the free Search Console report for a small business that wants alerts without paying for keyword research it will not use.
Majestic SEO
Majestic has been indexing links since 2004 and maintains two indexes: Fresh, updated daily, and Historic, going back years. Its Trust Flow and Citation Flow metrics estimate link quality and quantity separately, and Topical Trust Flow shows which subject categories a site’s links come from, which is useful for checking that a potential link partner is actually relevant to your niche.
Site Explorer lists backlinks, referring domains, anchors and the Link Context feature that shows where on the page a link sits and whether it is text or image. Clique Hunter, like Ahrefs’ Link Intersect, finds sites linking to multiple competitors. Majestic is link-only, with no keyword or rank tracking, and plans are priced accordingly.
Which Canyon theme fits
Links are easier to earn for pages that are worth citing: guides, comparisons and reference posts with clear headings and fast load times. Bloge is built for exactly that kind of long-form content, and our blog theme collection has further options if you want a different layout.
Your Turn
Start with the free Links report in Google Search Console and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for your own domain. Add Linkody if you want lost-link alerts, or Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz or Majestic when you need competitor data and prospecting. All five offer APIs on their higher plans if you want to pull link data into your own dashboards. Whichever you pick, review the report monthly: note new links, chase lost ones, and disavow only links you have real evidence are harmful.
Further reading from our partners: Unseen Radiance.