Links Inspector: Find Out Who's Actually Linking to You
Table of Contents
- Key takeaways
- What is a backlink checker?
- How Links Inspector works
- 1. Create a project
- 2. Add a report for a URL
- 3. Run the report
- 4. Review the breakdowns
- 5. Recheck and compare over time
- What to check first
- Links Inspector vs. other My PR Manager tools
- Who Links Inspector is for
- Frequently asked questions
- How is Links Inspector different from Google Search Console's links report?
- What is a spam score?
- Can I check a competitor's backlinks?
- How often should I recheck my backlinks?
- Should I disavow links with a high spam score?
- Start inspecting your backlinks
Backlinks are still one of the strongest signals search engines use to decide which pages deserve to rank. But most website owners have only a rough idea of who actually links to them. They don't know which anchor text those links use, whether the linking sites are trustworthy, or how their link profile compares with the competitors outranking them. Links Inspector in My PR Manager answers those questions. Add the page or domain you want to check, run a report, and see every backlink found, with anchor text, authority and spam score, plus side-by-side comparisons with competitors and with your own earlier reports.
Key takeaways
- See which pages and domains link to your website, with the anchor text and link type for each backlink.
- Check the quality of every link with page authority, domain authority and spam score.
- Break your profile down by anchor text, referring domain, inbound and outbound links, and spam risk.
- Add competitor URLs to a report to see how their backlinks stack up against yours.
- Recheck reports over time and compare them to spot changes in referring domains and anchors.
What is a backlink checker?
A backlink checker finds the external pages that link to your website and tells you something about each one: where the link sits, which words are linked (the anchor text), whether the link is followed or nofollow, and how authoritative or risky the linking site looks. Together, these links make up your backlink profile.
A healthy profile has links from a variety of relevant, trustworthy sites, with natural-looking anchor text. An unhealthy one leans on a handful of domains, repeats the same exact-match keyword over and over, or contains links from spammy sites. You can't fix either problem until you can see it, which is what Links Inspector is for.
How Links Inspector works
1. Create a project
Start by creating a project for the website you want to monitor in the Projects Manager. A project keeps all reports for that site together, so you can come back later and see how things have changed.
2. Add a report for a URL
Click New Report, give it a name, choose the project and enter the page or domain to check. Turn on Enable Competitor and use Add New Competitor to include competitor URLs in the same report.
3. Run the report
Click Run. Links Inspector collects the backlinks pointing at your target and records each linking URL with its root domain, anchor text, link type, page authority, domain authority and spam score. The number of links fetched depends on your plan's limit.
4. Review the breakdowns
Each report comes with several views, so you can look at the same backlink data from different angles:
| Report | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Backlinks report | Every link found, with backlink URL, anchor text, link type and whether the link was found. |
| Inbound links | Pages linking to your target, sorted by strength. |
| Outbound links | Links on your page that point to other sites. |
| Anchor text report | Which words are used to link to you and how often, including followed and nofollow counts. |
| Domain report | The root domains linking to you, so one site with many links doesn't look like many sites. |
| Spam score report | Linking pages ranked by spam score, so the riskiest links are at the top. |
| Compare reports | Reports in a project side by side: authority, referring domains and anchors. |
5. Recheck and compare over time
Backlink profiles change constantly. Use Recheck Reports to refresh the data, or set up the cron command so reports run on a schedule. Then open Compare Reports to see how referring domains, anchors and authority metrics have moved between reports, or how you compare with the competitors you added.
What to check first
- High spam score links. Start with the spam score report. A few spammy links are normal, but a cluster of them from low-quality sites is worth investigating.
- Anchor text balance. If one exact-match keyword makes up a large share of your anchors, your profile can look manipulated. Brand names, URLs and natural phrases should dominate.
- Referring domain count. Ten links from ten different sites are usually worth more than a hundred from one. Check the domain report, not just the total link count.
- Followed vs. nofollow. Nofollow links still bring traffic and visibility, but followed links from relevant sites carry the most SEO weight.
- Competitor gaps. Look at the domains linking to competitors but not to you. Those are your best outreach targets.
- Changes since the last report. A sudden drop in referring domains can mean important links were removed, and is worth following up quickly.
Links Inspector vs. other My PR Manager tools
| Tool | Main job | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Links Inspector | Find and analyze the backlinks pointing at a site. | You want to know who links to you or to a competitor, and how good those links are. |
| Page Rank Auditor | Compare authority and SEO metrics for your site and competitors. | You want a quick view of where you stand overall. |
| Directory Submission | Submit your site to web directories. | You want to build new foundational links. |
| Blog Commentor | Find blogs and post relevant comments. | You want to build links and visibility through blog communities. |
A simple workflow: build links with Directory Submission and Blog Commentor, then use Links Inspector to confirm which links were found and how they affect your profile.
Who Links Inspector is for
- Small business owners who want to know which sites mention and link to them.
- SEO consultants and agencies who audit and report on client backlink profiles.
- Content marketers who want to see which content attracts links.
- Anyone doing link building who needs to check that new links are found and spot links that disappear.
Frequently asked questions
How is Links Inspector different from Google Search Console's links report?
Search Console shows a sample of links Google knows about for your own verified site. Links Inspector adds authority and spam metrics for each link, breaks the profile down by anchor and domain, and lets you include competitor URLs, which Search Console can't do.
What is a spam score?
Spam score estimates how likely a linking site is to be low quality or penalized, based on characteristics shared by spammy sites. A high score isn't proof of a problem, but it tells you which links to look at first.
Can I check a competitor's backlinks?
Yes. Turn on Enable Competitor when creating a report and add competitor URLs. You can then compare their links, referring domains and anchors with yours.
How often should I recheck my backlinks?
Monthly is enough for most small sites. If you're actively building links, or recovering from a ranking drop, check more often. The cron command can run reports automatically on a schedule.
Should I disavow links with a high spam score?
Not automatically. Google ignores most low-quality links on its own. Consider disavowing only when you see a large number of clearly manipulative links, or you've received a manual action.
Start inspecting your backlinks
You can't improve what you can't see. Sign in to My PR Manager, open Links Inspector, create a project and run your first report to see exactly who is linking to you, and how you compare with the competitors you want to beat.
Related guides: Page Rank Auditor · Directory Submission · Blog Commentor · New Project Setup
