How do I read the Backlinks pages?

The Backlinks pages show which sites link to yours, how strong those links are, which you gained or lost recently, and how you compare with your competitors. Open them from Backlinks in the menu, then Backlink checker. The tabs along the top switch between the pages below.

They appear once our backlink data provider is switched on for your account. The Authority page and Links your competitors have are separate and always available.

#How often it updates

Once a month, for accounts used in the last 30 days. The first time you open the pages, or after a quiet spell, they gather your backlinks straight away; while they do, the page says so.

#The pages

• Overview. Your authority score from 0 to 100, referring domains (how many different websites link to you), backlinks (how many links in total), nofollow links, a spam score and broken links; charts of referring domains, backlinks and new and lost referring domains over the last 12 months; your strongest linking sites, your most used anchors, and you beside your competitors.
• Referring domains. Each website that links to you, its authority, how many links it gives you and when we first saw it. Sort by any column.
• Backlinks. The individual links: the page that links to you, the page it links to, the anchor text, whether it is follow or nofollow, and when it was first and last seen. Filter to follow, nofollow or lost links.
• New and lost. Websites that started or stopped linking to you in the last 30 days, and the counts month by month.
• Anchors. The words other sites use when they link to you, and how many links and websites use each.
• Competitors. Your site beside up to three of your competitors: referring domains, backlinks and authority.

Every table can be downloaded as a spreadsheet.

#Words used on these pages

• Referring domain: a website that links to you. Ten links from one site is one referring domain.
• Follow and nofollow: a nofollow link asks search engines not to pass trust through it. Follow links usually count for more.
• Anchor text: the clickable words of a link.
• Authority: a score from 0 to 100 for how strong a site's own links are. It is our data provider's measure, so it will not match other tools exactly.

#Questions people ask

#Why does another tool show different numbers?

Every backlink index crawls a different part of the web. Use the trend and the comparison with your competitors rather than the exact count.

#Which competitors are compared?

The first three competitors you added to the project. See add competitors.

#How do I get more links?

Links your competitors have lists sites that link to your competitors but not to you, with a first step for each. See links your competitors have.