What is a backlink — and why count them?
A backlink is a link from another website pointing to yours. Links have been part of how Google ranks pages since PageRank, and they still matter, but they are one signal among many. Google's own staff have said links are no longer among the top few. Relevance and quality count for far more than the raw total. A backlink count is a useful health check and a way to compare sites, not a score for how successful a site is.
Free backlink checker — count any site's inbound links
Paste any URL and the free backlink checker returns two numbers: the total backlink count and the number of referring root domains. It is a counter, not a link explorer — it does not list the individual linking URLs, so if you need the actual pages and their anchor text, open the Links report in Google Search Console for your own site, or use a paid index like Ahrefs or Moz Pro for someone else's. Primary source here is Moz's Links API, and every result is labelled with where the number came from, so you always know whether you are looking at a measured count or an estimate.
Where these backlink counts come from — and when they are an estimate
Honest version, because a backlink number is easy to invent and hard to check. Moz's free Link Explorer tier allows a limited number of lookups per month across everyone using this tool. While that allowance lasts you get real, measured Moz data, cached for 30 days per domain. Once it is exhausted, the checker falls back to an estimate interpolated from the domain's OpenPageRank score, and the result is explicitly marked as an estimate rather than quietly presented as a measurement. Estimates are directionally useful for comparing sites and useless for precise reporting — if you need an exact figure for a client deck, use a paid index.
Expect any two backlink vendors to report different numbers for the same domain, even when both are measuring rather than estimating. Ahrefs, Moz and Semrush each crawl the web independently, so each sees a different slice of it. Track the trend in your referring domains over time with one tool, rather than chasing one vendor's absolute number.
Ahrefs Backlink Checker · Moz Link Explorer · Semrush — alternatives compared
Each of the big three has a free way in. Ahrefs offers a free version of its Backlink Checker, Moz's Link Explorer gives free accounts a small monthly allowance of queries, and a free Semrush account includes a limited number of backlink queries per day. Their full link lists, filters and history sit on paid plans. FeedPulse is narrower on purpose: a no-signup count of backlinks and referring domains, plus an embeddable badge. It doesn't list the linking pages. If you need those, use one of the three.
Embed your live backlinks count as a trust badge
Drop a 'X sites link here' badge on your homepage, footer or About page. It re-reads its count about once a month, matching how often the underlying link data is refreshed. Works on WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Webflow, Ghost, Squarespace, Blogger, plain HTML — one HTML snippet, done.