To find the backlinks pointing to your website, open Google Search Console, go to Links, and read the Top linking sites list. It's free and comes straight from Google's own crawl. For more links plus quality scores, add a backlink checker such as Ahrefs, Semrush or Moz. Between the two you can see who links to you and which links matter.
How to see your backlinks in Google Search Console (step by step)
Search Console is the first place to look because it shows links Google itself has found. You need to own the site.
- Add and verify your site at Google Search Console. A Domain property is best, because it covers
www, non-www,httpandhttpsversions together. - Click Links in the left-hand menu, near the bottom.
- Read the External links panel. It has three reports:
- Top linked pages: your pages, ranked by how many links they have.
- Top linking sites: the domains that link to you.
- Top linking text: the anchor text other sites use.
- Click "More" under Top linking sites to see the full list. Click any domain to see which of your pages it links to.
- Export the list with the Export external links button at the top right. "Latest links" gives you up to 100,000 recently found links with their discovery dates, which is the most useful version for spotting new ones.
To check the backlinks to one specific page, open Top linked pages, click the page, and Search Console shows the sites linking to it.
What Search Console won't tell you
- It's a sample. Google's Links report documentation says the report "isn't a comprehensive list of every link on your site."
- Tables stop at 1,000 rows. Larger sites see truncated lists in the interface. The "Latest links" export goes further: up to 100,000 links, sorted by the date Google found them.
- It updates slowly. A link placed today can take weeks to appear, so don't panic if a new link is missing. Checking whether a backlink is indexed covers faster ways to confirm one.
- There are no quality scores. It tells you who links to you, not how much each link helps.
- It doesn't say whether a link is dofollow or nofollow.
Other free ways to find your backlinks
- Bing Webmaster Tools. Free, with its own Backlinks report drawn from Bing's index. It often lists links Search Console leaves out. You can import your site straight from Search Console, so setup takes a minute.
- Ahrefs Webmaster Tools. Free for sites you verify. It shows your backlinks from Ahrefs' index, with authority and dofollow/nofollow data.
- Free checker pages (Ahrefs Free Backlink Checker, Semrush and Moz free tiers). These show a capped sample for any domain. Fine for a quick look, not for an audit.
The link:yoursite.com search operator doesn't work for this. Google stopped supporting it years ago, and it returns a meaningless handful of results.
Paid backlink checkers (the fullest picture)
Paid tools crawl the web independently, usually surface far more links than Search Console, and score each one:
- Ahrefs: a very large link index, good for depth and history.
- Semrush: a strong all-round suite with a backlink audit tool.
- Moz Link Explorer: known for its domain authority score.
What they add:
- Authority metrics for every linking domain, so you can separate strong links from weak ones.
- Dofollow vs nofollow status for each link. See dofollow vs nofollow links.
- New and lost links over time, so you notice when a link disappears.
- Any domain, not just yours, which is how you research competitors.
No tool sees everything. Each one has its own index, so the counts won't match, and none will match Search Console. That's normal.
How to check a competitor's backlinks
Enter a competitor's domain into Ahrefs, Semrush or Moz and you'll see who links to them. Those sites already link to businesses in your niche, which makes them good prospects for your own links. Finding where competitors get their backlinks covers the full method, including a link gap analysis.
What to do with the backlinks you find
Finding your links is only the first step. Use the list to:
- Audit quality. Lots of links from irrelevant or spammy sites are worth watching. See what makes a backlink bad. A handful of relevant, authoritative links is worth more than hundreds of junk ones, and auditing your backlink profile walks through it properly.
- Count referring domains, not links. Fifty links from one site count for far less than fifty sites linking once each. Referring domains vs backlinks explains why.
- Find what earns links. Your most-linked pages show what other sites value. Make more like them.
- Reclaim lost links. Export the list monthly and compare. When an important link disappears, recovering lost backlinks is usually a polite email away.
Found out you don't have many links?
Most newer sites run this check and find the real problem: not finding backlinks, but having too few. Checking is easy. Building is the work, and our guide on how to create backlinks ranks seven ways to do it.
Backlinkster matches you with site owners in related niches to swap in-content links one-for-one, and each swap is verified by API, so the next time you run this check there's something new to find. The free plan includes five swaps a month.
Frequently asked questions
How do I see who links to my website for free? Use Google Search Console: open Links, then Top linking sites. Add Bing Webmaster Tools and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, both free for your own site, to catch links Search Console leaves out.
Why does Search Console show fewer backlinks than Ahrefs or Semrush? Search Console shows a sample of the links Google has recorded, while paid tools report everything their own crawlers found. Each tool has a different index, so the numbers never match. Look for the same important domains appearing across tools, not identical totals.
How long does it take for a new backlink to show up? In Search Console, often several weeks. Paid tools can be faster or slower depending on how often they crawl the linking page. If you need to confirm a specific link now, open the linking page and check the link is there and not marked nofollow.
How do I find backlinks to a specific page? In Search Console, open Links → Top linked pages and click the page. In Ahrefs or Semrush, enter the exact page URL instead of the domain.
Does the link: search operator still work?
No. Google stopped supporting link: for finding backlinks, and the few results it returns aren't a real list. Use Search Console or a backlink tool instead.
The bottom line
Start with Google Search Console's Links report for a free, Google-sourced list of who links to you. Add Bing Webmaster Tools and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools to catch more, and use a paid tool when you need quality metrics or competitor data. The check takes minutes. The value comes from acting on it: audit quality, track referring domains, reclaim lost links and build more of the relevant ones.
Related: How to check if a backlink is indexed · How to audit your backlink profile · What is the best backlink tool? · Do backlinks expire? · How to create backlinks · What is domain authority?