Citare Tools · Free
Free Backlink Checker
See the top 20 backlinks for any domain — one per referring domain, ordered by source-page rank descending. Anchor text, dofollow / nofollow, total backlinks, referring domains, and domain rank, all in 5-10 seconds.
Free. No signup. Cached 24h per domain. Powered by DataForSEO.
Frequently asked
What does the Free Backlink Checker show?
Three things. (1) A summary line — total backlinks pointing at the domain, total referring domains, and the DataForSEO domain rank (a 0-1000 scale where higher = more authority; typical small sites are 0-300, established publishers 400-700, top-tier brands 800+). (2) The top 20 backlinks ordered by source-page rank descending — for each: source domain + URL, target URL on your site, visible anchor text, source rank, and dofollow/nofollow status. (3) De-duplicated to one backlink per referring domain so you see 20 distinct sites linking to you, not 20 different pages from one site.
How does this compare to the full Ahrefs / Moz / Semrush backlink reports?
It's a top-20 slice for free reconnaissance. The full Ahrefs backlink index covers ~30T links across ~250B pages; we surface the top 20 by source rank — enough to recognize who's linking to you and at what quality. For full backlink discovery + new/lost link alerts + competitor backlink gap analysis, use Citare Pulse (which uses the same DataForSEO graph but with full pagination + delta tracking).
What does 'rank' mean for a backlink source?
A 0-1000 score assigned to each page by DataForSEO based on the backlink graph (similar idea to Google's PageRank, larger range). Higher = stronger source. A backlink from a page with rank 500 carries roughly 5× the weight of one from rank 100. The list is ordered rank descending so the strongest links surface first — which is what matters most for SEO impact + link-reclamation priority.
What's the difference between dofollow and nofollow?
A dofollow link passes link-juice to the target page (the SEO signal). A nofollow link (rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" or rel="ugc") tells Google not to pass ranking signal. Dofollow links are more valuable for ranking, but a healthy backlink profile has a mix — 100% dofollow looks unnatural and can flag manipulation. The tool labels each link so you know which category each falls into.
How fresh is the data?
DataForSEO refreshes its backlink graph continuously, with each site re-crawled on a cycle measured in days-to-weeks depending on authority. Citare caches each tool lookup for 24 hours per domain so re-checking the same domain twice in a day returns instantly. For continuous backlink monitoring with new-link alerts, use Pulse.
Why might my new site show 0 backlinks?
Two reasons. (1) The site genuinely has no backlinks yet — common for sites under a few months old. (2) DataForSEO hasn't crawled the new backlinks yet. The graph rebuilds continuously; new links typically appear in 1-4 weeks. Submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console + getting at least one quality inbound link from an indexed site accelerates inclusion.