To track backlinks, record which links you have today, check again on a schedule, and compare. Google Search Console gives you a free list of linking sites, and paid tools such as Ahrefs add dedicated New and Lost reports. Review monthly, and follow up on any valuable link that disappears.
You built a few dozen links last quarter. Three months on, how many are still there? Without a record you cannot say, and a link that vanished quietly cannot be recovered. A one-off audit finds problems today; tracking finds them as they happen.
Why do backlinks need tracking?
Links disappear constantly. Ahrefs' study of 2,062,173 websites found that 66.5% of the links pointing to them had rotted since January 2013, mostly because the linking page was dropped (47.7%) or the link was removed (34.2%). If you earn links at a steady pace, a share of them will vanish at a steady pace too.
Tracking tells you three things: which links arrived, which left and which changed (a nofollow tag added, a redirect, new anchor text).
What is the free way to track backlinks?
The free route is Google Search Console plus a spreadsheet. The Links report shows top linked pages, top linking sites and top linking text. Google notes it is a sample rather than a complete list, tables are limited to 1,000 rows, and exports run up to 100,000 rows for the latest links.
A simple monthly routine:
- Open Search Console, go to Links, and export the linking sites and linked pages.
- Save each export with the date in the filename.
- Paste both months side by side and look for sites that appear in one and not the other.
- Log anything new or missing in a sheet with the date you first saw it.
Search Console does not label lost links for you, so the comparison is on you. It is enough for a small site.
What do paid tools add?
Paid tools crawl the web themselves and keep history. Ahrefs, Semrush and Majestic all have New and Lost views for backlinks: pick a date range and see what appeared and what went away. Alerts can email you when a link is lost.
Expect tools to disagree. Each uses its own crawler and none sees the whole web, so choose one as your baseline and read its trend over time rather than comparing counts across tools.
What should you record about each link?
A good tracking sheet has one row per link, so you can act on it:
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Linking page URL | Where the link lives |
| Target URL on your site | Which page it supports |
| Anchor text | Keeps anchors varied |
| Followed or nofollow | Whether it can carry credit |
| Date first seen | Lets you judge decay |
| Date lost | Triggers follow-up |
| Source (swap, outreach, organic) | Shows which tactics hold up |
What do you do when a link disappears?
Check first, then decide whether to chase it. Open the page. If it is gone, check whether it was redirected. If the link was removed from a live page, the editor may have cleaned up old links or updated the article. A short, friendly message asking what happened works better than a demand. The full playbook is in how to recover lost backlinks.
Prioritise links by value. A link from a relevant, trusted site deserves a reply; a forum signature does not.
How does tracking work for link swaps?
Swaps are easy to track because both sides know where the link should be. On Backlinkster, a swap's submitted link must be an article URL on the member's own domain, and each swap is verified by API. Still add swap links to your own sheet, so you can see how many remain live after three, six and twelve months. See how it works.
For a deeper one-time review, run a full backlink profile audit.
Frequently asked questions
How do I track backlinks for free? Export the Links report from Google Search Console every month and compare the files. It is a sample rather than a full list, so it will miss some links, but it is free and from Google.
How often should I check my backlinks? Monthly is enough for most sites. Check weekly during an active campaign or after a migration.
How do I find lost backlinks? Use the Lost report in Ahrefs, Semrush or Majestic, or compare two dated Search Console exports and see which linking sites dropped out.
Why do my tools show different backlink counts? Each tool runs its own crawler and sees a different part of the web. Use one tool as your baseline and watch its trend.
Do I need to track nofollow links? Log them, because they can change status, but put your follow-up effort into followed links.
What is a backlink tracker? Any tool or spreadsheet that records your links over time and flags new and lost ones. Ahrefs, Semrush and Majestic have built-in versions.
The bottom line
Tracking is a monthly habit: export, compare, log, follow up. Start with Search Console and a spreadsheet, add a paid tool when the volume justifies it, and chase the valuable links that disappear while the page and the editor are still easy to find.
Related: How to audit your backlink profile · How to recover lost backlinks · Do backlinks expire? · How do backlinks work?