9 Best Backlink Tools to Spice up Your SEO Strategy

Backlinks are essential for ranking higher in search engines and driving more organic traffic to your website. But with so many backlink tools out there, how do you know which ones to use?

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll cover the 9 best backlink tools that can take your SEO strategy to the next level. Whether you need to monitor backlinks, find link building opportunities, or clean up toxic links – these tools have got you covered.

Why Backlinks Matter for SEO

Backlinks are incoming links from other websites to your site. Search engines like Google use backlinks as one of the top ranking factors to determine the authority and relevance of a webpage.

More backlinks (especially from high authority sites) signal to Google that your content is worthwhile. It‘s like a "vote" for your site.

The more quality backlinks you can accumulate, the higher your site will rank in search results. Backlinks help with:

Ranking higher – More backlinks boost your domain authority and page authority scores. Google favors sites with more backlinks from trusted sources.
Driving referral traffic – Backlinks bring new visitors to your site as people click on the links pointing to your content. More backlinks means more traffic.
Improving brand visibility – Getting backlinks from authority sites and publications helps increase awareness of your brand.
Passing link juice – Links pass equity and authority. A backlink from an authoritative page passes more value versus a weak website.

Simply put – backlinks are essential for SEO. The more quality backlinks you can accumulate from relevant industry websites, the faster your site will climb up the SERPs.

9 Top Backlink Tools for SEO Professionals

Managing backlinks manually is impossible. The best SEO professionals utilize backlink tools to monitor, analyze and build links effectively.

Here are the top 9 backlink tools I recommend for supercharging your SEO efforts:

1. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is arguably the most powerful tool for backlink analysis and SEO. It‘s trusted by over 100,000+ users worldwide.

Ahrefs provides a massive backlink index of over 21 billion links. You can analyze the backlink profile and new/lost links of any domain.

Key features include:

Backlink checker – See all the backlinks pointing to a domain along with metrics like URL rating and domain rating.
New/lost backlinks – Monitor new links gained and lost every day.
Link intersect – Discover sites linking to your competitors but not you.
Toxic links – Identify dangerous backlinks to disavow.
Organic traffic – Estimate the organic traffic driven by backlinks.

Ahrefs isn‘t cheap but it‘s the most comprehensive tool for backlink analysis. They offer a 7-day $7 trial to test it out.

2. SEMrush

SEMrush is a leading SEO and backlink analysis tool used by over 500,000 marketing professionals worldwide.

It offers a backlink database of over 265 million domains and 26.5 billion backlinks. Useful backlink features include:

Backlink audit – Analyze backlink profiles from your competitors. See metrics for each link like domain score, URL rating, social shares and more.
Lost backlinks – Find lost backlinks and reach out to reclaim them.
New backlinks – Monitor new links gained by your site or competitors.
Backlink comparison – Compare backlink profiles between domains.
Disavow tool – Identify toxic links and build a disavow file.
Organic keywords – See which keywords are driving traffic from backlinks.

SEMrush offers a free trial and paid plans starting at $99/month. It‘s a robust platform for backlink research and analysis.

3. Moz

Moz Pro is one of the most reputable SEO tools trusted by over 1 million marketers.

The Link Explorer tool lets you research and analyze backlinks through:

Link profile analysis – See all backlinks along with metrics like Domain Authority, Spam Score, Linking Root Domains, etc.
New vs lost links – Track gains and losses in backlinks over time.
Link intersection – Find sites linking to competitors but not you.
Link opportunity explorer – Discover prospects for acquiring backlinks.
Anchor text analysis – Identify unnatural anchor text patterns.

Moz pricing starts at $99/month for their Pro account. They offer a 30-day free trial to test out the platform.

4. Majestic

Majestic boasts the world‘s largest link index with over 887 billion URLs.

It empowers you to research backlinks through:

Historic index – Analyze backlink profiles going back more than 10 years.
Flow metrics – Assess quality and trust flow of backlink domains.
Link neighborhood – Check links surrounding your own backlinks.
Clickstream – See click paths of visitors to your site.
Bulk backlink checker – Upload and analyze backlinks from multiple domains.

Majestic offers a free Lite account, along with paid plans starting at $49/month for their Site Explorer subscription.

5. Linkody

Linkody is a dedicated backlink tracking and monitoring tool.

It enables automated backlink tracking through:

Custom link lists – Track specific backlinks that matter to you.
Bulk backlink importer – Upload backlinks from other tools to monitor.
Smart notifications – Receive alerts on lost backlinks and new links gained.
Link metrics – Assess domain authority, URL rating, word count of backlinks and more.
Plagiarism monitoring – Detect if your content is copied without attribution.

Linkody offers a forever free plan for up to 15 backlinks. Paid plans start at $8/month for up to 300 backlinks.

6. Link Explorer

Link Explorer provides easy backlink analysis starting at just $7/month.

You can analyze backlinks by:

Link intersection – Find sites linking to competitors but not you.
Lost backlinks – Identify lost links and diagnose the reason.
Gained backlinks – Monitor new links pointing to your site.
Organic keywords – See which terms are driving traffic from backlinks.
Metrics – Evaluate backlink metrics like Domain Authority, URL Rating, Linking IPs and more.

Link Explorer offers a low-cost solution for basic backlink research needs.

7. Monitor Backlinks

Monitor Backlinks offers automated backlink tracking and monitoring.

Key features for research include:

Link tracking – Automatically track and monitor important backlinks.
Link metrics – Get details like Domain Authority, URL Rating, Trust Metrics and more.
Link growth – See new links gained versus lost links.
Link alerts – Receive email notifications on new links, lost links and toxic backlinks.
Competitive link tracking – Monitor and compare competitors‘ backlink profiles.

Pricing starts at $15/month for tracking 50 backlinks. They offer subscription plans based on the number of backlinks you need to monitor.

8. CognitiveSEO

CognitiveSEO provides an AI-powered platform for digital marketing and SEO.

For backlink analysis, it enables you to:

Identify influencers – Find sites and people linking to your brand.
Monitor backlinks – Track new links gained and lost links.
Analyze metrics – Assess domain authority, spam score and other metrics.
See traffic value – Estimate traffic driven by backlinks.
Compare domains – Benchmark backlink profiles between competitors.
Automate reporting – Schedule and export backlink data.

CognitiveSEO starts at $99/month for their Pro plan. It brings automation to backlink monitoring and reporting.

9. SEO Audit Tools

SEO Audit Tools offers an easy workflow for backlink analysis:

Backlink checker – See all backlinks along with key metrics and graphical analysis.
Historical trends – Track gains and losses in backlinks over time.
Link opportunity finder – Discover prospects for acquiring backlinks.
Link disavow tool – Detect toxic links and build a disavow file.
Automated alerts – Get notified of new links from tracked domains.

SEO Audit Tools starts at $15/month for backlink tracking up to 15 domains. It provides an affordable solution for backlink monitoring and research.

Choose the Right Tool for Your Needs

With so many backlink tools out there, it can be tricky to decide which one is the best fit. Here are some key considerations when choosing a backlink analysis tool:

Backlink index size – Larger is better. Go with tools that index billions of backlinks like Ahrefs, Majestic and SEMrush.
Competitive analysis – Choose tools that allow comparison against competitors‘ backlink profiles.
Link metrics – Make sure the tool provides metrics like Domain Authority, URL Rating, etc to assess link quality.
Link tracking – Pick tools that enable automated tracking and monitoring of important backlinks.
Alerts – Opt for tools that can notify you of significant backlink changes through email or Slack.
Customer support – Paid tools should provide quality customer service and onboarding.
Price – Balance your budget. Some powerful tools charge upwards of $99/month while others start at $7/month.
User interface – Aim for an intuitive UI that fits your workflow. Complex tools have a learning curve.

Think about your current needs, resources and budget. I recommend starting with a free trial of a couple tools that seem to fit your requirements. The tool you choose depends on factors unique to your business.

Tips for Managing Backlinks Effectively

With the right backlink tools, you can stay on top of your link building efforts. Here are some tips for managing backlinks effectively:

Set up tracking – Prioritize tracking your most important links from authority sites and placements. Avoid manually monitoring hundreds of links.
Monitor new links – Check weekly for new backlinks gained to reach out and build relationships.
Diagnose lost links – When you lose an important backlink, identify the reason through archive.org and find a solution.
Disavow toxic links – Regularly check your backlinks for sketchy or paid links. Disavow these to avoid manual penalties.
Build a natural profile – Focus on acquiring backlinks from relevant websites in your niche. Avoid mass automated link building.
Diversify anchor text – Make your anchor text ratios appear natural and avoid over-optimization.
Be patient – Improving your backlink profile takes time and consistency. Stick with your efforts and you‘ll see results.

Conclusion

Backlinks remain one of the strongest ranking signals for SEO in 2022. Using the right backlink tools allows you to streamline link building, monitoring and management.

Aim to acquire backlinks from authority sites in your niche to build relevance and drive referral traffic. Monitor your existing links for losses and analyze competitors for new opportunities.

With a solid backlink building process and the best tools supporting your efforts, your site can ascend the SERP rankings and build authority as a worthwhile resource.

What backlink tools do you use in your SEO strategy? Let me know in the comments below!