What is the best backlink checker tool

[dm57]

Hi, we currently use SEMRush, but I've used WebCEO before. If I remember correctly WebCEO allows you to see not only how many backlinks you have, and from where, but also what page they are going to. That would be helpful to know, and that's why I'm thinking of switching from SEMRush to WebCEO, but if I can find a way to get that information without foregoing SEMRush, that would be great.

Mods Note: We don't normally allow specific SEO tools to be mentioned but we are going to make an exception here. Please make sure to say what is good AND what needs improving for each tool you mention. If we suspect any spamming, we are going to delete first and ask questions later.

[edited by: goodroi at 9:57 am (utc) on Jul 12, 2019]

[jediviper]

Ahrefs is a great tool too, as it can also calculate some sort of a traffic rate from each link, so someone can compare and see how useful is every link.

[flatfile]

Majestic is the best in my opinion.

Ahrefs is the best link discovery tool that I've ever used. They crawl faster than anyone else, but their scoring algorithm puts too much emphasis on link volume. As a result, it's easy for a person to get fooled into thinking they have a strong site.

On the other hand, I've found Majestic's topical trust flow to be much more reflective of link quality compared to others.

[Dimitri]

GSC ? It shows your backlinks, from which page, and where they go to your site ...

[flatfile]

GSC doesn't show a link's relative strength(it's not in Google's interest to show you that) or whether it is follow or nofollow. It also doesn't show your competitors' links. GSC is practically useless for link building.

[NickMNS]

GSC doesn't show a link's relative strength(it's not in Google's interest to show you that)

Neither do any other services, sure they show some a number but there is no way to know whether this really coincides with Google's opinion of the link. So it is basically worthless.

or whether it is follow or nofollow

Sure that is true, but how difficult is it to go to the page, and right click "inspect element" to see if the attribute appears in the <a> tag.

It also doesn't show your competitors' links.

True, but then again I am not really concerned about what my competitors are doing, because there is no way to know for sure whether any one action is the action that can be attributed to their success or failure. So personally I don't see the point off obsessing on what others are doing.

If you want to know whether a link is good or bad, you need to go to the linking site and check it out for yourself. Even that is pointless, because what if a link is bad? Is Google ignoring it? Will disavowing it make it go away?

GSC is not great, but in my opinion it is the best information one can hope to get and it is free. The other services charge an exorbitant rate to provide screens filled with graphs and stats for metrics that are verifiable or proven effective all they provide is an illusion of science.

[NickMNS]

<snip>
I would really be interested in hearing how the data provided by these services helps given that the information is imperfect.

[edited by: goodroi at 7:54 pm (utc) on Jul 16, 2019]
[edit reason] Let's be careful to stay on topic :) [/edit]

[goodroi]

Sometimes imperfect data is better than no data. I personally find Majestic to be useful. I don't blindly follow it and know its imperfect but Majestic does tend to help point me in the right direction most of the time.

It's like having a friend act as a matchmaker. No matchmaker is perfect but a good matchmaker can help you save some time and minimize bad blind dates.

[flatfile]

@goodroi exactly. Life isn't binary, the fact that something isn't perfect doesn't make it worthless. X doesn't have to happen at the exclusion of Y, these tools are just a single component of a holistic process. Does this really need to be explained, shouldn't it be obvious?

[goodroi]

@flatfile Sometimes people need to be reminded about the opposite as well. Just because something is being sold does not mean it has good value. There are plenty of self proclaimed expert SEO tools that are total garbage. Even if a webmaster blindly follows a good but imperfect tool they can run into really bad trouble. A certain well known SEO tool labeled one of my best traffic generating links as a likely spam link that should be removed.

[aristotle]

I've never used any of these paid-for services. It's better to make your own judgements on the value of a link.

Most non-brand sites have a lot of very low-value backlinks, which can mostly be dis-regarded, vs only a few, if any, really good backlinks..

In my opinion the best backlinks would be:

-- backlinks that consistently send traffic to your site

-- backlinks from other sites in your niche

-- backlinks from well-known news sites, big organizations, government agencies, and other sites of this type

As for nofollow links, they can still send traffic. Also, there have been many discussions here as to whether google really does completely disregard them

[Dimitri]

In my opinion the best backlinks would be:

Agreed... but shhh, for SEOists it doesn't matter, all what counts is if it contributes or not to improve their ranking :)

[jediviper]

These tools offer valuable info for competition and they allow you easily to compare backlinks, content, kws etc.
There is NO way to do something like this manually.

And if someone believes that the competition doesn't matter, then I believe that he is thinking wrongly. There is no business, where if you want to improve your performance you decide not to follow closely what is happening with your competitors.

[Dimitri]

Followers & Leaders

[brotherhood of LAN]

All of them should show prominent links, which'll be of interest. All of them should also display any unnatural link growth or loss. These facts alone are quite useful.

Some of their indexes are bigger than others but all are generally huge.

[KaseyM]

1) Ahrefs
2) SEMRush
3) Every other tool
4) Googling my site link
399) Google Search Console

[equidistant]

Yahoo used to have the best backlink data, back in the days when they allowed backlink checking. Sad that they closed. Next best I would say is ahrefs.

[tangor]

The best keyword tool is the one that gives the magic potion!

Haven't seen one that works yet.

[Dimitri]

@tangor, I think you meant to post your message here : [webmasterworld.com...] :)

[aristotle]

Yahoo used to have the best backlink data, back in the days when they allowed backlink checking. Sad that they closed.

That was the FREE Yahoo Site Explorer. It showed the top (up to 1000) backlinks of any site, ranked in the order of Yahoo's evaluation of their strength.

I haven't used any of the paid services, but would bet that none them come anywhere close to the old (and free) Yahoo Site Explorer.

[deavid]

Hello @dm57, I personally recommend youAhrefs because it gives you all of the tools that you need to track your backlinks and keywords.
or you can you use many tools like:
Linkody
cognitiveSEO
Kerboo
LinkResearchTools
Majestic SEO

[Robert Charlton]

Mod's note: Temporarily locking this thread until we establish poster qualifications. Right now, we're getting too many questionable posts from New Users.