Google ranks websites using over 200 factors, and guess what?

Backlinks are among the top eight! But it’s not just about getting any backlinks; the quality matters a lot.

A single link from a high authority site can be more impactful than dozens from lesser-known sources.

However, not all backlinks are created equal. A backlink from a top-tier website can do wonders for your search engine position.

Plus, understanding the landscape of your backlinks can help you tailor your outreach and boost your site’s authority.

But how do you know who’s linking to your website?

Fortunately, there’s an incredibly simple way to find out who links to your site—and there are multiple ways to do so. 

Let’s get into it. But, before we begin, let’s figure out:

Three Key Reasons Why It’s Important To Know Who Links To Your Site

Understanding how different backlinks contribute can significantly impact your search engine rankings. 

Let’s explore the top five reasons why this knowledge is vital.

1. It Helps Assess The Link Quality: It’s crucial to evaluate the authority and relevance of the sites linking to you.

High quality backlinks from reputable and relevant sites can significantly boost your SEO, while poor-quality links might hurt your rankings.

2. You can Optimize Your Link Equity: You need to understand the difference between ‘Dofollow’ and ‘Nofollow’ links.

‘Dofollow’ links pass on link equity and help improve your page rank, whereas ‘Nofollow’ links don’t affect your rank but can still drive traffic and enhance your site’s credibility.

3. It Helps Establish Valuable Partnerships: Look at which sites link to you as potential partners for content or business collaborations.

Recognizing these opportunities can pave the way for valuable partnerships.

What to Look for While Analyzing Your Links

When analyzing your backlinks, it’s crucial to focus on key aspects of link popularity that impact your site’s SEO performance.

Here’s what to keep an eye on to make sure your links are working hard for you:

• Total Number of Backlinks: Count the total backlinks pointing to the site to gauge overall link popularity.
• Referring Domains: Track the number of unique domains linking to the site, which impacts domain authority.
• High-Authority Links: Identify links from high-authority sites, as they contribute more to SEO strength.
• Linking Page Content: Examine the content of the pages linking to you to ensure relevance and quality.
• Anchor Text Usage: Analyze the anchor texts used in links to understand keyword associations and potential over-optimization.
• Dofollow vs. Nofollow Links: Assess the ratio of dofollow to nofollow links, aiming for a healthy balance.
• Link Location: To infer its potential impact, consider where on the page the link is placed (footer, header, body text).
• Traffic from Backlinks: Estimate the traffic received from each backlink to evaluate its value beyond just SEO.
• Backlink Types: Categorize types of backlinks (e.g., editorial link, link from guest post, forum link) to strategize future link-building.
• Potential Toxic Links: Detect any suspicious or low-quality links that might hurt your search rankings.
• Competitor Backlink Profile: Compare your backlink profile with competitors to find link opportunities and benchmark your performance.

How to Find Who Links to My Site: 4 Helpful Tools

Discovering who links to your site is easier than you might think, thanks to some handy tools designed for this purpose. 

Let’s dive into the top tools to help you efficiently uncover your backlinks.

1. Use Google Search Console

Google Search Console is an indispensable, free tool that every website owner can use to monitor their site’s presence in Google search results. 

It offers detailed insights that help you understand the reach and impact of your content across the web.

Step-by-Step Guide to Using Google Search Console:

Access Google Search Console: First, if you don’t already have an account, head over to Google Search Console and sign up for free.

It’s straightforward and essential for any website owner wanting to get a grip on their site’s search engine performance.

Navigate to the Links Report: Once your account is set up and your site is verified, log in and select your website property from the dashboard. Then, click on “Links” from the left-hand menu.

Here, you’ll find the “External links” option, where you should click on “Top linking sites.”

Review Top Linking Sites: This section displays the domains that often link to your site. Viewing these can help you gauge which websites find your content valuable.

Explore Detailed Link Information: For more granular details, you can click on any listed domain to see:

• The total number of links from that domain.
• How many of your pages do they link to?
• The specific pages on your site that are linked.

Click on any of these pages to see the referring pages linking to the target website.

Check Your Top Linked Pages: In the “External links” section, navigate to “Top linked pages” to see which pages are most frequently linked from other sites. 

This helps you identify what content is performing well in attracting backlinks.

GSC: Considerations and Limitations

While Google Search Console (GSC) is a powerful tool for understanding your site’s backlink profile, there are several considerations and limitations you should be aware of:

1. Data Limitation: GSC only shows data for the top 1,000 pages and domains, potentially missing out on crucial insights from less visible but relevant sources.
2. Lack of Context: GSC does not provide link context such as anchor text or link type (‘nofollow’ or ‘dofollow’), which are essential for evaluating the true value of each backlink.
3. No Quality Metrics: GSC ranks “top linking sites” by quantity, not quality, of links. This means site owners must manually assess link quality, a time-consuming process without additional tools.

2. Use Ahrefs Site Explorer

Ahrefs boasts the world’s largest index of live backlinks, updated every 15-30 minutes.

Here’s how to effectively use this tool:

1. Start with Ahrefs Site Explorer: Access Ahrefs and navigate to the Site Explorer tool.

This is your gateway to analyzing any URL, whether your own site or someone else’s.

2. Enter the URL: In Site Explorer, type in the full URL of the website, a specific webpage, or even a subfolder you want to analyze.

To tailor the scope of your analysis, you can select from different modes, such as ‘domain’, ‘prefix’, or ‘exact URL’.

3. Check the Overview: Once you’ve entered the URL and selected the mode, hit enter.

You’ll be directed to an overview page that shows key metrics like the number of backlinks, referring domains, and more.

For example, analyzing CloudTalk.io shows 15.6K backlinks, 4.3K referring domains, DR of 79 and a URL Rating (UR) of 28.

4. Dive Deeper with Reports:

• • Referring Domains Report: Shows all websites linking to your URL with extra details like Domain Rating (DR), link types (nofollow vs. dofollow), and estimated traffic, offering deeper insights than Google Search Console.

• Backlinks Report: Offers a detailed view of each backlink, including the source page, surrounding text, target URL, and more.

You can customize the view to display all links, unique ones, or one per domain for streamlined analysis.

3. Bing Webmaster Tools Backlinks Report

Bing Webmaster Tools offers robust features to manage your site’s visibility on Bing, Microsoft’s search engine.

These include a comprehensive backlinks report that helps you understand who is linking to your website.

Here’s how to use Bing Webmaster Tools for backlink analysis:

1. Access Bing Webmaster Tools: First, you must have an account and verify your website with Bing. Once set up, log in to your dashboard.

2. Navigate to the Backlinks Report: Find the SEO section in the left menu on the dashboard and select “Backlinks.” This opens the backlinks report, which is vital for your analysis.

Source

3. Review the Report: At the top of the backlinks report, you’ll see key metrics such as the total number of referring domains, referring pages, and the diversity of anchor texts used.

This overview provides a quick snapshot of your backlink health.

4. Explore Detailed Data: Dive deeper by checking out the Domains section.

Here, you can see a list of all unique domains linking to your site and the number of backlinks each contributes.

Clicking on a domain reveals which specific pages are linking to you and the target URLs on your site. You’ll also see the anchor texts used for each link.

4. SEMRush Backlink Analysis Tool

SEMRush stands out as a versatile digital marketing toolkit featuring an advanced Backlink Analysis tool. 

This tool is essential for anyone serious about understanding their site’s backlink profile.

How to use SEMRush for Backlink Analysis:

1. Overview: Start by entering your website’s URL in SEMRush to see the Overview tab, where you’ll find key metrics like authority score, number of referring domains, and total backlinks.

Source

2. Referring Domains: Switch to the Referring Domains tab for a detailed list of all sites linking to yours, including each domain’s authority score, total backlinks, and IP address.

3. Individual Links: Click the view button next to a domain’s backlink total for deeper insights into each link, including the specific URLs, target pages, anchor text, link type (dofollow or nofollow), and the date each link was first spotted.

How to Find Who Links to a Specific Page

Finding who links to a specific page on your website can be vital for targeted SEO analysis.

Here’s how you can accomplish this using Ahrefs:

Ahrefs 

You can use Ahrefs Site Explorer to discover who links to a specific page, subfolder, or website. 

Here’s how:

1. Enter the URL: In Site Explorer, type the URL of the page you want to analyze (e.g., 10 Effective Customer Service Techniques that Will Make Customers Love You).
2. Navigate to Backlinks: Click on “Backlinks” under the “Backlink profile” section.
3. Filter for Relevant Links: Use filters like ‘Dofollow’ to see quality links.
4. Analyze Referring Pages: The report shows referring pages and domains, revealing who links to your target page.

For example, CloudTalk’s customer service blog post has backlinks from high-traffic domains like Appgeyser and Uniqode.

How to Find Who Links to Your Competitors (or Any Site)

Here’s how you can use Bing Webmaster Tools and Ahrefs Free Backlink Checker for this purpose:

1. Bing Webmaster Tools Similar Sites Report

Bing Webmaster Tools offers a feature allowing you to explore similar sites and see who links to your competitors.

All you need to do is:

• Enter your competitor’s URL into the Bing dashboard and navigate to the ‘Similar Sites’ report.

This report lists websites that share similarities and possibly link to the competitor’s site.

You can see a breakdown of these domains, the number of backlinks they provide, and other relevant metrics.

2. Ahrefs Free Backlink Checker

You can use Ahrefs Free Backlink Checker to quickly see who is linking to any site by entering the competitor’s URL on the Ahrefs homepage. 

After submitting the URL, you will get a summary of the top backlinks, the total number of backlinks, and the domains referring to the site.

For a more detailed view, use Ahrefs Site Explorer:

• Enter the URL: In Site Explorer, type the competitor’s URL (e.g., clockify.me).
• Navigate to Backlinks: Click on “Backlinks” under the “Backlink profile” section.
• Filter for Relevant Links: Use filters like ‘Domain traffic: From 1K’ to see quality links.

For example, analyzing Clockify.me reveals referring pages, domains, anchor texts, and whether links are live. 

This information helps identify link building prospects, popular content topics, and effective anchor texts.

For Timely (Target Domain), this analysis shows Clockify’s top backlinks from high-traffic sites like ClickUp and EspoCRM, guiding Timely’s link-building strategy.

7 Effective Ways You Can Use Backlink Data to Boost SEO

Effectively utilizing your backlink data is crucial for developing a comprehensive SEO strategy.

Let’s explore practical strategies for effectively leveraging link data to enhance your niche SEO and boost organic traffic.

1. Cleanse Your Link Profile

Objective: To remove potentially harmful links, for example, PBN backlinks, to maintain a healthy backlink profile.

How to go about this:

• Analyze Regularly: Use tools like Google Search Console to identify harmful links.
• Disavow Harmful Links: Apply Google’s Disavow Tool to exclude detrimental backlinks.

Source

• Monitor Impact: Track SEO performance changes post-disavowal.

2. Cultivate Relationships with Frequent Linkers

Objective: Strengthen connections with websites that frequently link to your content.

How to go about this:

• For example, clickass can identify and nurture connections with websites that consistently link to their content via Google Search Console.
• By sorting the top linking sites report and excluding social networks and forums, clickass can pinpoint valuable partners.

• Additionally, leveraging Ahrefs Site Explorer to find competitors’ serial linkers, such as those linking to growfusely.com, can uncover new opportunities.

• By building relationships with these sites, especially those with a high number of dofollow links, clickass can enhance its link building network and boost its SEO efforts.

3. Maximize Your Content’s Linkability

Objective: Understand and replicate the success factors of your most linked content.

How to go about this:

• To optimize your content strategy, analyzing your most linked content is crucial.
• Tools like Google Search Console and Ahrefs’ “Best by Links” report can provide valuable insights.
• Google Search Console helps you identify which of your pages receive the most backlinks, allowing you to understand what type of content resonates with your audience.
• Similarly, Ahrefs’ “Best by Links” report shows you the pages on your competitor’s site with the most backlinks, highlighting successful content that attracts links.

For Example, let’s consider Timelyapp.com. 

Conducting a backlink analysis for their competitor, Clockify.me, reveals valuable insights.

Using Ahrefs’ “Best by links” report, we can identify Clockify’s top-performing pages, such as “Average Working Hours Statistics (2023)” and “Time Management Statistics and Facts: 2024.”

These pages have a high number of referring domains, indicating their popularity and link-worthiness. 

Timelyapp.com can create similar high-quality, data-driven content to attract more backlinks.

By understanding and replicating successful content strategies, Timelyapp.com can improve its link building efforts and overall SEO performance.

4. Recover Value from Broken Links

Objective: Preserve SEO value from backlinks pointing to broken pages.

How to go about this:

• Identify Broken Pages: Use Google Search Console’s Coverage report to find pages with 404 errors. 

The following screenshot demonstrates Google Search Console’s interface, where it shows an error for a submitted URL marked as a soft 404.

• Locate Backlinks: Check if these pages have backlinks by using the ‘Top linked pages’ report in Google Search Console.

Apply a filter for broken URLs to see their link status.

• Automate the Check: For a more streamlined process, use Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. Input your domain, go to ‘Best by Links’, and set a ‘404 not found’ filter to see which dead pages have the most backlinks.

• Resolve Broken Links:

• • Reinstate the Page: If the content was valuable, bring it back at the original URL.
  • Redirect: If reinstating isn’t possible, redirect the broken URL to a related active page.
  • Request URL Update: Contact the site owners linking to the dead page and ask them to update their links.

Consider Leaving as Soft 404: If there are no valuable backlinks, you might opt to leave the page as a soft 404, especially if the content is outdated.

5. Identify and Act on Competitor Link Opportunities

Objective: Acquire links from domains that link to your competitors.

How to go about this:

• Analyze Competitor Profiles: Use tools like Ahrefs to study competitors’ backlink profiles and identify high-authority domains.
• Create Compelling Content: Develop content that matches or surpasses the value of competitors’ content to attract these high authority backlinks.

6. Strategically Enhance Link Building for High-Value Pages

Objective: Focus link building efforts on your most strategic pages to enhance their visibility and ranking.

How to go about this:

• Identify Keywords for Link Insertion: Begin by pinpointing the most crucial keywords for your target pages.

These should be terms directly linked to the page’s core content, reflecting its primary value proposition or subject matter.

• Prioritize Key Pages: Determine which pages would benefit the most from enhanced link building.

These are typically your product pages, major category pages, or high-converting landing pages.

7. Present Your Content to Prospective Linkers

Objective: Get more websites to link to yours by reaching out to those who already talk about stuff similar to your content.

How to go about this:

• Analyze Current Backlinks: Start by using tools like Ahrefs’ Site Explorer to inspect the backlinks your site currently receives.

Look for common themes or types of sites that link to you frequently.

For example, the following screenshot shows Spiralytics’ Backlinks report filtered to display referring pages that include the word “marketing” in their URLs.

• Identify and Target Potential Linkers: Use the insights gained from your analysis to find pages that talk about related themes but haven’t linked to you yet.

For example, if they’re linking to content about “digital marketing,” they might be interested in your detailed guides or case studies on the same topic.

• Refine Your Search: Apply filters in Ahrefs Content Explorer to zero in on the most relevant pages.

For example, you might set the tool to show only pages that include specific keywords in their content or URLs that are closely related to your content. 

• Engage With These Sites: Reach out to the owners or content managers of these sites with personalized communication.

Highlight how your content complements theirs and can offer additional value to their audience.

• Monitor and Follow-Up: Keep track of your outreach efforts and responses. Not all initial contacts will yield a link, so it’s important to follow up.

A polite reminder or a new angle on why your content is relevant might get their attention.

Boost Your Visibility with Expert Link Building Solutions

Knowing who links to your site is a game-changer for boosting your SEO and making your site more powerful.

It’s not just about counting links; it’s about making smarter decisions to grow your online presence.

We’ve explored how to find these links and what to do with them—now it’s your turn to put this knowledge to work.

I know it can take hours to perform all the analysis. 

Let an expert handle it. 

Want a quick Backlink Video Audit with steps to identify hidden link building opportunities?

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