Not all backlinks are created equal. The most valuable ones come from large, respected websites. In turn, those incoming from spammy or untrusted sites can harm your domain authority.
How to check the ‘strength’ or link list? This can be done with the help of general SEO tools or dedicated backlink checker applications.
Most of them allow you to view a list of links pointing to a specific domain or subpage, along with additional information such as DR and UR metrics, anchor text, and estimated traffic.
Here are 5 tools to check inbound links:
1. Google Search Console
Search Console is a completely free Google tool designed to help webmasters improve their websites. After registering your account and verifying your domain ownership , you will have access to various dashboards, one of which is your backlink list.
The most important advantage of this list is the fact that it is taken directly from the Google index. Still, it is not without its drawbacks. Apart from being limited to only 1000 results, it does not provide any additional indicators or analytical functions.
Moreover, the tool automatically removes low-quality backlinks from the list and only counts the relevant backlinks. This means you cannot use it to detect low-quality links.
If we were to describe the app in question in one sentence, it would be the best-suited tool as a raw data source for both external and internal links.
2. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is one of the most popular and best SEO tools that contains a lot of data that can help you plan an effective SEO strategy. It remains an absolute favorite among online marketing specialists.
When using Ahrefs, you don’t have to worry about the accuracy of your analytical data. However, high quality means a high price. Due to this, the tool in question is primarily intended for professional use.
It is worth noting, however, that for some time you can find a set of free tools on their website – including a program for checking incoming links, which retrieves data from one of the largest link indexes.
This tool allows for an unlimited number of checks per day, but the number of links displayed is limited to only the top 100. Unlike Search Console, the list includes additional metrics such as domain authority, estimated traffic, and anchor text.
3. SEMrush
SEMrush is another hugely popular SEO tool that includes some of the best keyword and backlink analysis apps out there. Like Ahrefs, it is distinguished by a huge and daily updated database
You may have noticed that most of the free analytics tools allow users to see a list of incoming links with partial data while encouraging them to subscribe.
SEMrush went in a slightly different direction. You’ll find tons of backlink analytics, but you only get 10 free inquiries. So it is a great solution if you are going to do a link profile analysis for your own website or you want to generate reports for individual clients.
A big plus inside the discussed application is the Toxic Score (in free translation: toxicity score), which is a measure of how harmful each link is in terms of SEO.
4. SEO SpyGlass
SEO SpyGlass is an application from the SEO Powersuite list, which, unlike its predecessors, is not an online tool, but computer software. Provides a fully specialized dashboard for backlink analysis and management.
By using SEO SpyGlass, you get a complete picture of what links are pointing to which pages, when they appeared, what anchor text they have, and from which domain they come. The only limitation inside the free version is limited reporting to 1100 backlinks.
If that wasn’t enough, you can also research your competitors by creating a separate project for each of them. The report includes analysis of backlinks, link quality factors and the so-called anti-criminal audit.
Among other interesting facts, it is worth mentioning that this application will also work perfectly in conjunction with Search Console. It is possible to download data from the Google tool and process it using the SEO SpyGlass dashboard.
As this is desktop software, it will take some time to analyze your domain for the first time.
5. Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is a tool by Neil Patel whose main function is extensive keyword analysis. It gained its popularity mainly due to offering functions that are paid in other tools, for free.
Some time ago, however, the free version has changed and many of the famous Ubersuggest features have become available only to subscribers. From now on, you’ll only see detailed information about a small number of backlinks
In addition, you’ll also see: A domain score which measures your site strength on a scale of 1 to 100; the number of referring domains and a graph of backlinks growth over time that shows how fast it grew or decreased.
Along with the inbound link analysis tool, you also get the features of keyword search, competitor analysis, site audit and search engine rank tracking. The Chrome extension is also an interesting addition, where you will get tons of keyword ideas right in your browser.