When it comes to SEO, it is critical to optimize your website with content, technical implementation, utilize keyword research and so on. But for more competitive industries, keywords and national brands, having a solid backlink portfolio is vital to giving you the edge.
This is why it is crucial to be equipped with the best backlink tools. A backlink checker will enable you to spot new link-building opportunities, discover the strategies of your competitors, and monitor the health of your backlink profile. We utilize some premium backlink tools, like Ahrefs. But we also leverage some free tools and recommend this one if you want to keep an eye on your own backlinks, and those of your competitors.
SEO SpyGlass
SEO SpyGlass provides you with a fully specced-out dashboard for backlink analysis and management. Unlike other free checkers, SpyGlass allows you to sort and filter the discovered backlink data using any of the several dozen backlink parameters:
- Linking and linked pages;
- Anchor text and anchor URL;
- Dofollow and nofollow attributes;
- Domain and page authority of the link source;
- Penalty risk, i.e. how spammy the link source is;
- And more.
The number of backlinks you can view for free is limited to 1,100 per domain, but the number of domains you can check is unlimited, so you can research your own websites as well as your competitor websites. And if you want some additional data, there is an option to connect SEO SpyGlass to Google Search Console and Google Analytics. Once connected, you will be able to pull your backlink information from Google tools, pour it into SEO SpyGlass, and process the data using the SEO SpyGlass dashboard — free of charge.
It lets you analyze backlinks by over 50 various factors, including backlink page, domain, backlink traffic info.
And when it comes to discovering new backlink opportunities, SEO SpyGlass is equipped with a feature called Domain Comparison. Add a few of your competitors and find the websites where their backlinks intersect. These websites are your immediate leads. Since these websites are linking to two or more of your competitors, it means that they do not have a particularly exclusive partnership and will probably agree to link to your website as well.
