Link Checking:
First we will show you the old fashioned do-it-yourself method and then later show you some tools that automate and refine the process.
Manual Methods:
In all the below manual examples replace “targetdomain.com” With the domain you want to review links for. This will work for your domain as well as competitors. You can use this to mine where they get their links, you can then attempt to get links from the same sources or at least use them as a guide to the types of places you might obtain links from.
Google
link:targetdomian.com
This command when entered in the Google Search Bar will give you all sites with the targetdomain.com in the URL
Yahoo
(Note on Yahoo vs. Google: We have read many articles suggesting that Yahoo’s link results are more accurate and complete, due to Google wanting to obscure some details of its Page Rank algorithms, our experience has been we see more results in Yahoo before they show up in Google)
linkdomain: www.targetdomian.com
This command when entered in the Yahoo Search Bar will give you all sites with the www.targetdomain.com in the URL
There are advanced ways of using this command that allow you to get a list of just the External Domains. By adding a – (minus sign)the word “site:” and repeating the www.targetdomian.com
You will derive a search result of all sites and pages that link to the www.targetdomian.com with www.targetdomian.com links (Internal Links) removed.
The syntax would be:
linkdomain: www.targetdomian.com –site:www.targetdomain.com –site:targetdomain.com
Note: Yahoo Search engine and the others consider www.targetdomain.com different from targetdomain.com. That is why both are excluded in the search query. Most Domain Name System (DNS) records if maintained by your ISP host will include a catchall and will forward from one to the other
Bing
Tools to Make Easier:
Yahoo
Yahoo Site Explorer, and you don’t even need an account…
Here you have a nifty little tool that will give you all your internal links, all your links internal and external and all your external links.
In the Explore URL Box Enter Your Domain
You are presented with, by default a list of internal links, a second tab named “Inlinks” will show all your links. It provides you with two pull down menu boxes:
Show Links: This lets you select whether to include or exclude the target domain
To: This lets you focus on the entire site or a single URL
Google
GOOGLE WEBMASTER TOOLS
Google Webmaster Tools (Did you read the 10 Step SEO for Small Business Pre-Requisites) is a big improvement over the simple link: search operator. The free Google Webmaster Tool allows you to segregate links into Internal (Links for your site pages to other pages on your site) and External (Other Sites that link to you). It also allows you to see what pages are being linked to.