6 Best Free Backlink Monitoring Tools to Track Link Building Success in 2024

While the initial backlink profile analysis is crucial, it’s important to regularly monitor all changes and keep your finger on the pulse. Therefore, consistent backlink monitoring is the key to success in digital marketing.

We've already covered the basics of link building and the importance of backlink profiles in our previous articles, but today, we're going to dive deeper into how to monitor backlinks. 

This article will cover the importance of backlink monitoring, the difference between good and bad backlinks, the best free backlink monitoring tools, and how to use them. 

Let's get started!

To complete a thorough backlink profile audit, you must understand what you're looking for. 

A good backlink comes from a reputable source, has a relevant anchor text, and is relatable to the content where it's placed. 

A bad backlink would be the complete opposite: it comes from spammy, low-quality websites that are irrelevant to your niche and might have unnatural keyword stuffing in anchors.

Below is a simple guide on good vs bad backlinks for you to save for future reference.

The difference between a good backlink vs. a bad backlink

Now, we’ll examine some of the most important metrics for monitoring backlink profiles. 

Now that you know what to aim for, we'll explore how to analyze your existing backlink profile. You can also apply this to your competitor analysis—you might use slightly different tools for the two, but the principle stays the same. You must keep track of these parameters when monitoring a backlink profile.

• Quantity

Backlink quantity is one of the most important parameters you have to look for. Generally, the more backlinks the website has, the better. But this leads us to the next point…

• Quality 

While having a lot of backlinks is good, quality does not necessarily mean quantity. It's crucial to prioritize getting relevant backlinks to your niche from high-authority domains over having lots of them from spammy and irrelevant websites.

One of the best ways to get quality backlinks is to use services like Collaborator. With this platform, you can easily find link donors that are high-traffic and relevant to your niche.

Get Started With Collaborator 


A quick and easy way to find quality link donors

• Diversity 

Your goal is to have a diverse backlink profile, and link diversity comes in lots of forms. You might want to have different links (do-follow, nofollow) from various sources — social media, forums, guest posting, etc., and other domains (.edu, .gov, etc.). 

• Lost & Gained Backlinks 

Unfortunately, backlinks are not permanent. Some of them may get broken or deleted over time; to rank higher in Google search, your website needs to constantly grow its backlink profile. Keeping track of the lost & gained backlinks lets you assess the website growth and helps you identify all the broken ones that can be fixed. 

• Anchor text

In addition to tracking all of the above, you should ensure that your anchor texts are relevant, diverse, and not over-optimized. Some suitable types of anchor texts to have in your portfolio are naked URLs, image anchors, branded anchors, and exact or partial matches. 

• Competitors' Backlinks

As mentioned, keeping track of your competitors' backlinks is just as important as your own. This will give you an overall idea of the desired growth rate of the backlink profile in your niche and give you ideas on where to get new backlinks for the website.

Now that you know what to look for, it's time to discover the tools you can use. We've created a list of the top 7 free backlink checkers and will showcase what each of them includes. 

Firstly, we’ll compare the top SEO tools for link building. While most of them can be used for other purposes, the guide below is focused on backlink monitoring specifically.

Now that you have a general understanding of which SEO tools cover what, it's time to take a detailed look at each. Below, we will review each of the best backlink monitoring tools from our roundup, showcasing their work based on the analysis of Reddit and including pricing.

Ahrefs Backlink Checker is one of the most popular SEO tools for backlink analysis. While it is a paid service, with prices starting at $129 and up to $449 monthly, it does provide you with a general idea of what your backlink profile looks like for free. All you need to do is type in your URL, and it will provide you with a simple backlink profile report.

Ahrefs Backlink Checker results for Reddit analysis

Ahrefs Backlink Checker provides crucial backlink data: the total number of referring websites and backlinks, domain ratings, anchors, and target URLs for your top 100 performing pages. You can also use it to monitor your competitors' backlinks. It's an excellent service if you require other SEO tools such as Rank Tracker, Keywords Explorer, and more.

Like Ahrefs, SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO tool that offers vast functionality, including the Backlink Checker. Like Ahrefs, the free version, unfortunately, only gives you a brief overview of your backlink profile.

The example of a free SE Ranking Backlink audit

However, you can sign up for a free 14-day trial (no credit card needed) to explore its potential and decide if this software would be helpful for you. The paid version includes much more data: page trust, broken backlinks, link toxicity, and new and lost backlinks, specifically beneficial for backlink monitoring.

A look into SE Ranking free trial version

Additionally to providing you with a full backlink report immediately, SE Ranking also sends you regular emails with any backlink profile updates. Hence, it's even easier to keep your finger on the pulse! 

Not only is Majestic an all-in-one service that offers a variety of SEO tools for website audits, but it also stands out from the competition due to its in-house metrics. 

Trust Flow illustrates the overall backlink quality. The higher the score — the better a backlink profile is!

Topical Trust Flow gives you an understanding of how relevant the backlinks are to your niche. 

Citation Flow provides the total number of backlinks, with the higher number meaning the more significant amount. 

Visibility Flow score shows how many high-quality editorial backlinks are included in the backlink profile.

A screenshot of the Majestic dashboard

Unfortunately, the free version only provides limited data, but it's a good place to start: it covers the Trust Flow and Citation Flow, live and deleted backlinks, and much more. The paid version starts at $49.99 monthly and goes up to $399.99 monthly. 

SEOptimer, formerly known as Monitor Backlinks, is an amazing backlink monitoring tool. The great news is that its free version provides a detailed analysis and even includes recommendations for improvement!

After entering your URL into the search bar, SEOptimer will generate a complete website audit, starting with an overall rating based on On-Page Search Engine Optimization, Links, Usability, and Performance. 

A screenshot from SEOptimer website audit of Reddit

When you scroll down, you'll see the recommendations for improvement (if you have any) and a detailed report on each of its metrics. You will also see statistics on top keyword rankings, total traffic from searches, top countries and domains, and more data. But today, we're focusing on backlink analysis. 

An illustration of SEOptimer’s functionality

The Links section has a backlink summary with two scores: Domain Strength and Page Strength. It also includes the data on overall backlinks volume, referring domains, and links sorted by their type, will also be available. The premium subscription starts at $19/month and goes up to $59/month, which is attractive pricing compared to the previous tools. 

Moz Link Explorer is an amazing SEO tool for conducting backlink monitoring. Besides all the primary data, such as the total number of backlinks, dofollow vs. nofollow ratio, and top anchors, Moz also gives you its own rating—a Domain Authority metric. This metric predicts how likely the website will rank higher than its competitors. 

A website report for Reddit by Moz

You can also download the reports on each of the metrics for your convenience. One of the best features, though, is the link profile comparison. This feature allows you to compare your website to niche competitors and find growth opportunities. 

Linkody is specifically a tool for backlink monitoring. It has an official integration with Moz and Ahrefs, and Linkody prices are significantly lower than in both of them combined, so do with that information what you will🙂
A backlink report for Reddit by Linkody

Its paid subscription starts at $14.90 monthly and goes up to $153.90 monthly, while the free version includes a Domain Rating, a total sum of backlinks and referring domains, and unique IPs and links from .dov and .edu websites.

By the end of this article, you've probably learned the importance of backlink monitoring for a website's success. Monitoring a backlink profile allows you to quickly find and recognize mistakes, such as lost or broken links, and discover new opportunities for your website's growth. Keeping a backlink profile relevant, diverse, and up-to-date helps you improve your rankings in SERPs and reflects the website's credibility, authority, and relevance.

You've also learned some of the best free tools for backlink monitoring and which metrics to use to analyze your website. From industry giants like Ahrefs and SE Ranking to more specialized options like SEOptimer and Linkody, these backlink monitoring tools allow you to constantly improve your rankings in SERPs.

Additionally, you can consider Collaborator your trusted partner in receiving quality backlinks. Check out our catalog of over 32K trusted websites to advertise your site and improve your backlink profile now.

Get Started With Collaborator 

Good luck in your future SEO endeavors. Remember, keeping your finger on the pulse regarding backlink monitoring is just as essential as building a strong backlink profile in the first place.