How do I find information on who links to my sites?

Question

I'm trying to figure out if there's a free way to get information on back links to my site.

I've had webmaster tools and Google Analytics set up for years. But I can't find access to data about site back links in either tool set. Webmaster tools, under 'traffic'->'links to your site' gives me the same message for all of my sites: "No data available".

I haven't been able to find anything in GA that gives any information on back links.

I've heard of using "links:" as an operator in Google search, but for each of my sites, this returns either zero or very few results in cases when I know I have many back links. Most of the links simple aren't shown.

My thinking is that Google maintains a graph of who links to my site, so I figured that they might let me see it. But I can't figure out how.

I've found this tool on a spammy website: http://www.backlinkwatch.com. It offers more data than Google on my back links, and offers more results in exchange for a paid subscription. The data it offers for free looks good, but the results are limited and the site has popups and obnoxious ads.

So, in short: how do I get data on who links to me? Is there a free way?

Answer 1

Webmaster tools, under 'traffic'->'links to your site' gives me the same message for all of my sites: "No data available".

Next to "No data available" there should be a (Why not?) link to a help page which gives some clues... "If data is missing or appears out of date".

I get "No data available" on accounts such as "example.com" where I have specified the preferred domain as (or redirect to) "www.example.com". All the data is naturally stored under "www.example.com". (This is also one of the reasons stated on the Google help page.)

Even for the smallest sites I find that Google's Webmaster Tools does at least have some data.

Answer 2

Majestic SEO has the most complete list of backlinks I've seen available. It's free for your site, then paid if you want competitors info.

Bing Toolbox and opensiteexplorer are two other popular options however, as far as I can tell neither show as complete of data as majestic SEO. Google's "link:" operator has never showed a complete list of back links, however, it's useful to get an idea of the back links Google counts as valuable (IE if Google is showing no links or very few, you'll want to work on that).

Answer 3

I recommend three free tools that will provide you the information you are looking for.

• blekko Search engine that will give you great seo information, just write url and add /domainlinks
• Bing Toolbox that recently returned with the old yahoo site explorer
• Google webmaster tools that will show you your backlinks profile

The best of them is Bing Link Explorer a great tool