Tools to map backlinks.

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

• 
  Thomas Meriaux: Hi,
  
  I am quite new to SEO,
  Is there any tool to map all the back links within a website or a set of websites to see what is linked to what. If it could be done and as far as I understand (if I am not please correct me! ) this would allow the webmaster to plan his back linking in order to do a better SEO with the use of a more systematic approach, am I correct? I would love some input on this. Thanks!
• 
  Harry Dance: Hey +Thomas Meriaux ;, there are a few out there. "Google Webmaster tools" is a good start as it is free and lists your own website's backlinks.
  
  When you want to do competitor research, the best ones I have used are opensite explorer and a hrefs. Both have free versions as well but the free versions have limited info.
  
  Good luck and give us a shout if you need help.  ;
• 
  Thomas Meriaux: Thanks for the insight! Will do and will keep you informed
• 
  Jim Munro: With the disclaimer that SEMrush gives our panelists free copies of their service on an ongoing basis, I'd like to add SEMrush to Harry's good list for competitor analysis and ranking comparison.
  
  To answer the second part of your question, Thomas, I don't think you should focus on backlinks, your time might be better spent earning more links rather than attempting to evaluate the links you have already earned.
• 
  RACHIT GUPTA: Mulitple tools like SEOMOZ & Webmaster both have the facility to see baclinks. You can also go with Raven Tool
• 
  Christopher Shaffer: +Jim Munro ;I would agree with you about going after new links. However if the site is established it is worth taking a look at the current backlink situation to make sure you don't have any heavy penalized links pointing to your domain. The Disavow tool exists for a reason :)
• 
  Tim Capper: There are dozens, and each one will give you slightly different results:
  
  Webmaster tools
  semRush
  Ahrefs
  seorankmonitor
  searchmetrics
  
  Add them all into a spreadsheet and remove duplicates, you should then have a pretty accurate list of all the links .
• 
  Edwin Jonk: From the expert panel in this weeks SEO Questions hangout on air on 00:44:35 into the YouTube video: https://dumbseoquestions.com/q/tools_to_map_backlinks +Thomas Meriaux
  
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