How to Identify Backlinks in Google
Google uses the number and quality of backlinks as one factor to determine the authority and relevance of a website. Important websites with many relevant links usually rank higher in Google search results than those with a small number of low-quality links. To identify the backlinks recorded by Google for your website, use the “Links to Your Site” feature on the free Google Webmaster Tools service.
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Instructions
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Launch your Web browser and go to Google.com/webmasters.
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Type your Google Account username and password into the login boxes and then click the “Sign In” button. If you haven’t already created a Google Account, click the “Sign Up for a New Google Account” link at the top of the page. You’ll need to enter your name, email address, and location and provide the URLs for your websites. Skip this step if you’ve already signed in to your Google Account. This opens the Google Webmaster Tools homepage with a list of your websites.
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Click the “Add a Site” button toward the top of the page if you want to add a new site. Type the URL for the site into the input field and then click the “Continue” button. Google now needs to verify that you own or administer the site. Download the HyperText Markup Language verification file to your computer and upload this file to your website’s hosting server. When you’ve completed this procedure, click the “Verify” button. Google adds the site to the Webmaster Tools homepage. You will need to wait a few days for Google to crawl your site and identify backlinks. Skip this step if you want to identify backlinks on a site that you’ve previously registered with Webmaster Tools.
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Click the website on which you want to identify backlinks in the list of websites on the Webmaster Tools homepage.
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Click the “+” button next to “Your Site on the Web” in the menu on the left. Click the “Links to Your Site” link to open the Overview page in the Links to Your Site section. This page displays the number of backlinks, the domain names of the linking sites, the most linked pages and the link or anchor text used by other sites. Click the blue “More” link under each section on the Overview page to view all the backlink data for each section in a new page.
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Tips & Warnings
Increase the number of backlinks to your site by offering original, unique content that encourages other websites and blogs to link to your site.
