Checking Your Site’s Backlinks – A Practical Guide

Checking Your Site’s Backlinks – How Do You Check Incoming Links? A Practical Step-by-Step Guide

Incoming links, or backlinks, are like “recommendations” from other websites to yours. Google sees them as a strong indication of your content’s credibility and authority. To succeed in SEO and reach the top spots on Google, you must know how to check and analyze these links. In this article, we’ll learn how to do it in practice, step by step, with the best tools.

Why check backlinks? A quick reminder

Before we dive into the “how”, it’s important to understand again why it’s so critical:

• Authority and ranking: Quality links from strong sites pass “power” to your site. This improves your Google ranking.
• Traffic and customers: Links can bring direct traffic to your site. Visitors who clicked a link on another site come straight to you.
• Identifying problems: Not every link is good. Links from spam sites can do harm. Regular checks help you identify and deal with them.
• Learning from competitors: Analyzing competitors’ links reveals strategies and opportunities for you.

Now let’s understand how to do it step by step, and how it contributes to organic SEO.

Tools for checking backlinks (and above all, how to use them)

To run a professional check, you need tools. Some are free and essential; others are paid and provide especially detailed data.

1. Google Search Console – the free starting point

This is a must-have tool for every site owner. It gives you the information Google itself sees and takes into account.

• How to use it in practice:
  1. Make sure your site is verified in Google Search Console. If you haven’t done this yet, it’s the first, critical step.
  2. Sign in to your account.
  3. In the side menu, scroll down and look for the “Links” option.
  4. Under the heading “External links”, you’ll see a summary. Click “Top linking sites” or “Top linking text” to see the details.
• What will you see there?
  • A list of the external sites linking to you, sorted by number of links.
  • Which pages on your site get the most links.
  • The most common anchor text – that is, the words people click to reach your site.
• Why is it good? It’s the most reliable information, straight from Google. It helps you understand how Google perceives your link profile, and it’s the only tool through which you can submit a request to disavow harmful links.

2. Ahrefs – the X-ray of backlinks (paid tool)

Ahrefs is one of the most powerful and comprehensive link analysis tools. It gives you a full, very deep picture.

• How to use it in practice:
  1. Go to the Ahrefs site (there’s usually a limited free trial).
  2. In the top search field (Site Explorer), type the domain of the site you want to check. It can be your site or a competitor’s.
  3. Click the search button.
  4. In the side menu, under “Backlink profile”, click “Backlinks”.
• What will you see there?
  • Overview: The number of backlinks, the number of referring domains (a critical metric!) and the site’s authority score (Domain Rating – DR).
  • Backlinks list: Full details of every link: which page it comes from, which page on your site it links to, its anchor text, whether it’s dofollow/nofollow, and the DR of the linking site.
  • Referring domains: A list of all the unique sites linking to you. This helps identify diverse link sources.
  • New/lost backlinks: Tracking links added or removed over time.
  • Competitor analysis (competing domains): The ability to compare your link profile with your leading competitors.
• Why is it good? In-depth link profile analysis, identifying link-building opportunities, finding harmful links and monitoring changes over time.

3. Semrush – the comprehensive tool (paid)

Semrush is an all-in-one tool with very strong link analysis capabilities.

• How to use it in practice:
  1. Sign in to Semrush (it also usually has a free trial).
  2. In the search bar (Dashboard), enter the site’s domain.
  3. In the side menu, under “Link Building”, click “Backlinks”.
• What will you see there?
  • Overview: The site’s Authority Score and the number of links and referring domains.
  • A detailed table (Backlinks): Details of every link – source, target, anchor text, link type and more.
  • Backlink Audit: A unique feature for identifying “toxic” links that may harm you. The tool also recommends whether you should disavow them.
  • Link Building Tool: A tool that gives you ideas for earning new links based on competitor and content analysis.
• Why is it good? It combines link analysis with other tools (keyword research, organic competitor analysis), enabling a holistic strategy. Its audit tool is excellent for cleaning up your link profile.

Steps for a professional check:

1. Always start with Google Search Console: It’s the foundation. Make sure you see what Google sees.
2. Dive deep with premium tools (Ahrefs / Semrush): Use them to get the full picture:
   • Quantity vs. quality: Don’t focus only on the number of links. Look at the number of referring domains and their authority score. One link from a strong site like Ynet or TheMarker is worth dozens of links from weak Blogspot sites.
   • Anchor text: Check which words are used to link to your site. A natural, varied mix is important. Avoid overusing the same keyword in anchor text.
   • Link types (dofollow/nofollow): Dofollow links pass “power” (link juice), while nofollow links don’t. Make sure you have enough quality dofollow links.
   • Identifying harmful links: Look for links from spam sites, foreign and irrelevant sites, or sites with a dubious link profile. Tools like Semrush will help you identify them. If you find any, you can submit a disavow request through Google Search Console.
   • Monitoring competitors: Enter the domains of your 3–5 leading competitors into the same tools. Analyze where they get links from and the DR of their links, and think about how you can earn similar (or better!) links.
3. Keep monitoring: A link profile is dynamic. Sites can add or remove links. Run regular checks (once a month or quarter) to keep your finger on the pulse.

In summary, checking backlinks is a basic, important skill. It lets you understand Google’s point of view on your site, identify problems and discover growth opportunities. Using these tools correctly will lead to continuous improvement in your site’s ranking and exposure.

At WSO, we don’t just teach how to check backlinks – we take this knowledge a step further. We analyze your link profile and your competitors’ in depth, identify strong and weak links, and build a personalized organic SEO strategy that will take your site to the top of the search results. Want to truly understand how to use links to boost your business? Contact us today and let’s talk about how we can help!