Does that link count? Meet the free backlink checker

You exchanged links, your partner says the link is up, and now you wonder: is it really there, and does it help your site? The new backlink checker answers both questions in a few seconds. It is free, and you do not need an account.

How it works

Enter two things: the page that should link to you, and your own site. The checker reads that page the way a search engine first sees it and lists every link to your site it finds, with:

• The address it points to. Links to any page of your site count, with or without www, and links to your subdomains too.
• The link text: the words people click. For a linked image, you see its alt text, or a note that it has none.
• Whether it counts: a green Followed for a normal link, or the reason it may not pass any credit: nofollow, ugc or sponsored.

The things a link check usually misses

A link can be on the page and still be worth little. The checker also looks at the page around it:

• Rules for the whole page. A robots meta tag or an X-Robots-Tag header can tell search engines to ignore every link on a page (nofollow), or to leave the page out of their results (noindex). You would never see that by looking at the page yourself; the checker warns you.
• Redirects. When the page has moved, the checker follows up to three redirects and checks the page where it ends up.
• Crowded pages. On a page with more than 50 links to other sites, each link is worth little. The checker says so when that is the case.
• Pages that are gone. A page that answers with an error, like 404, gets a clear message instead of a silent "no links found".

What it cannot see

We would rather tell you than let you guess. The checker reads the HTML of one page. It does not see links that JavaScript adds after the page has loaded, pages behind a login, or sites that turn away unknown visitors. And it checks the page you give it: it does not search the whole web for every site that links to you. When it finds nothing while you can see the link yourself, the result page explains the likely reasons.

When to use it

• A few days after a link exchange, to see that your partner placed the link, and placed it as a normal, followed link.
• Now and then after that: links disappear when sites are redesigned. What to do when a link disappears helps you get it back.
• Before you agree to an exchange, on a page where the site already links to others: are those links followed, and is the page indexed? More tips are in how to choose a good link partner.

Exchanges made on Linkorado do not need it: we check those links ourselves and tell you when one goes missing. The checker is for every other link you care about. Want to know more about the labels it shows? Read nofollow, ugc and sponsored links explained.

Try the backlink checker, and if you are looking for more links, add your site to Linkorado: it is free, too.