The Search Console Links Report: What It Counts

This guide is based on Google's Search Console Help article See backlinks to your site (the Links report), its article on disavowing links, the link spam section of Google's spam policies and Search Central's page on qualifying outbound links. Quotes are Google's own words. If you have not set up Search Console yet, start with our Search Console basics guide.

What the Links report is

Open Search Console, choose the property and select Links in the menu. The report has two halves: external links, which Google calls backlinks, and internal links between your own pages. Google defines a backlink simply: "a link on a page from another site that links to a page on your site."

Google lists the uses it has in mind for each table, and they are modest: check that your most linked pages are the ones you expect, that you recognise the sites linking to you, that the link text describes you accurately, and that your important pages are linked from within your own site. It is a check on your link profile, not a ranking score. The report gives no domain rating or "link value" figure, and Google does not say anywhere in it how much a given link counts.

How Google counts and groups links

Most confusion about the report comes from the way the data is grouped. These are the rules Google states:

A practical consequence of the root-domain rule: if you see your own domain under Top linking sites, Google explains that it "represents a subdomain that is omitted in the table". A link from m.example.com is shown as example.com.

The external links tables

Top linked pages

Your pages with the most backlinks from other sites. Google's suggested use is to "Confirm that your most linked pages are the ones that you expect." Click More for the full list, then select a URL to see the top sites linking to that page. You can only drill into a page that appears in this table.

Top linking sites

The root domains with the most links to your site, sorted by link count. Click a site to see which of your pages it links to. Google suggests two checks here: that you recognise the sites, and whether sites that matter to you link to you at all. Its own example is a restaurant asking whether it is "mentioned in food blogs or review sites".

Top linking text

The link text other sites use when they link to you. This table covers only links from outside your property. Text is grouped by case-insensitive exact match, so "Hello world" and "HELLO WORLD" are one row but "Hello world" and "Hello worlds" are two. Links without text, such as image links, show as "(empty)". Google's suggested uses are to confirm "the link text is what you expect, and not spammy text" and that other sites describe you accurately. If they do not, Google says "you might need to clarify your site content."

Backlinks from one site to one page

Drill down from a page to a site, or from a site to a page, and you reach the individual linking pages. The table has a Linking page column and a Target URL (if different) column. When the target column has a value, Google gives two reasons: your site redirects the linked URL to the target, or Google chose the target as the canonical URL for the linked one. A blank value means the link points exactly at the page shown.

That second column is a quick way to spot links pointing at old URLs. If many sites still link to a page you redirected, keep the redirect in place; our 404 pages and redirects guide explains why.

The internal links tables

The internal side has a top internally-linked pages table. Select a page to see which of your other pages link to it. Google's suggested uses are to confirm that "core site pages (home page, contact page) are properly linked within your site", and to make sure visitors can get from one page to another "with the fewest clicks."

We cover how to plan internal links and write anchor text in our internal linking and anchor text guide, so we will not repeat it here. The one thing to keep in mind about this table: because it is a sample, a page missing from it is a prompt to check, not a finding. Open the pages that should link to it and look.

Exporting link data

The landing page of the report has an Export button that saves link data as a CSV file or a Google Sheet, up to 100,000 rows. Google offers two slices:

• Latest links: "The most recently discovered links to your site", sorted by discovery date. This is the one to check after a launch, a press mention or a sudden spike.
• More sample links: a sample from "the full set of links known to Google". Google says this helps when far more than 100,000 pages link to you, because it shows data the Latest links export cuts off.

Pages with a single table have their own download button, which exports the whole table up to 1,000 rows. Sorting the table on screen does not change the export. Values shown as ~ or - in the report come out as zeros in the file.

Spammy links and the disavow tool

Sooner or later every site finds odd domains in Top linking sites: scraper copies, directories nobody has heard of, pages in languages the business does not use. Google's guidance on what to do is calmer than most SEO advice.

For a page linked from a spammy site, Google says "For known spam sites, Google typically will ignore the links". Its disavow article adds: "In most cases, Google can assess which links to trust without additional guidance, so most sites will not need to use this tool." It calls disavowing "an advanced feature" that "can potentially harm your site's performance in Google Search results" if used incorrectly.

Google says you should disavow backlinks only if both of these are true:

• You have "a considerable number of spammy, artificial, or low-quality links pointing to your site", and
• "The links have caused a manual action, or likely will cause a manual action, on your site."

The usual cause is links you, or an SEO you hired, built through "paid links or other link schemes". Google's link spam policy lists what counts, including buying or selling links for ranking, excessive link exchanges, automated link building, low-quality directory links and optimized links in widely distributed footers or templates. Paid links are allowed when marked: Google says buying and selling links for advertising is fine "as long as they are qualified with a rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" attribute". Its page on qualifying outbound links explains the sponsored, ugc and nofollow values.

If you do need the tool, these are the rules from Google's disavow article:

• Try to get the links removed first; Google recommends that "First and foremost".
• The disavow tool "does not support Domain properties". You need a URL-prefix property, and you must be an owner to upload.
• The file is a UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII .txt file with one URL or domain:example.com line each. You cannot disavow a subpath such as example.com/en/. Lines starting with # are comments. Limits: 100,000 lines and 2 MB.
• There is one list per property, and a new upload replaces the old one.
• "Disavowed links will continue to be shown in the Links report." Their presence there after an upload is expected.
• After a successful upload, it "can take a few weeks" for Google to process the list.

Google suggests using the Links report export to build the list and says to "remove any URLs from the downloaded file that you don't want to disavow." If you already have a manual action for unnatural links, our manual actions guide covers the reconsideration request that goes with the cleanup.

How we use the report

This is our own habit, not Google guidance. Once a month, or after any launch or campaign:

1. Export Latest links and skim the new linking sites. New links from partners, suppliers, local press or industry bodies are worth noting. The kinds of places worth being listed on are in our small business SEO basics guide.
2. Check Top linked pages. If links land on a page that now redirects or no longer exists, fix the redirect or ask the linking site to update the URL.
3. Check Top linking text for spam phrases you never used. On their own they are usually something Google ignores; only a large pattern you or a former supplier created is a reason to act.
4. Check the internal table for key service and contact pages that sit low or are missing, then look at the pages that should link to them.

What we do not do is chase the totals. Because the report is a sample with old links in it, the overall numbers move for reasons that have nothing to do with your site.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Links report show every link to my site?

No. Google says it "isn't a comprehensive list of every link on your site". It shows a sample of internal and external links, and some URLs are omitted, for example non-indexed pages or deduplicated URLs.

Does the Links report show nofollow links separately?

No. Google says the report "doesn't specify if a link is marked as nofollow". Check the linking page's HTML if you need to know how a link is qualified.

Why do I see links from pages that no longer exist?

The report includes links Google has found over time. Google notes those links may have since been removed, or the page may no longer exist.

Should I disavow the spammy sites I see in the report?

Usually not. Google says it can assess which links to trust in most cases and typically ignores links from known spam sites. It suggests disavowing only when you have many spammy or artificial links and they have caused, or likely will cause, a manual action.

Why does my own domain appear under Top linking sites?

The report groups sites by root domain. Google explains that a link from a subdomain such as m.example.com is listed as example.com, so it can look identical to your property.

Want someone to review your links and site structure as part of regular care? See our website maintenance and website development services and all our services, or email [email protected].