How to Find Backlinks to a Website on Google For Free?

Last Updated on 18/04/2025

Backlinks are one of the most potent signals search engines use to determine a website’s relevance, authority, and trustworthiness. Simply put, a backlink is a hyperlink from one website that points to another — and in the world of SEO, each backlink can be seen as a vote of confidence in your content.

Whether you’re analyzing your website or checking out the competition, understanding where backlinks come from can help you improve your search rankings, create better content, and strengthen your link-building strategy.

If you’ve ever wondered how to find backlinks to a website on Google, this guide walks you through step-by-step methods — free Google search techniques and SEO tools that make backlink analysis much more manageable. Whether you’re an SEO beginner or a digital marketing pro, you’ll find practical tips to uncover any website’s backlink profile.

Key Takeaways

• Backlinks are crucial for SEO — they signal authority and trust to search engines.
• You can find backlinks using Google search operators, Google Alerts, and SEO tools like Ahrefs or Ubersuggest.
• Google’s native tools offer limited backlink data but are still valid for quick checks.
• For a more complete picture, third-party tools provide detailed backlink profiles for any website, including competitors.
• This guide will walk you through step-by-step methods on how to find backlinks to a website on Google and beyond.

“Finding backlinks to any website on Google doesn’t have to cost a penny—just use smart search operators like site:, link:, or "example.com" in quotes to uncover where your links live and how others are mentioning you online.” – Jacob from Juillet Marketing.

What Are Backlinks and Why Do They Matter for SEO?

A backlink is a hyperlink from one website to a page on another website. In the eyes of search engines like Google, backlinks act as votes of confidence—the more high-quality backlinks a page has, the more trustworthy and valuable it appears.

Backlinks are a significant part of Google’s original PageRank algorithm and continue to be one of the top-ranking factors today. But it’s not just about quantity — quality, relevance, and diversity of your backlinks matter even more.

Here’s why backlinks are essential for SEO:

• Improve search engine rankings – Pages with firm backlink profiles often outrank competitors.
• Drive referral traffic – A backlink on a high-traffic site can send visitors directly to your content.
• Boost authority and trust – Earning links from reputable domains increases your site’s credibility.
• Help Google discover your content – Backlinks help search engines crawl and index your pages faster.

In short, if you want your website to rank higher on Google, you need to understand how backlinks work — and more importantly, how to find and analyze them.

How to Find Backlinks to a Website on Google (Free Methods)

If you’re looking for a no-cost way to check backlinks, Google offers simple (but limited) tricks. While these methods won’t give you a complete backlink profile, they’re a great starting point — especially if you’re just getting started with SEO.

And yes, these methods work for checking your and competitor’s websites.

1. Use the link: Search Operator (Limited but Quick)

Google used to support the link: search operator in finding pages that link to a specific URL. You can try it like this:

bashCopyEditlink:example.com

This tells Google to return pages that link to example.com.

Note: Google has dramatically reduced support for this operator so that it won’t show a comprehensive list, but it may still reveal some linking pages.

2. Use Advanced Google Search Queries

You can use a combination of Google search tricks to find backlinks or mentions of a domain or URL manually.

Try these formats:

• "example.com" -site:example.com
  → Finds pages that mention “example.com” but aren’t on the site itself (potential backlinks)
• "example.com" + "guest post"
  → Finds guest posts that may include backlinks to the domain
• "example.com" + "cited from" or "example.com" + "source"
  → Helpful for discovering citations or content links

These queries can surface backlinks or give clues about where your site is being mentioned online, especially on blogs, forums, or industry pages.

3. Set Up Google Alerts for Your Brand or Domain

Google Alerts is a free tool that notifies you when your brand, domain, or chosen keyword is mentioned online.

How to use it:

1. Go to Google Alerts
2. Enter your domain like: example.com
3. Choose how often you want updates

While this doesn’t guarantee every alert is a backlink, it helps you spot new mentions, many of which will include links. It’s also a great way to monitor unlinked mentions you can follow up on.

Better Alternatives to Google for Backlink Discovery (Free + Paid Tools)

While Google search gives you a few basic methods, it doesn’t show a complete list of backlinks — even for your site. Using third-party tools is essential if you’re serious about SEO or link-building.

Check out Link-Building Statistics 2025

Here are some of the best tools to find backlinks to a website, whether it’s yours or a competitor’s:

1. Ahrefs Free Backlink Checker

Ahrefs offers a free version of its powerful backlink analysis tool. Just enter any domain or URL, and you’ll get:

• Top 100 backlinks to the site
• Number of referring domains
• Anchor text data
• URL rating (UR) and domain rating (DR)

It’s one of the most accurate tools out there, and it’s perfect for a quick overview.

Pro Tip: The paid version lets you dig deeper, export data, and monitor your link profile over time.

2. Ubersuggest (by Neil Patel)

Ubersuggest is a beginner-friendly SEO tool that offers backlink data under its free plan (with limited daily searches).

Features include:

• Total backlinks and referring domains
• Page and domain authority metrics
• Backlink timeline graphs
• Competitor backlink analysis

Great for small businesses or bloggers looking for an affordable alternative.

3. SEMrush Backlink Analytics

SEMrush is another premium SEO suite known for its backlink capabilities. With its Backlink Analytics tool, you can:

• View total backlinks and referring domains
• Filter by country, domain type, and anchor text
• Check follow vs nofollow ratios
• Compare backlink profiles with competitors

SEMrush also offers a Backlink Audit tool to help clean up toxic links.

If you’re wondering how to find backlinks to a website on Google and beyond, SEMrush provides the depth you won’t get from search operators alone.

4. Moz Link Explorer

Moz Link Explorer provides backlink data and domain authority metrics. You’ll get:

• Inbound links
• Linking domains
• Spam score
• Anchor text usage

Moz is a great option to understand your site’s link equity or analyze a competitor’s backlink strength.

Check out our detailed comparison of Ahrefs Vs Moz

Comparison Table: How to Find Backlinks to a Website (Google vs Tools)

Method	Free / Paid	What It Shows	Best For	Limitations
link:example.com Google Operator	Free	A few linking pages	Quick checks	Minimal results; no anchor/context info
Advanced Google Search Queries	Free	Mentions that may include backlinks	Finding guest posts, citations	Manual, time-consuming
Google Alerts	Free	New mentions of your site or brand	Tracking brand + possible backlinks	Doesn’t always show links; it’s alert-based only
Ahrefs Free Backlink Checker	Free	Top 100 backlinks, anchor text, DR/UR	Quick overview of any website	Limited access without subscription
Google Search Console (your site only)	Free	Verified backlinks, top linking sites/pages	Site owners wanting verified data	Doesn’t show competitor backlinks
Ubersuggest	Freemium	Total backlinks, referring domains, overview	Beginners and budget-conscious SEOs	Limited daily searches without a paid plan
SEMrush / Ahrefs / Moz (Paid Tools)	Paid	Complete backlink profile, filters, metrics	In-depth SEO and competitive analysis	Subscription needed; learning curve for beginners

How to Find Backlinks to a Competitor’s Website on Google

Analyzing your competitors’ backlinks is one of the smartest ways to improve your SEO strategy. When you understand where their links are coming from, you can find new opportunities to earn similar or even better ones.

If you’ve been searching for how to find backlinks to a website on Google, the good news is that the same techniques work just as well for competitor analysis.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Use Google Search Operators

Start with a few smart search queries to manually surface backlinks or mentions of your competitors:

• "competitor.com" -site:competitor.com
  → Finds web pages mentioning their domain — some of these will include links
• "competitor.com" + "guest post"
  → Helps you identify blogs where they’ve contributed content (you could pitch the same ones)
• "competitor.com" + "review"
  → Can uncover product reviews, influencer mentions, or affiliate partnerships

These don’t give the complete backlink list, but they reveal link patterns and give you ideas for outreach.

2. Analyze Competitor Backlinks Using Tools

To go deeper, plug your competitor’s domain into tools like:

• Ahrefs – View their top referring domains, best-performing pages, and recent backlinks
• SEMrush – Filter competitor links by authority, region, anchor text, or link type
• Ubersuggest – Get a snapshot of their backlink volume and referring sources
• Moz – Discover linking domains and spam risk for competitor links

Pro Tip: Use the “Link Intersect” feature (in Ahrefs or SEMrush) to find domains linking to your competitors — but not to you. That’s your opportunity gap.

3. Build a Competitor Backlink Strategy

Once you’ve gathered backlink data:

• Create a list of the top referring domains to your competitors
• Identify content types earning them the most links (guides, tools, blog posts, etc.)
• Reach out to similar sites or directories to request a backlink or guest post
• Improve or replicate similar content and promote it to the same sources

This approach not only helps you find backlinks to a competitor’s website using Google, but it also allows you to reverse engineer their link-building success.

Pro Tips for Backlink Analysis and Strategy

Finding backlinks is just the beginning — the real value comes from knowing how to analyze them and turn that data into an actionable SEO strategy. Whether you’re checking your site or spying on your competitors, here are some expert tips to help you get more out of your backlink analysis.

1. Prioritize Quality Over Quantity

Not all backlinks are created equal. A single link from a high-authority, relevant website can be more valuable than dozens from low-quality sources. When analyzing backlinks, focus on:

• Domain Authority (DA) or Domain Rating (DR)
• Relevance to your niche or industry
• Placement of the link (within content vs footer/sidebar)
• Dofollow vs nofollow status

Tip: Use filters in tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to isolate high-DR links and weed out spammy sources.

2. Monitor Anchor Text Diversity

Anchor text — the clickable text of a backlink — gives search engines context about your content. But over-optimization (using the same exact-match keyword repeatedly) can trigger red flags.

Keep your anchor profile natural and varied, including:

• Branded terms (e.g. “YourBrand”)
• Generic terms (e.g., “click here”, “this site”)
• Partial match or related keywords
• Naked URLs (e.g., https://yourdomain.com)

3. Identify and Reclaim Lost or Broken Backlinks

Sometimes, backlinks to your site disappear due to:

• The linking page is being deleted
• A change in URL structure
• Site migrations or redirects

Use Ahrefs or SEMrush to find lost or broken backlinks and reclaim them by:

• Reaching out to the linking site with a corrected URL
• Setting up 301 redirects on your site if the target page has changed

4. Keep an Eye on Link Velocity

Link velocity refers to how quickly your site is gaining or losing backlinks. A sudden spike or drop may indicate:

• Successful link-building efforts
• Content going viral
• A spammy link attack
• Lost links from deleted or expired pages

Regularly monitor your backlink growth to ensure it looks natural and consistent.

5. Track New Referring Domains Over Time

More referring domains = more trust in the eyes of Google.

Set a goal to consistently earn links from new, diverse domains, rather than getting dozens from the same source. Tools like Ahrefs and Moz allow you to track this metric easily.

FAQs

Conclusion

Learning how to find backlinks to a website on Google is valuable whether you’re doing competitive analysis, tracking your SEO performance, or just getting started with link-building.

From basic Google search operators to powerful tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz, there are plenty of ways to uncover who’s linking to you — and your competitors. Just remember: it’s not about chasing raw numbers. It’s about building a diverse, high-quality backlink profile that boosts your rankings, drives traffic, and builds long-term authority.

Need Help With Backlink Strategy or SEO?

We’ve got you covered if you’re unsure where to start or don’t have time to dig through backlink data and pitch websites.

Book a free call today and let us help you build a clean, robust backlink profile that moves the needle.

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