Every link aimed at your domain shapes how Google judges it, yet most site owners have never seen the complete list. Knowing how to check backlinks pointing to a website — yours above all — reveals who vouches for you, which anchors look manipulative, and whether a spam wave is quietly assembling against your profile.
Quick Answer: Open the Links report in Google Search Console for free, verified data about your own domain, then cross-reference an SEO tool such as Ahrefs, Semrush or Moz for authority scores, history and lost-link tracking.
Audit your own links quarterly at minimum, and immediately after any suspicious ranking event. The workflow below mirrors what professionals charge for.
Begin Free: Search Console's Links Report
Because ownership is verified, this data comes straight from Google's own crawl — nothing external matches its authority for your property:
- Select the Links report from the sidebar.
- Review "Top linked pages" to see which addresses attract the most citations.
- Inspect "Top linking sites" for unexpected or spam-flavoured domains.
- Study "Top linking text" — your anchor distribution at a glance.
- Export everything to CSV for deeper sorting offline.
Bing Webmaster Tools provides an equivalent report and occasionally surfaces links Google conceals. Run both quarterly; comparing the two exports takes minutes and catches shifts either engine alone would bury.
Go Deeper With Third-Party Crawlers
Commercial databases crawl billions of pages independently and expose metrics Google withholds: authority ratings, first-seen dates, follow status, and new-versus-lost velocity. Figures will never agree across tools or with Search Console — each maintains a private index — so treat every number as directional. Ahrefs' free checker lets you sample any domain's top backlinks before paying for depth:
| Source | Cost | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Search Console Links | Free | Google's own view; verified data for owned properties |
| Ahrefs | Paid, limited free checker | Fresh index and strong historical charts |
| Semrush | Paid, restricted free tier | Toxicity scoring plus bulk workflows |
| Majestic | Freemium | Deep archive with trust-flow metrics |
What Deserves Genuine Scrutiny
Referring Domains Over Raw Link Counts
Ten thousand links from twelve domains screams manipulation; steady growth in unique linking domains signals health. Make referring domains your headline statistic.
Anchor Text Balance
Natural profiles lean heavily branded and miscellaneous. Money-keyword anchors exceeding roughly a tenth of the total invite algorithmic suspicion — Penguin-era lessons still govern here.
Follow Versus Nofollow Mix
An entirely dofollow profile looks manufactured. Healthy sites carry a meaningful minority of nofollow citations from news, social platforms and forums.
New-Lost Velocity
Sudden spikes suggest campaigns or attacks; abrupt losses hint at removed pages or deindexed sources. Investigate both directions promptly.
Deciding What to Do About Junk Links
Most incidental spam never needs your attention — Google discounting handles competitors' casino comment blasts automatically. Reserve serious response for sustained, targeted dumps:
- Document the pattern with exports and screenshots.
- Email removal requests where contacts exist, keeping records of attempts.
- Consider the disavow file only as a last resort — careless use strips legitimate equity too.
Key Takeaways
- Search Console delivers free, authoritative link data for verified properties.
- Commercial tools add scoring, history and loss tracking Google omits.
- Referring-domain growth and anchor balance outweigh raw totals.
- Ignore incidental spam; intervene only against concentrated attacks.