Question

How do I find inbound links to my site using Ahrefs?

Answer 1

Finding inbound links (aka backlinks) is one of the most valuable things you can do to understand your website’s SEO performance and growth opportunities. 

Step 1: Log in and Access Site Explorer

1. Go to ahrefs.com

2. Enter your credentials and log in to your Ahrefs account.

3. Navigate to the Site Explorer tool (you’ll find it in the top navigation bar).

4. Enter your full domain (e.g., https://yourwebsite.com) in the search box and press Enter.

Tip: If you want results only for a specific section (like your blog), use a URL path like https://yourwebsite.com/blog.

Step 2: View All Backlinks

Once inside Site Explorer:

1. Click on the Backlinks tab on the left sidebar.

2. You’ll now see all pages that link to your site, this is your inbound link report.

3. You can now:

   • View the source URL (who is linking to you)

   • See the anchor text they used

   • Check which page of yours they’re linking to

   • Analyze link type (DoFollow or NoFollow)

   • Review the context of the link (is it in content, footer, sidebar?)

Use case: This helps you find out whether backlinks are high-quality, natural, or potentially spammy.

Step 3: Use Filters for Better Insights

To make the report actionable, use these filters:

• Link Type → Choose “DoFollow” to focus on SEO-impacting links.

• Platform → Filter by blogs, forums, news sites, etc.

• Language → Want only English links? Apply the language filter.

• New/Lost → Track new backlinks or spot recently lost ones (valuable for link recovery).

• One link per domain → Avoid clutter by showing only the strongest link from each site.

Step 4: Referring Domains Report

The Referring Domains tab shows the number of unique domains linking to your website — a crucial SEO metric.

• Higher referring domain count = stronger backlink profile

• Sort by Domain Rating (DR) to prioritize high-authority sources

• Export the list to track partnerships, outreach opportunities, or competitor comparisons

• Use this to measure link diversity and plan your link-building strategy.

Step 5: Analyze at the Page Level

Want to know who links to a specific page or blog post?

• Paste that page URL into Site Explorer instead of your homepage

• Click the Backlinks tab

• View all inbound links to that individual page

This is perfect for measuring content marketing performance, seeing which articles are link magnets and finding opportunities to repurpose or boost high-performing pages

Step 6: Export the Backlink Data

Need to report on or further analyze your backlinks?

1. Click the Export button at the top-right of any report.

2. Choose your format (CSV or Excel)

3. Use this data for SEO audits, tracking monthly progress, or sharing with your team/clients.

Step 7: Set Up Backlink Alerts (Pro Tip)

Don’t want to keep checking manually?

• Go to Alerts in Ahrefs dashboard

• Choose “New Backlinks” alert

• Set it up for your domain

• Ahrefs will email you every time a new backlink is detected

Great for monitoring link-building campaigns or catching negative SEO early.

Why This Is Important

• Backlinks are still one of the top Google ranking factors

• Ahrefs not only shows quantity but quality of those links

• You can spot toxic links, track top-performing pages, and uncover new outreach leads

• Helps you reverse engineer competitors (just plug their domain into Site Explorer!)