How to Check Backlinks in Google Search Console

Key takeaways

• The links report in Google Search Console shows external linking sites, most linked pages, and anchor text, straight from Google’s own link graph

• It reports links Google knows about and considers relevant, so treat it as Google’s working view rather than a complete backlink database

• The internal links half of the report is a free equity distribution map most teams never open

• Export before you analyze, because the interface caps what you can see per table

• Disavowing is a last resort for manual action recovery, and Bing retired its disavow tool entirely because it no longer needed one

Do you know how to check backlinks in Google Search Console? Backlink tools are one of the biggest line items in an SEO budget, and the free report from Google itself is the one most teams never open. The links report in Google Search Console is Google’s own answer to who links to you, and while it lacks the scoring layers of paid platforms, it has something they never will. It reflects the link graph Google actually uses.

This post covers where the report lives, how to read both halves of it, external and internal, and how it fits into the backlink strategy work that builds real authority.

Where is the backlinks report in Google Search Console

Open your property and click Links in the left navigation, near the bottom. The report splits into external links, covering top linked pages, top linking sites, and top linking text, and internal links, covering your own most linked pages.

No configuration, no crawl budget, no credits. The report is populated for every verified property, and if you want the raw material, the Export External Links button in the top right hands you the latest links and the full sites list as a spreadsheet. Exporting first is the habit worth building, because the on screen tables truncate and the interesting patterns live in the full data.

What does the external links report actually show

Three views. Top linked pages ranks your URLs by inbound links, top linking sites ranks the domains pointing at you, and top linking text lists the anchor text those links use. Together they describe how the web, as Google sees it, endorses your site.

• Top linked pages shows where your authority concentrates. A homepage heavy profile with barely linked content pages is the signature of a site that earns brand links but not content links, which caps how far interior pages can rank.

• Top linking sites is your endorsement roster. Scan it for the domains you courted, the ones you never heard of, and the ones that make you wince. It is also the honest scoreboard for link outreach, since a placement that never appears here may not be one Google counts.

• Top linking text reveals how the web describes you. Anchors dominated by your brand name are normal and healthy. A sudden bloom of exact match commercial anchors you never built is worth investigating.

Why does the internal links report matter just as much

Because it is Google’s map of how you distribute authority inside your own site. Pages you consider important but barely link to are being told, in Google’s language, that they don’t matter, and this report shows the mismatch in one sorted list.

I check this half of the report during every indexing recovery, because orphaned and under linked pages sit at the bottom of exactly this list. If a revenue critical page ranks below your privacy policy in internal link count, no external campaign will out muscle the signal you are sending yourself. The repair playbook is my internal linking strategy guide, and this report is the measurement layer that tells you whether the playbook is actually deployed.

What are the limits versus paid backlink tools

The links report has no authority scores, no competitor lookups, no historical trend view, and no guarantee of completeness. It shows Google’s working sample of your links, not the entire graph, and it only covers your own verified properties.

So the honest positioning is complement, not replacement. Paid indexes see more links and score them, and they let you study competitors, which GSC never will. But when a paid tool and the links report disagree about whether an important link exists, I weight the report, because it comes from the engine whose opinion actually prices the link. On the Microsoft side, Bing Webmaster Tools ships a comparable free backlinks tool inside the same dashboard, including a competitor comparison view GSC lacks.

When should you disavow backlinks

Almost never. Disavow only when recovering from a manual action for unnatural links or when you know a link scheme points at your site. Google discounts ordinary spam links automatically, and careless disavowing removes links that were helping.

The disavow file lives outside the links report in a separate legacy tool, which fits its status. It is a scalpel for a rare surgery, not maintenance. The direction of travel is telling here. Bing retired its disavow feature entirely after concluding its systems no longer needed webmaster input to ignore bad links, and Google’s guidance has narrowed to manual action recovery. If you are disavowing as routine hygiene, you are spending risk with no expected return.

Not sure whether your link profile is an asset or a liability?

A links report read through takes 20 minutes and settles it. Book 30 minutes with MQL Magnet and we’ll walk both halves of the report together.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check backlinks in Google Search Console?

Open your verified property, click Links in the left navigation, and review the external links section for top linked pages, top linking sites, and top linking text. Use Export External Links for the full data.

Is the Google Search Console backlinks report free?

Yes. It is included with every verified property at any usage level, with no credits or limits beyond the interface display caps, which exports work around.

Does Google Search Console show all my backlinks?

No. It shows a sample of links Google has crawled and considers relevant. Paid tools typically list more raw links, but the report reflects the link graph Google actually uses.

What is the top linking text report?

It lists the anchor text external sites use when linking to you. Branded anchors dominating is healthy. A wave of exact match commercial anchors you never built can signal spam pointing at your site.

How do I see internal links in Google Search Console?

The internal links section of the same Links report ranks your pages by how many internal links point at them, which maps how authority distributes inside your site and exposes under linked priority pages.

How do I disavow backlinks in Google Search Console?

Through Google’s separate disavow tool, upload a text file listing URLs or domains to ignore. Do this only for manual action recovery or known link schemes, since Google discounts ordinary spam automatically.

Why do my paid tool and Google Search Console show different backlinks?

Different crawlers, different indexes, different filters. Paid tools crawl independently and show more raw links, while GSC shows Google’s working sample. For questions about what Google counts, weight GSC.

Can I check a competitor’s backlinks in Google Search Console?

No. The report only covers properties you have verified. Competitor link analysis requires a third party tool, or the competitor comparison view inside Bing Webmaster Tools’ free backlinks tool.

How do backlinks affect indexing?

Links from crawled pages are a primary discovery path and a trust signal. Pages with real inbound links get crawled sooner and clear indexing quality bars more easily than orphaned URLs.

How often should I check the links report?

Monthly for most sites, plus after every outreach campaign to confirm placements registered, and during any indexing recovery to verify the internal link repairs took hold.