Tooltester is supported by readers like yourself. We may earn an affiliate commission when you purchase through our links, which enables us to offer our research for free.
A guide to backlink checkers and a list of the top backlink checking tools for finding & analyzing your website’s backlinks.
Having a good backlink profile is essential for SEO and you’ll need to continually monitor your website’s backlinks. Google has been increasingly vocal on how they are cracking down on bad linking practices over the past couple years.
Sites with poor backlink profiles can suffer greatly in the SERPs and because of this, it is important that you continue to monitor your website’s backlink profile and remove any poor quality links that you find. There are a number of backlink checkers you can use to do this. In this article we will provide an overview of the best backlink checkers you can use to find and analyze all the backlinks to your site.
A list of Popular Paid Backlink Checkers
A quick overview of top 5 choices used by many professional SEOs for finding and monitoring backlinks:
Backlink Checker | Starts at:* | Recommended for: | Learn more |
---|---|---|---|
Ahrefs | $74.00/mo | Powerful backlink monitoring & rank tracking analysis | Visit Site |
Semrush | $99.95/mo | Deep backlink profile analysis & competitor insights | Visit Site |
Moz | $79.00/mo | Popular & trusted all-in-one SEO tool | Visit Site |
Monitor Backlinks | $16.50/mo | Affordable choice for backlink monitoring | Visit Site |
Majestic | $41.67/mo | Largest commercial link intelligence database | Visit Site |
* Discounted pricing for annual subscription
Ahrefs
Powerful, intuitive backlink monitoring & keyword tracking
www.ahrefs.com is one of our favorite backlink checkers and is a great choice for quickly and easily monitoring your backlink profile. Ahrefs has an index size of 12 trillion links and does a great job of finding many of the backlinks pointed to your site. We’ve found that it finds more backlinks than any of the other services below.
With Ahrefs, you can easily keep track of your backlinks, get email alerts for any new links found, track your targeted keywords’ ranking positions (it’s decent but there are better keyword trackers), analyze your website’s SEO statistics, analyze your competitor’s backlink profiles, and more. One of the main disadvantages is that you cannot import backlinks from other services, including from Google Search Console. However, Ahrefs is an all-around, effective backlink monitoring tool best for individuals or SEO professionals with a small number of clients.
Key Features:
- Detailed backlink profile
- Finds many backlinks
- Competitor analysis
- Cannot import backlinks
- Keyword tracking
- Onsite optimization reports
Starts at: $74.00/mo
Semrush
Provides deep backlink profile analysis & competitor insights for digital marketers
www.semrush.com is a popular SEO service that provides an accurate and in-depth look at backlink profiles and competitor insights. Well known for providing organic research on your competitor’s ranking positions and SEO metrics, Semrush is commonly used by many digital marketers. With them, you can easily view and sort your site’s backlink profile to get an accurate picture, along with other valuable SEO metric insights.
Recommended for:
- Backlink checking
- Keyword position tracking
- Competitor analysis
- Advertising research
- Keyword research
Starts at: $99.95/mo
Moz
A Powerful Backlink Checker Tool
www.moz.com is a popular and trusted place to go for analyzing your backlinks and determining how to rank better. Moz offers a comprehensive link profile analysis with valuable insights on the quality of those links, using Moz PA (Page Authority) and DA (Domain Authority). They also provide great link audits for find harmful links and avoiding penalties. Moz is a great all-in-one tool for keeping track of your SEO efforts.
Recommended for:
- Great SEO knowledge base
- User friendly
- MOZ Domain authority
- Find keyword opportunities
- Spam analysis
Starts at: $79.00/mo
Monitor Backlinks
Affordable backlink checking that’s quick and easy to use
www.monitorbacklinks.com is an affordable alternative to many of the backlink checkers listed here. Their services are very easy to use and great for beginners. They’re best for individuals who want to start keeping an eye on their backlink profile without getting too in-depth. We do love their simplicity and user-friendliness, although have found issues in the past with the reliability of their reports. While every backlink checker misses a few links here and there, they had missed quite a few compared to the others. None the less, they still give you a good picture of your backlink profile at an affordable price.
Recommended for:
- Easy & affordable
- Strong backlink monitoring
- Protection against Neg. SEO
- Competitor analysis
- Keyword tracking
Starts at: $16.50/mo
Majestic
Access to the largest link index & popular choice for SEO professionals
www.majestic.com is yet another good tool for checking your backlinks and is widely used by many SEO agencies. Majestic provides a variety of features for your SEO success. Their tools are a bit less user friendly, although you can schedule a one-on-one demo with support to learn how to use them. Majestic claims to have the largest commercial link intelligence database, although our experience with Majestic proved to be less accurate that the others listed above. There were quite a few referring domains that Majestic missed, although we have noticed they do tend to find new domains more quicker. Furthermore, there were a few that Majestic found where others had failed.
Recommended for:
- Popular among SEOs
- Largest link index
- Variety of SEO tools
- Quickly finds new links
- Competitor analysis
Starts at: $41.67/mo
What About Free Backlink Checkers?
There are numerous free backlink checkers you can use as well. In fact, many of the above offer a free version you can use without paying. However, as you might imagine, these are generally not as comprehensive and typically only give a taste of the backlinks pointing to your domain. Free is ok, but not if you’re seriously interested in understanding your entire backlink profile.
Gathering Your Complete Backlink Profile
Keep in mind, that even the best backlink checker will not find 100% of all your backlinks. Each one uses a different algorithm for their indexes and you’ll find that while some do a better job than others, there is no one, true backlink checker. For those serious about obtaining a complete list of your website’s backlinks, you’ll need to use multiple tools to piece together what each one finds. Using a combination of free and paid backlink checkers will give you a much more accurate representation of all your backlinks.
Quick Tip: Google will show you a nice number of your backlinks for free within the Google Search Console, but unfortunately not all of them. This is still a powerful tool you should utilize.
THE BEHIND THE SCENES OF THIS BLOG
This article has been written and researched following a precise methodology.
Our methodology