Free Backlink Checker + Complete Backlink Guide for 2023

How Our Free Backlink Checker Tool Works

Backlinks are a top Google ranking factor determining how your website performs in search results.

With backlinks being so important, you must know what your backlink profile looks like.

That’s how you will know where you stand compared to your competitors and what you must do to move another step forward.
To do that, you have to start analyzing your backlinks. That’s why you need a free backlink checker tool.

Integrated with Data For SEO, our free backlink checker tool fetches a detailed backlink analysis report of a particular domain in no time.

The Overview section shows you

Using this tool, you can

That’s the overview of what you see when you use our backlink checker.

You can view all these details absolutely FREE!

How to Use Our Free Backlink Checker Tool

Our backlink checker tool is available for everyone. It is easy to use, and you don’t need any technical knowledge.

Type or paste your target domain in the search bar and hit Enter after adding your email id.

Once you enter the Domain, our tool will instantly generate the report.

Besides backlink data, our tool displays other primary metrics discussed in the previous section.

How Our Backlink Data Benefits You

The backlink information you get using our backlink checker can bring you the following benefits.

SEO

Analyzing your backlink profile with our tool helps you to find how Google has positioned your site in its search results.

On the other hand, analyzing your competitors’ backlink profiles with the tool can help you find potential backlink gaps and gain new link building opportunities. This will ultimately complement your SEO efforts.

Strengthen Your Backlink Profile

With the backlink data, you can weigh the quality of your referring domains.

The more authoritative the sites that link back to you, the more powerful your backlinks are.

Powerful backlinks help build a healthier backlink profile in the long run.

Leverage your backlink data to strengthen your backlink profile and get rewarded by Google with higher search rankings.

Develop Industry Partnerships

Use our backlink checker to keep track of sites that link back to you. By following them closely, you can also find out who else they link back to and who links back to their sites.

This way, you can expand your network and develop new industry partnerships. These niche-based collaborations can bring more significant link building opportunities your way.

High-Quality Backlinks: A Must-Have for SEO

If you want to rank at the top of Google, backlinks are a must-have. The more the number of backlinks, the higher your probability of achieving top rankings.

However, it isn’t always about quantity. Link quality matters too. While Google is fond of high-quality, contextual links from authoritative domains, it hates spammy backlinks from low-quality sites.

In other words, the quality and relevance of your backlinks are what ultimately matter. So, you need to evaluate the quality and relevance of your backlinks to avoid a negative SEO impact.

That’s why you need a reliable backlink checker tool to monitor your backlinks from time to time.

 Complete Backlink Guide for 2023

Have backlinks always been a never-ending maze for you?

No worries. This can happen to anyone, from a beginner to a pro.

In my opinion, debunking backlinks the right way will help anyone and everyone easily make sense of this often critical SEO ranking factor.

That’s exactly what I am about to do here now.

Let me break down backlinks one step at a time and by the end of the article, I’m sure that you will leave behind the feeling that backlinks are a scary house and realize what an SEO treasure it is.

And the best part is you can earn powerful backlinks if you know where to tap.

I’ll tell you what, why and how.

What Are Backlinks?

Backlinks are considered a vote of trust that you receive from another website. Also known as inbound links or external links based on different contexts, backlinks carry a lot of value.

For search engines like Google, backlinks are an important ranking factor and ignoring it might result in lower organic rankings and visitors.

The basic ranking equation works in favor of sites with higher backlinks as they tend to receive more organic traffic. Therefore, the higher the number of high-quality backlinks pointing to your site, the more chance you will rank on top of search engine results pages.

Here is a backlink that I received from Search Engine Land’s website.

As you can see, the link is pointing to our evergreen article on Google Algorithm Update.

Why Does Your Website Need Backlinks?

Whenever a site does exceptional work in a particular field, they tend to get references from related websites. Google and other search engines think such links signal that the website and the content are authentic and useful.

So, when multiple websites with high-quality content are vying for the #1 position, Google looks at the number of backlinks to decide which one to rank in the top position.

This is why website owners try to get as many backlinks from credible and relevant sources to their websites.

How many backlinks do you need?

The core Google algorithm invented by the founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin was called PageRank. If you go into the Stanford Paper that talks about the PageRank algorithm, it’s evident that there is a lot of impetus given to links.

We have reported many algorithm updates and changes over the last many years; however, all these changes are made on top of the original PageRank concept. This is why, even today, backlinks are a vital signal for Google.

Do a quick analysis of the sites that are ranking in the top 10 positions of Google search. You can find that websites with a higher ranking are positioned on the top, whereas the ones with no or fewer backlinks are positioned below the search.

The number of backlinks your website needs to rank higher on Google depends on various factors, including how competitive your niche is, the search volume of the keyword you want to rank for and how strong your backlink profile is.

What Type of Backlinks Should You Build?

You’re terribly mistaken if you think Google will love your website after building some backlinks.

Google isn’t ok with you building a few types of backlinks. So it’s imperative for you to stay away from such links to ensure you don’t invite the search engine giant’s wrath.

To start with, focus on getting very high-quality links.

So let me tell you what constitutes a high-quality link.

High-Quality links are received from sites with authority in your niche, and your target audience loves them.

That’s what you say in words but in SEO, numbers matter.

Earlier, Google had a PageRank Metric of  0-10 to identify a website’s quality. However, this feature has been deprecated for a long time.

In 2022, you have a handful of tools that can help identify the quality of a website.

One such metric is the Domain Authority. It’s a metric used by Moz, a popular SEO tool provider, probably the first in the industry.

Another one is DR or Domain Rating. Yet again, this is a metric that’s christened by an SEO tools provider named AHREFs.

There are more metrics out there, including SEMRush’s Authority Score.

Most of them do the analysis based on a logarithmic algorithm that rates a site on a 0-100 scale. The more the score, the harder it becomes for the website to increase the rating.

There are tons of factors that these tools use to evaluate the quality of a website. Most importantly, it’s the quality of the links they get and, of course, the organic traction they receive.

If you are planning to build backlinks, check these metrics, and make sure that the sites you choose have higher authority and less spam/toxic score.

A spam score is a signal that the website may be using blackout techniques, and it might soon get penalized.

The higher the spam score, the greater the chance of the site getting penalized by Google.

Here is another equation that’s quite popular within the SEO sphere.

1 High-Quality Backlink = 1000 Low-Quality Links – Zero Risk

This means that you must save the time spent on getting hundreds of low-quality links to earn one or two high-quality ones because that will help your website grow.

Why Should You Build High Domain Authority Links?

Above, I discussed a few metrics that evaluate the quality of a website. So, why should you focus on building backlinks from sites that fulfill such quality metrics?

Is it only to gain organic rankings?

There is a more profound benefit that you get from these high-quality links.

The more high domain authority links you earn, the more you will naturally start ranking for the topics within your niche.

Over time, Google’s algorithm will identify your website as an authoritative source for a topic or a niche. This means you will start ranking for pages naturally without needing a heavy backlink push.

This essentially means that if you focus on building quality backlinks today, they will help you reduce the number of links you may have to build later.

Additionally, you will attract natural backlinks by ranking higher on Google for the topics within your niche. What this means is that you earn links, that too, from highly relevant sources, without breaking a sweat.

Note: 90% of the backlinks within Stan Ventures website are earned through publishing thought leadership materials like the one you are currently reading and not built.

But in order to achieve such a feat, you must invest time in building high-quality backlinks today. If you are using an external agency to build backlinks, make sure to review the link quality before giving the go-ahead.

Features of High-Quality Backlinks

Contextual and Relevant

If you find links that are not relevant or contextual to your business, just say a big no and ask for better quality ones.

For example:

When Stan Ventures gets a link from Jeff Bullas’s website, it’s 100% relevant, contextual and high quality.

On the other hand, when a Pharma site passes a link to Stan Ventures, it has less relevance. (However, if the links are placed within a contextual paragraph, it carries value)

Read More About Contextual and Relevant Link Building

Exact Match/Partial Match/Long-Tailed Anchors

As you may already know, the anchor text gives search engines the context of the page it’s linked to.

So, if you are building backlinks, make sure to identify a proper anchor text for the links you build.

Anchor text used to build backlinks is usually the keywords for which you want Google to rank your website.

There are different types of anchor text, and each type is used for different link-building strategies.

Read our in-depth article on Anchor Text to know more about anchor text and link profiles.

Caution:

Too many exact match anchor texts may trigger a penalty, as this is one strategy that’s commonly used by Black Hat SEOs. Try to make your backlink profile diverse. 

Type of Backlink

Think of it this way. You found a resource that can help your users better understand a concept. However, you need to figure out the authenticity of the site. You would want Google to know that the link placed is not a vote of trust. That’s when you use the nofollow link attribute.

But if you are a website owner looking to build quality backlinks, this is one scenario you should avoid. You will need more than just building nofollow backlinks to improve your rankings. (At least in the way a do-follow link does).

Google, in 2020, announced that the nofollow link would help understand the context of the web pages and be used for ranking and indexing purposes.

Since you are putting effort into building backlinks, ensure that you build do-follow links.

There are other types of links, such as sponsored and UGC.

Though UGC links carry some weight, the Sponsored links give Google an indication not to consider them for ranking as they are placed for monetary benefit.

Read more about the different types of links in this post.

Link Placement

The quality of your backlink also depends on where it is placed on a page.

It’s good if you secure a link placement in the body of the content where people easily notice and click it.

On the contrary, if your link is offered a place in the page’s footer or put somewhere along with a multitude of links on the sidebar, feel free to decline it and move on to a better opportunity.

Trustworthiness of the Referring Domain

Let’s say you run a news website. Would you prefer building a backlink from an authoritative site like Forbes or opt for a random news website with little reputation?

You will pick Forbes mainly because it is one of the most trusted news websites.

It is the same with Google.

If your backlinks are from authoritative sites in your niche, Google will emphasize them a lot.

The more authority the site has that links back to you, the more trust it will pass on to you.

This way, high-quality backlinks prompt Google to look at you as an authority in your niche in the long run.

Traffic

Driving more traffic to the target site is one of the significant features of a high-quality backlink.

Every time users click on your backlink, they get redirected from an external site to yours.

But why do they click on the backlink?

That’s because they want to get more information about a particular topic.

Also, you must tell Google that your content is topically relevant to the site that links back to you.

So, make sure your backlinks are powerful and contextual enough to drive qualified traffic to your website.

Avoid Repeats

If you are building backlinks, one thing you must try avoiding is repeats.

There is no data that shows multiple links from the same site offering a ranking boost.

So, if you are using a backlink checker tool, go for the section that says Referring Domains. You can always see that the number of referring domains is always less than the number of backlinks.

This is because the same site may have linked to your website multiple times from different web pages. This number could exponentially grow if the link is placed on the header, footer or sidebar as it replicates across the site.

That’s normal if the Referring Domain: Backlink ratio is 50:100. However, if you see a lot of difference, it could indicate that spammy sites are linking back.

Why would an authentic website provide more than a few links?

Also, if you are getting help from an agency to build your backlink, ensure they come up with new domains every time.

Why would you pay to place the link on a site that has already provided you with one?

Backlink Building Best Practices

Create Link Worthy Resources

If you look at the philosophy of backlinks keeping aside ranking and other SEO factors, it’s nothing but a token of appreciation for producing great content.

But what is this great content?

I believe it could be anything that solves specific problems of your target audience.

Think of it this way:

When you write on topics that are least cared for by your targets, will they read the resource you created?

How will you get backlinks if they don’t take the time to read it?

The basic principle of creating link-worthy content is writing about topics your target audience is desperately looking for answers to.

If they find your content worth mentioning on their website, you are setting sail to build natural backlinks.

If you notice the process, natural backlinks are earned rather than built.

This means that cracking the code to generate a natural backlink also means building a trusted relationship with the audience.

If you think about the format of the asset, it could be anything, a research report, a log-form blog, an infographic, an embedded video, or anything that can help you earn links.

For example:

Google releases broad core algorithm updates every few months, which is when webmasters go crazy, as there is a lot of SERP movement.

I decided to create frequently updated content based on each update’s impact on websites.

It’s one of our top-performing blogs here in Stan Ventures, and 70% of our total links are generated to this blog. Know that all these are 100% natural backlinks.

What I mean to say is you may only require one solid content to get all those backlinks required to rank higher. (Though multiple assets are going to make the ranking process much faster.)

Reverse Engineer Your Competitors’ Backlinks

You build backlinks to outrank your competitors. What if I told you you could use their backlink profiles to beat them?

Analyzing the link profiles of the other players in your industry is one of the best ways to discover fresh link building prospects.

Perform link intersect analysis using Ahrefs to identify sites that link back to your competitors’ sites but not yours.

If a website links back to multiple competitors, it can also link back to you, right? That’s the point.

Once you identify the potential backlink gaps between you and your competitors, it’s time to connect with website owners using a badass email pitch that they cannot ignore.

Influencer Outreach

If you’re thinking of earning backlinks, identify the top websites, and influencers in your niche. Just do a quick Google search or use tools such as Sparktoro to identify the influencers.

Influencers are people who like to find and test anything latest in the industry. Take the example of YouTubers who rig smartphones. They are influencers who are heard by a lot of audiences.

What they say, tweet or post on their sites about your assets will get you a lot of attention and, as a result, natural backlinks.

Having said that, you can’t just go with any random influencer.

Moreover, if you choose a Macro Influencer, they may charge you a bomb. But wait, does your target audience really care what they say?

Most of the time, no!

That’s why you must choose influencers with utmost care. Almost every time, the best influencer who can give you a backlink and influence others to do the same could be a micro-influencer.

NOTE:

This link-building strategy has to be used only on flawless products and research. If the reviewers find flaws, these can negatively affect your brand.

Blogger Outreach

You can also send the research report, product, or software to some of the top publishers in your niche.

If they find it worth sharing with the target audience, they will mention your asset, and a handful of others will write about it, and you will start to earn natural backlinks.

You can’t force these bloggers to use the exact match anchor text for these links. By the way, you don’t need a lot of exact matches, as it looks outrightly spammy.

Let the reviews be natural, and so be the links because Google loves such genuine links.

NOTE: This is the link-building strategy we have mastered here at Stan Ventures. We have a list of 20,000+ niche bloggers who cater to different niche industries. Contact us for any blogger outreach support.

So, if you have an information/product/blog to share with the audience, we hit these bloggers with a well-crafted article that native writers write. They publish it along with a backlink; as a result, you get a natural backlink.

Guest Posting

Guest Posting is the technique of creating content for another website and linking back to your own.  When you write a guest post, you’ll also receive a byline on it.

This is one of the most popular link building strategies that can earn in-content backlinks to your website.

When done on sites with organic traffic, guest posting helps you earn both referral traffic and reputation. Additionally, since you earn a dofollow link, you can enjoy the benefits of link juice passing to your site.

Guest posting is beneficial in proving your site’s credibility in the long run. Since you get a byline for your guest posts, it will keep bringing authority to your site even in the future.

NewsJacking

NewsJacking is an excellent link building strategy that can earn you enough backlinks to rank on top if implemented rightly.

Keep an eye on everything happening within your niche. When you see any news or research that interests your audience, do a piece of content around it. Make sure you take an opinion and analyze the benefits, advantages, and disadvantages in detail.

Don’t delay publishing or sharing it across social channels, as your competitors may be getting ready with similar content. In NewsJacking, the early bird catches the prey.

Since you are bound to rank higher on Google as you are the first to write about it, more websites will find your post and quote it while writing theirs.

Example: If you are into the business of selling iPhones, keep a close watch on the new iPhone announcements.

Create content based on the highlights of the announcement with additional research about the performance improvements compared to the previous generation.

If you are not too late, the post will have already generated a few quality backlinks.

Broken Link Building

Broken link building is an excellent way to earn backlinks. It is a strategy where you use 404 error pages from other sites in your niche to your link building advantage.

So, how do you do that?

To start with, use a seed keyword and discover pages with lots of backlinks.

The more the number of links, the more the probability of links being broken.

Alternatively, you can also use a chrome extension like Check My Links to find broken links on the go.

Once you create a list of broken link building opportunities, shortlist them based on traffic, relevance and uniqueness.

Reach out to those website owners and request them to replace the broken link with a backlink to your page.

Make sure you create a convincing email pitch that genuinely tells webmasters why they need to replace the existing link with yours.

Unlinked Brand Mentions

It is easier to earn backlinks from websites that are familiar with your brand than the ones that aren’t.

What exactly are we talking about?

Your brand.

Your brand is your identity in your business sphere.

People who are aware of your brand may mention it in their content. However, there are instances where they mention your brand but don’t link back to you.

When you reach out to them asking to link back to your page, the chances of getting a link placement are pretty high.

But how do you know that someone has actually mentioned your brand?

Leverage a monitoring tool to find brand mentions and connect with corresponding webmasters to turn them into backlinks.

BEWARE. Brand mentions with a negative tone can backfire, especially when you build backlinks.

That said, ensure that you leverage the right brand mentions to build links.

Podcasts

Another strategy winning businesses use to build backlinks and increase brand recognition is participating in Podcasts.

For Example:

Stan Ventures has a dedicated podcast section known as SEO On-Air, with over 70 influencers and SEO agency founders speaking on various SEO-related topics.

It’s our practice to provide a link to the official website of each guest we bring to our podcast.

Probably, what you may want to do is to reach out to people who are doing podcasts within your niche and show your interest in participating.

Make sure to mention your area of expertise and how your knowledge and experience will help their targets.

HARO

If you want high-quality backlinks, HARO (Help A Reporter Out) is something you shouldn’t miss out on.

Once you sign up for HARO, you will receive queries related to your industry from reporters looking for information via email.

If you answer one or more of these queries, you earn a backlink to your site for every quote that gets cited.

HARO is, in fact, one of the best ways to acquire high-quality backlinks from authority sites with minimal effort.

Industry Partnerships

Collaborating with some of the players in your industry is paramount to your business growth in the long run.

The good news is healthy industry partnerships can bring you great link building opportunities.

Google hates it when you participate in link schemes. However, at the end of the day, what really matters is the relevance and quality of your backlinks.

You don’t get on the wrong side of the search engine if you don’t indulge in spamming the web with low-quality backlinks.

Leverage your partnerships within the industry to build genuine, high-quality backlinks so that Google doesn’t look at it as violating its guidelines.

I’ve mentioned many backlink building strategies here, but you may not need all of them.

Try each of these and find the most successful link building strategy based on the success rate.

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