Backlinks are links from other websites that point to pages on your website. Checking those links can help you understand which websites reference your content, which pages attract external attention, and how other sites describe your website through link text.
For website owners and SEO professionals, backlink checking is useful for more than counting links. It can reveal relevant referring websites, help identify content that naturally attracts attention, and provide context when reviewing the overall link profile. At the same time, Google Search Console does not provide a complete database of every backlink, so it is important to understand what its data can and cannot tell you.
In this guide, you will learn how to check backlinks in Google Search Console, find websites that link to your site, identify pages receiving backlinks, review anchor text, export available data, and evaluate the links you discover. You will also learn why backlink checking should not be confused with checking whether a URL is indexed by Google.
Can You Check Backlinks in Google?
Yes. If you manage a website property in Google Search Console, you can use its Links report to review external links that Google has found pointing to your site.
The report provides information about areas such as:
- Top linking sites
- Top linked pages
- Top linking text
- Links from particular sites to particular pages
- Internal links within your own website
Google describes the Links report as a way to understand your site’s overall link profile, but it is important to understand its limitation: it is not a comprehensive list of every link to your website. Google provides a sample of internal and external links, and some URLs may be omitted or grouped.
For a broader look at Google backlinks, it is useful to understand how backlinks work, how referring domains differ from individual links, and why context matters when evaluating a link.
Search Console is therefore a useful starting point for checking backlinks to a website you manage. If you need broader discovery, competitor research, or additional historical information, a third-party backlink database may complement it.
What You Need Before Checking Backlinks
Before you begin, make sure you have access to the relevant Google Search Console property.
You will generally need:
- A website added to Google Search Console
- Appropriate access to the property
- Enough Google-discovered link data to review
- A basic understanding of external links and referring domains
You do not need a separate backlink-checking application to begin reviewing the information available in Search Console.
It is also helpful to understand what you are trying to find. For example, you may want to know:
- Which websites link to your domain?
- Which pages receive the most external links?
- What anchor text do other websites use?
- Are important pages attracting external references?
- Are there unfamiliar or potentially irrelevant linking sources?
- Do you need more data than Search Console provides?
Having a specific question makes backlink analysis much more useful than simply looking for the largest possible link count.
How to Check Backlinks in Google Search Console
The basic process is straightforward once your website property is available in Search Console.
Step 1 — Open Google Search Console
Sign in to Google Search Console and open the property associated with the website you want to investigate.
Search Console provides different reports for different aspects of website performance and technical status. The Links report is specifically intended for reviewing links to and within your website.
Step 2 — Select Your Website Property
If you manage more than one website or property, select the correct one from the property selector.
This step matters because the backlink information you see is tied to the property you are viewing. Make sure you are analyzing the correct domain or URL-prefix property before drawing conclusions from the data.
Step 3 — Open the Links Report
Open the Links report in Search Console.
The report contains separate areas for external and internal links. For backlink research, focus primarily on the external-link sections because these represent links coming from outside your website.
Step 4 — Review External Links
The external links section provides several ways to examine backlinks.
The most useful areas for a basic backlink review are:
- Top linked pages
- Top linking sites
- Top linking text
These views answer different questions. Top linking sites tells you who is linking to your website, Top linked pages tells you which pages receive those links, and Top linking text shows how those external links are described.
Step 5 — Check Top Linking Sites
Open Top linking sites to see domains that link to your website.
Google displays these sites by root domain. For example, different versions or subdomains may be grouped under the root domain rather than shown as separate entries.
This report can help you identify:
- Websites that frequently reference your content
- Relevant publications or resources
- Sites you already recognize
- Unexpected referring domains
- Potentially spammy or irrelevant sources that deserve further investigation
Do not assume that an unfamiliar domain is automatically harmful. A site may be unfamiliar to you but still provide a legitimate and relevant reference.
Step 6 — Review Top Linked Pages
Next, examine Top linked pages.
This section shows which pages on your website receive the most external links.
This can be particularly useful for content strategy.
Suppose you publish several guides, but one detailed resource consistently receives more external references than your other articles. That may indicate that the topic, format, research, usefulness, or depth of that page makes it more valuable as a reference.
You can use this information to investigate what makes those pages useful and apply similar principles to future content.
Step 7 — Examine Top Linking Text
The Top linking text section shows the text used in external links pointing to your website.
Anchor text can provide useful context because it shows how other websites describe your pages. Search Console groups identical link text together and reports external linking text separately from internal links.
When reviewing anchor text, look for natural patterns rather than trying to force every link into a particular keyword phrase.
A healthy backlink profile can contain different types of anchor text, including brand names, page titles, descriptive phrases, URLs, and other naturally written references.
Step 8 — Export the Available Data
If you want to perform a deeper review, use the export option available in the Links report.
Google allows link data to be exported as a CSV file or Google Sheet. The available exports include recently discovered links and additional sample link data, subject to the report’s limits.
An export can make it easier to:
- Sort referring domains
- Group links by destination
- Review anchor text
- Flag unfamiliar sources
- Compare different datasets
- Share findings with an SEO team
Exporting is especially useful when you want to move beyond a quick visual review.
How to Check Which Sites Link to You
If your main question is “Which websites link to my site?”, start with the Top linking sites section.
Search Console groups these sites by root domain. You can select a site to investigate which pages on your website are receiving links from that domain. Google also provides ways to move from a linked page to the sites linking to that particular page.
When reviewing these sources, consider:
- Is the website relevant to your subject?
- Does the linking page provide useful context?
- Is the link understandable from a visitor’s perspective?
- Does the destination page genuinely support the reference?
- Is the website recognizable and legitimate?
- Is the link part of normal editorial or resource content?
The goal is not to remove every unfamiliar link. The goal is to understand the sources and patterns within your backlink profile.
How to Check Which Pages Have the Most Backlinks
Use the Top linked pages section when you want to know which pages on your website receive the most external links.
This information can be useful for both SEO analysis and content planning.
You might discover that:
- Research-based guides attract references
- Original resources receive more links
- Certain evergreen articles continue attracting attention
- Some important commercial pages receive relatively few external links
- A specific topic has generated more external interest than expected
These observations can help you understand what other websites consider useful enough to reference.
However, do not assume that the page with the highest number of backlinks is automatically your most valuable page. Link quantity is only one part of the picture.
How to Check Backlink Anchor Text
Anchor text is the clickable wording used in a hyperlink.
To review it in Search Console, open the Top linking text section of the external-links report.
Look at the overall pattern rather than focusing on one individual phrase.
For example, a natural backlink profile may contain a mixture of:
- Brand-related text
- Website or URL references
- Page titles
- Descriptive phrases
- Generic link text
- Other context-specific wording
Excessive use of highly optimized keyword phrases can be worth investigating, particularly when it appears alongside other unnatural link-building patterns. Google’s spam policies identify link spam as a practice involving links created primarily to manipulate search rankings.
The important point is that anchor text should be evaluated as part of the complete backlink context, not treated as a standalone ranking formula.
Can Google Search Console Show Every Backlink?
No.
This is one of the most important limitations to understand when checking backlinks in Google.
Google states that the Links report is not a comprehensive list of every link to a website. It provides a sample of internal and external links known to Google. Tables may also be limited, and duplicate links can be combined.
There are several practical implications.
If another backlink tool reports 2,000 backlinks while Search Console displays fewer, that does not automatically mean that either system is broken.
Search Console and third-party platforms can have different datasets, crawling methods, grouping rules, and reporting limits.
Search Console should therefore be viewed as an important source of backlink information for your own property, rather than a complete web-wide backlink database.
What If You Need More Backlink Data?
Search Console may be enough if you simply want to review Google’s available link information for your own website.
A third-party backlink checker becomes more useful when you need broader research, such as:
- Competitor backlink discovery
- Larger backlink databases
- Additional filtering
- Historical link information
- More detailed link-level reports
- Broader referring-domain research
You can compare backlink checking methods if you want to understand the differences between Search Console and third-party backlink platforms.
When comparing tools, remember that each provider has its own crawler and database. Different platforms can therefore discover different links and report different totals.
The purpose of using another tool should be to gain additional information, not to find a single “correct” backlink number at all costs.
Backlinks vs URL Inspection: Don’t Confuse the Two
Search Console has another useful feature called URL Inspection, but it serves a very different purpose.
The Links report is where you look for backlink information.
The URL Inspection tool provides information about Google’s indexed version of a specific URL and allows you to test whether a live URL may be indexable. It can provide information about indexing, canonicalization, crawling, structured data, and other URL-level details.
In simple terms:
| Search Console feature | Main purpose |
|---|---|
| Links report | Review backlinks and internal links |
| URL Inspection | Investigate a specific URL’s indexing and technical status |
| Live URL test | Check whether a live URL appears eligible for crawling/indexing conditions |
This distinction is important because checking whether a page is indexed is not the same thing as checking which websites link to it.
If you want to investigate why a particular page is not appearing in Google, URL Inspection is the appropriate starting point. If you want to find external websites linking to your site, use the Links report.
How to Evaluate the Backlinks You Find
Finding a backlink is only the beginning. The next step is deciding what the link actually means.
Relevance
Ask whether the linking website and page are related to the subject of your content.
A relevant reference generally makes more sense to users than a link placed on an unrelated page.
Source Quality
Look at the website itself rather than relying solely on a third-party metric.
Consider whether it appears to be a legitimate publication, business, organization, resource, or community relevant to its audience.
Context
Read the surrounding content.
A link that naturally supports a statement, explanation, resource, or recommendation has different context from a link inserted into an unrelated block of text.
Anchor Text
Check whether the link wording accurately describes the destination.
Do not assume that an exact-match keyword anchor is automatically better.
Destination
Review the page receiving the link.
Ask whether it genuinely provides the information a visitor would expect after following the link.
Potentially Manipulative Patterns
Be more cautious when you see patterns suggesting that links were created primarily to manipulate search rankings.
Google’s spam policies specifically address link spam and other attempts to manipulate search rankings through links.
If you have a manual action related to unnatural links, Google recommends reviewing the links available through Search Console and addressing links that violate its policies.
That does not mean every low-quality or unexpected link requires immediate action. Evaluate the broader pattern before making decisions.
Backlink Checking Checklist
Use this checklist whenever you review your site’s backlinks:
- Open Google Search Console.
- Select the correct website property.
- Open the Links report.
- Review external links.
- Examine Top linking sites.
- Review Top linked pages.
- Check Top linking text.
- Export available data if deeper analysis is needed.
- Investigate important or unfamiliar links in context.
- Compare another backlink source when broader research is required.
- Do not treat one tool’s backlink count as the complete picture.
- Keep backlink analysis separate from URL indexing checks.
Conclusion
Checking backlinks in Google starts with the Links report in Google Search Console. It can show the websites linking to your property, the pages receiving external links, and the text used in those links. Google also allows available link data to be exported for further analysis.
The most important limitation is that Search Console does not provide a complete list of every backlink. For broader discovery or competitor research, a third-party backlink platform can complement Google’s data.
Most importantly, do not stop at counting links. Review the source, relevance, context, destination, and anchor text to understand what your backlink profile actually looks like. And remember that the Links report and URL Inspection tool solve different problems: one is for link information, while the other is for investigating individual URLs and their indexing status.
FAQs
1. How do I check backlinks in Google?
Open Google Search Console, select your verified website property, and open the Links report. Under the external links section, review Top linking sites, Top linked pages, and Top linking text. You can also export available link data for deeper analysis.
2. Can Google Search Console show all backlinks?
No. Google states that the Links report is not a comprehensive list of every link to your website. It provides a sample of internal and external links known to Google, and some data may be omitted or grouped.
3. How can I see which websites link to my site?
In Google Search Console, open the Links report and review Top linking sites under external links. The report groups sites by root domain and allows you to investigate which pages on your site receive links from a particular domain.
4. How do I check backlinks to a specific page?
Start with the Top linked pages section in the external Links report. Select the page you want to investigate, then review the sites linking to that page where the report provides the available information.
5. Is Google Search Console enough for backlink analysis?
It can be enough for a basic review of your own website’s backlink information, but it is not a complete backlink database. If you need broader discovery, competitor research, historical data, or additional filtering, a third-party backlink tool may provide useful complementary information.