Backlinks explorer
The backlinks of any domain: link authority, linking sites since 2019, strongest links, anchors, and risky links with a ready fix for your site.
Explorer shows the backlinks of any website: yours, a competitor's or any other site. See who links to it, with which words, how strong those links are, and how that changed since 2019. For your own site, risky links come with a ready fix. Explorer is on every plan, within your monthly lookups.
Look up a domain
Open Backlinks › Explorer
Or click "All their links" next to a competitor in Competitors › Link gap: Explorer opens on that site.
Type a domain or a page URL
A page URL is fine: its domain is used. Under "Quick picks", one click looks up "Your site" or one of your competitors.
Click "Look up"
The button shows what it uses: "· 1 lookup" while you have monthly lookups left, then "· 40 credits".
Above the result, "Measured" gives the date of the figures and what the lookup used: "1 lookup used", "40 credits taken" or "Saved answer · free". If part of the answer could not be read, the result says which part; the rest is shown.
The five figures
| Figure | What it means |
|---|---|
| "Link authority" | 0 to 100: how strong the sites linking to this domain are. A link from a site that itself has many strong links counts more. The same scale as everywhere else in Rankfender. |
| "Sites linking" | Different websites with at least one live link to the domain, with how many different networks (IP ranges) they come from. |
| "Links" | Every live link, page by page, with the share that passes authority (followed). Nofollow, sponsored and ugc links mostly don't. |
| "Spam score" | 0 to 100, the average spam signals of the linking pages: 0–30 low ("clean profile"), 31–60 medium ("worth a look"), 61–100 high. |
| "First link seen" | When the oldest known link appeared, with the number of broken links. |
Authority and linking sites since 2019
One reading a month since January 2019: link authority and the number of linking sites on one chart. Below it, "Sites won and lost, per month" counts the sites that started or stopped linking, since May 2021. When you look up your own site, its monthly authority is also saved to your project's history.
Sites, links and anchors
The lists show the strongest first, by authority: up to 200 linking sites, 200 links and the top 100 anchors. "Show 50 more" extends a list; the totals in the figures above cover every link.
| Tab | Columns |
|---|---|
| "Sites linking" | Site, Authority, Links, Followed, First seen, Status ("Live" or "Lost" with the date), Spam. |
| "Links" | Linking page, Authority, Anchor text, Points to, Followed, First seen, Status ("Live", "New" or "Lost"). |
| "Anchors" | Anchor text, Sites, Links, Followed (share), First seen. A natural profile is led by the brand name and the bare address; many exact keywords in a row look bought. |
Risky links, with the fix
"Risky links" lists links from pages that score 61 or more out of 100 on spam signals, grouped by site.
- For your own site, each site comes with "The fix". Step 1, ask for removal: "Copy removal request" copies a ready email to the site's owner, naming the linking page, the page it points to and the anchor text. Step 2, if the link stays, disavow it: "Copy disavow line" copies a line such as
domain:spammy-site.com. - "Download disavow file" gives you every line in one file. Upload it in Google's disavow links tool, only for the links that could not be removed.
- For any other domain, the tab only shows how clean its link profile is. Only its owner can act on those links.
Disavow with care
Google ignores most spammy links on its own. Its disavow tool is meant for links behind a manual action for unnatural links, or links that were paid for. Ask for removal first.
Saved answers and "Measure again"
- A domain measured in the last 7 days is shown from the saved answer, free.
- "Measure again" measures the domain afresh. It works once a day per domain and counts as a lookup.
- Everyone on the project can look up domains. Lookups use the quota and credits of the account that owns the project.
Lookups this month
| Plan | Lookups included each month |
|---|---|
| Essential | 10 |
| Professional | 50 |
| Business | 200 |
| Agencies | 500 |
| Pay as you go | None: each lookup takes credits |
"Lookups this month" shows how many you have used, for example "3 of 10", and the day they renew. Past them, each new lookup takes 40 credits; the button then reads "· 40 credits" instead of "· 1 lookup". A domain measured in the last 7 days is shown from the saved answer: "Saved answer · free", and nothing is counted.
Lookups belong to the account that owns the project and are shared by its team. They renew with the owner's monthly credits. A lookup that could not be measured is never counted. Without enough credits, the lookup is refused before anything is spent: "You have used this month's lookups and don't have enough credits for another one".
Backlink lookups are counted separately from the lookups in Competitors › Visibility. See Monthly credits.
Note
Link figures come from an independent index of links across the web. No index knows every link, so the numbers can differ from the links report in Google Search Console, and a new link can take a while to appear.