Free plan: up to 100 URLs/domains per submission, 500 inbound link lookups per day (a budget shared with our Backlink Checker and other backlink tools). Upgrade for up to 1,000 URLs/domains per submission.
Debug: upstream API calls (click to expand)
| Source URL | Destination URL | Domain Authority |
Page Rank |
Spam Score |
Domains/URLs |
|---|
How it works
The Inbound Link Checker finds the inbound links, also called backlinks, pointing at your site. It queries a third-party index of the public web's link graph and returns every page our source knows of that links to your target URL or domain. For each link we attach metrics about the source domain, so you can judge link quality at a glance.
Single mode processes one URL or domain per submission. Bulk mode queues up to 100 URLs or domains and processes them in the background, so you can keep working while the job runs.
Auto-detection. With the type set to Auto, anything starting with http:// or https:// is treated as a Page URL. Everything else is treated as a Domain. A page URL returns inbound links to that page. A domain returns inbound links to every page on that host. You can override the auto-pick from the type dropdown.
Metrics we attach to each row:
- Domain Authority from Moz, a 0 to 100 prediction of ranking strength.
- Page Rank on a 0 to 10 scale, based on Google's original PageRank idea and computed from the public link graph.
- Spam Score from Moz, 0 to 100. Higher means more spam signals on the source domain.
Plan caps. Depth per target is capped by your plan, at 500 inbound links per URL or domain on the Free plan. Each submission counts as one job toward a daily quota shared with the Backlink Checker, Backlink Gap Analyzer, and Listing Checker.
Known limitations.
- Not a complete count. No single index covers the whole web. Small or newly published pages may have inbound links our source has not crawled yet. The numbers here are a strong sample, not a census.
- Refresh timing is set upstream. A new inbound link usually appears in the index within a few days to a few weeks of being crawled, depending on how popular the source page is. Expect a lag for very recent links.
What the columns mean
- Source URL
- The page on another website that contains the link to your target. Click it to open the page in a new tab and see the link in context.
- Destination URL
- The exact URL on your target that the source page links to. When you check a domain, different pages on it have different inbound links. This column shows which page each row points at.
- Anchor Text
- The visible text inside the
<a>tag. Anchor text hints to search engines what the linked page is about. A generic anchor like "click here" carries less weight than a descriptive phrase. - Domain Authority (DA)
- Moz's prediction of how well a domain ranks in search, from 0 to 100. Each step up is harder than the last, so moving from 20 to 30 is real progress and 80 to 90 is much harder. 90 and up is exceptional. 30 to 60 is typical for established sites. Higher-DA links usually pass more ranking value.
- Page Rank (PR)
- A score based on Google's original PageRank idea, computed by a public link-graph project. It runs from 0 to 10. The web's biggest sites, such as Wikipedia and major news outlets, score 8 to 10. A useful second opinion next to Domain Authority.
- Spam Score
- Moz's count of spam signals on a domain, from 0 to 100. A domain over about 60 may carry SEO risk if it links to you. If you see clusters of high-spam links pointing at your site, the Spam Score Checker can audit each one before you consider disavowing.
- Domains/URLs (bulk mode only)
- Which of your inputs the row came from. Useful when filtering or sorting a large bulk submission to see which target produced which links.
Frequently asked questions
How can I check inbound links for a URL or domain?
Enter a URL (such as https://example.com/post) or a domain (such as example.com) in the box above and click Check Inbound Links. We return every page our index knows of that links to that target. Each row shows the anchor text used, the source domain's authority score, its Page Rank, and its spam score. Bulk mode processes several URLs or domains in one submission, in the background, while you keep working.
How can I check inbound links using Google directly?
You cannot, for a site you do not own. Google retired the link: operator years ago, and Search Console reports inbound links only for properties you have verified. There is no general way to ask Google "who links to this URL". An inbound links checker like this one queries an independent crawl of the public link graph instead. If you own the target site, pair this tool with Search Console's Links report to see how many inbound links Google itself reports.
How can I tell if an inbound link is do-follow or no-follow?
Not from this tool, yet. Our data source does not expose the rel="nofollow", rel="ugc", or rel="sponsored" attribute per link, so we show no Followed column. The reliable way to check one link is to open the Source URL in a browser, view the page source, find the <a> tag for that link, and look at its rel attribute. We will add the column the day the upstream API starts returning the signal.
Which inbound link checker is the most accurate?
None is "most accurate" in any objective sense. Every tool crawls the web on its own and indexes a different slice of it, so coverage varies by domain. The largest commercial indexes are Ahrefs and Majestic, but both put even small lookups behind paid plans. Our index is a third-party source that is strong on mid- to high-traffic sites and less complete on new or low-PageRank pages. Treat the data here as a starting point, not a complete census.
What is an inbound link (with an example)?
An inbound link, also called a backlink, is any hyperlink from one website to another. If a Wikipedia article links to yourdomain.com/article, that is an inbound link to your site. Wikipedia is the source, your domain is the target, and the visible link text is the anchor text. Search engines treat inbound links as a vote of confidence from one site to another. That is why "off-page SEO" largely means earning more good-quality inbound links over time.
What are the three types of inbound links?
The usual split is:
- Editorial inbound links, earned because someone chose to cite your content in their own. These carry the most weight in search rankings.
- Manual inbound links, placed because you asked. Examples are guest posts, partner pages, and resource lists. Quality varies. The link is only as good as the site it sits on.
- Self-created inbound links, placed on platforms anyone can post to. Examples are forum signatures, blog comments, and low-tier directory listings. Search engines routinely ignore or devalue these, and at scale they can trigger spam penalties.
Are inbound links still important for SEO in 2026?
Yes. Inbound links remain one of the strongest signals in Google's ranking algorithm, but the bar has moved. A large volume of low-quality links does little or hurts rankings. A small number of links from high-authority, topically relevant sites still moves the needle. Use this tool to audit what points at your site, disavow toxic links through Google Search Console if needed, and focus on earning fewer but better links.
Is buying inbound links illegal?
Not illegal, but it breaks Google's Webmaster Guidelines as link spam. If Google detects it, the usual outcome is that the link's ranking value is discounted. Less often, Google applies a manual action against the site. In extreme cases it removes the site from the index. The risk is highest when bought links look unnatural: irrelevant anchor text, low-quality source sites, sudden spikes, or repeated patterns. This tool shows what your inbound link profile looks like now, which is the first step in judging whether anything looks risky.