The best backlink checkers: your links, a rival’s, and the gap

Use free tools to see your own backlinks first. They are closest to the truth for your site.

• Google Search Console, Links report: your external links and top linking sites, a sample from Google.
• Ahrefs Webmaster Tools: free on verified sites, Site Explorer view of your links.
• Bing Webmaster Tools, Backlinks: your links and a simple rival comparison.

Use a paid index to profile a rival in depth. Free tiers rarely expose a full rival list.

• Ahrefs Site Explorer: large link index, known for backlink data and strong discovery.
• Semrush Backlink Analytics: broad suite with link data tied to competitive views.
• Moz Link Explorer: long-running link index with DA and an accessible UI.
• Majestic: link-only tool with Trust Flow, Citation Flow and Topical Trust Flow.
• SE Ranking: suite with backlinks and competitive research, often chosen on budget.
• Mangools LinkMiner: backlinks using Majestic data, aimed at beginners.

Each company crawls the web on its own. They choose seeds, freshness rules and how to store redirects and canonicals. The result is different coverage and timing.

• Crawl scope: what they prioritise and how often they revisit pages.
• Deduplication: how they merge www and non-www, http and https, and canonical targets.
• Redirect handling: whether they count a link that now 301s somewhere else.
• Spam filtering: which sites or patterns they exclude.
• Live status: whether they drop dead pages quickly or keep historical links.

Expect mismatches between tools, and between tools and what you see in Search Console. For your own site, Search Console is your source of truth as of 2026.

Scores help you sort, not judge worth. Treat them as relative signals inside the tool that made them. Do not compare a score from one tool to another.

Page-level signals still matter. A link from a relevant page that people visit beats a high-score domain with a buried link on an orphaned URL. Open the page before you add it to a list.

1. 1

   Pull the Links report in Search Console

   Open Search Console, Links. Export Top linking sites and Top linked pages. Note any spammy domains and any strong, relevant sites.

2. 2

   Check Bing Webmaster Tools, Backlinks

   Add your site if you have not. Review the Backlinks tab. Use the comparison to spot domains that link to a rival but not to you.

3. 3

   Verify in Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

   Add and verify your site. Open Site Explorer. Compare referring domains and anchors to your Search Console export to spot gaps and oddities.

4. 4

   Fix issues you control

   Repair broken backlinks. For example, if /guides/getting-started moved, add a 301 to the current URL. Update internal links to the canonical page.

5. 5

   Tag the wins

   Mark which links send clicks. In GA4, look at referral traffic by source. In Search Console, see if linked pages gained impressions and clicks over 28 days.

A tidy profile for your own site makes outreach easier. If a blogger clicks your brand in a tool and sees broken pages, your pitch loses trust. A fixed page looks clean: a 200 status, canonical set, visible nav, and useful content that matches the anchor text used to link to it.

Pick based on depth, features you will use, and how you like to work. You do not need the whole suite to run a link gap plan on a small site.

• Ahrefs Site Explorer: fast at finding referring domains and the exact pages they link from. Good for sorting by DR, traffic and link type.
• Semrush Backlink Analytics: shows a rival’s backlinks with Authority Score, plus context from its competitive modules.
• Moz Link Explorer: clear views of linking domains and the anchor profile. DA helps you sort quickly inside Moz.
• Majestic: deep link-only analysis, Trust Flow and Topical Trust Flow help judge topical fit. Site Explorer gives granular link paths.
• SE Ranking: covers the core backlink checks alongside rank tracking and a site audit.
• Mangools LinkMiner: a beginner-friendly way to browse backlinks using Majestic data.

Ubersuggest includes backlink data and is aimed at beginners. Its data is smaller than the large suites, but enough to sketch a gap for a narrow niche. SpyFu is stronger on keyword history than on link audits. Similarweb estimates traffic and is not a backlink checker.

The goal is simple: find domains that link to your rivals but not to you, then shortlist those you can realistically win. Work at the domain level first, then page level.

1. 1

   Pick 2 to 4 real rivals

   Choose sites that rank with you for money terms. If you run yourproduct.com, pick rivals from page one for "project management calendar" not media sites.

2. 2

   Export referring domains

   In Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz or Majestic, export the list of unique referring domains for each rival. Keep columns for domain, DR or DA or Trust Flow, link count, and first seen.

3. 3

   Normalise and compare

   Merge into one sheet. Lowercase domains. Remove your own domain. Mark which rivals each domain links to. Filter to domains that link to two or more rivals but not to you.

4. 4

   Score for fit and ease

   Add simple flags: topical fit, page type you could match, country, and whether you have a page that earns the link today. Ignore raw scores when the page is a poor fit.

5. 5

   Drill to page level for the top 50

   Open the exact linking pages. Note the anchor, context and how the link was likely earned. Tag examples you can replicate, like resource pages, roundups or case studies.

6. 6

   Draft an angle for each target

   Match an asset to each. If a resource page lists "Best Kanban templates" and links to rivals, your /templates/kanban with downloadable files beats a thin blog post.

A worked example: you find that productstack.io and shipboard.app both have links from devtoolsweekly.com/resources. Both links point to their "Free API limits" docs. Your own /docs/usage-limits is thin. You expand it with clear limits, examples and a curl snippet. You then ask the editor to include it. That is a gap closed by improving a page you own, not by chasing a score.

• Topical relevance: does this site cover your topic often, and is the linking page on that topic.
• Real pages: prefer pages users can reach from the site nav or a hub. Avoid thin archive pages that exist only as lists of links.
• Anchor and context: neutral or branded anchors are safe. Exact-match anchors from weak pages look artificial.
• Freshness: recent links on updated pages tend to be crawled more often.
• Country and language: match your market. A UK SaaS is better off with .uk tech blogs than a random .info in another language.
• Path to the link: resource page, tools page, comparison, integration docs, community post. If you cannot see a path, skip it.

Score columns help you sort, but they do not replace judgement. A Trust Flow 18 page on your exact topic can be worth more than a DA 70 homepage link with no context. Look at the page before you pitch.

1. 1

   Week 1: build or improve the assets

   Upgrade the pages that a realistic link would point at. Examples: /pricing with comparison toggles, /guides/getting-started with gifs, /integrations/slack with examples.

2. 2

   Week 2: package pitches

   For each target page, write a two-sentence angle. Example: "We published 12 Kanban templates as CSVs, free, no email. Your list has 10. Would you like the missing three?"

3. 3

   Week 3: send and track

   Reach out politely. Use the contact method the page owner favours. Track replies in a sheet. Do not send follow-ups that ignore their last answer.

4. 4

   Week 4: close gaps and fix broken links

   Revisit your sheet. Note wins and stalls. In parallel, fix any broken backlinks you found by 301s. Add internal links to new assets from related posts.

A fixed target page looks practical. For example, /integrations/slack shows install steps, screenshots and a working example. A maintainer can link it with confidence from "Integrations we like".

• Chasing a single score. DR, DA, Trust Flow and Authority Score do not transfer across tools.
• Ignoring the linking page. Homepages and footers carry different weight to a body link on a popular guide.
• Over-optimised anchors. Do not push exact matches. Let the site owner choose natural wording.
• Targeting sites your users never read. A relevant niche blog is worth more than a random high-score domain.
• Skipping maintenance. Unfixed broken backlinks waste the effort you put into outreach.

• Search Console, Links and Performance: did referring domains increase, and did linked pages gain impressions and clicks over the last 28 days.
• GA4, referrals: did sessions from new linking domains appear, and do those users browse and convert.
• Tool index checks: confirm new links were crawled by your chosen checker so future gap runs include them.
• Page-level checks: open the linking page monthly. Make sure the link still exists and the page is live.

Expect lag. A link can exist for weeks before your checker sees it. Google may crawl and count it before your tool does. Judge success by search outcomes and real referrals, not by a tool catching up.