How To Check Backlinks In Google Analytics [2023]

Are you ready to embark on a journey of link exploration? In this article, we’ll unlock the secrets of How To Check Backlinks In Google Analytics.

Short answer: find out who’s holding your site’s hand in the vast internet playground. Stick around for invaluable insights and unexpected discoveries!

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a free web analytics service offered by Google. 

It tracks and reports website traffic, giving website owners insights into how users interact with their site. 

It provides valuable data that can help website owners improve their website’s performance, SEO, and user experience.

Benefits of Checking Backlinks In Google Analytics

Google Analytics offers many benefits, including:

1. Understanding Your Audience

Google Analytics provides detailed information about your website’s visitors, including their demographics, location, behavior, and interests. 

This information can help you tailor your website’s content to your audience’s preferences, improving your user experience.

2. Tracking Your Website’s Performance

Google Analytics tracks your website’s performance, including how many visitors your site receives, how long they stay on your site, and which pages they visit. 

This information can help you identify areas for improvement, such as pages that aren’t performing well or pages that are receiving high traffic.

3. Improving Your Website’s SEO

Google Analytics can help you improve your website’s SEO by providing insights into your website’s traffic sources, including organic search, social media, and backlinks. 

By analyzing this data, you can optimize your website’s content and improve its search engine rankings.

How to Check Backlinks in Google Analytics [Step-By-Step Guide]

If you want to track and analyze your website’s backlinks using Google Analytics, follow this step-by-step guide:

Step One – Select the Correct Google Profile

Before you start checking your backlinks, ensure that you have selected the correct Google Analytics profile for the website you want to analyze. 

This is important to ensure you’re viewing the accurate data for your website.

Step Two – Dropdown Acquisition Reports > All Traffic > Referrals

Once you’ve selected the appropriate Google Analytics profile, navigate to the “Acquisition” section in the left-hand menu. 

From there, click on “All Traffic” and then choose “Referrals” from the dropdown menu. 

This will lead you to the Referrals Report, which displays all the websites that have linked to your site.

Step Three – Check your Backlinks Using the Referral Report

In the Referrals Report, you can examine your backlinks and gather valuable insights. Here are a few key metrics and techniques to consider:

Adding New Audience Segments

To gain a deeper understanding of your backlinks, you can add new audience segments to the Referrals Report. 

By segmenting your data, you can analyze specific groups of users or sources and compare their behavior and performance.

Primary Dimensions

Using the Primary Dimensions feature, you can view additional details about the referral sources. 

This includes information such as the source’s URL, the landing page on your website, and the number of sessions generated by each source. 

Exploring these dimensions can provide valuable context for evaluating the impact of backlinks on your website.

Advanced Filter Options

Google Analytics offers advanced filter options that allow you to refine the data displayed in the Referrals Report. 

You can filter the results based on specific criteria such as source, medium, or landing page. This helps you focus on the backlinks that are most relevant to your analysis.

Advanced Techniques of Check Backlinks in Google Analytics

Beyond the basic steps outlined above, here are a few advanced techniques you can explore to enhance your backlink analysis:

1. Linking Google Analytics with Google Search Console: By linking these two tools, you can gain access to additional backlink data directly within Google Analytics. This integration provides a more comprehensive view of your website’s backlinks.
2. Utilizing Custom Reports: Google Analytics allows you to create custom reports tailored to your specific needs. You can design reports that focus specifically on backlinks, enabling you to monitor and track them more effectively.
3. Setting Up Alerts: To stay informed about changes in your backlinks, consider setting up alerts in Google Analytics. These alerts can notify you when there are significant increases or decreases in referral traffic, helping you identify potential opportunities or issues related to your backlinks.

Remember to regularly monitor and analyze your backlinks using Google Analytics to stay on top of your website’s SEO performance and make informed decisions to improve your rankings.

By following these step-by-step instructions and exploring advanced techniques, you’ll be equipped to effectively check and analyze your backlinks using Google Analytics.

How to Get Backlinks to Your Site

Obtaining backlinks for your website is essential for improving its visibility and search engine rankings. Here are some effective strategies to acquire backlinks:

1. Create High-Quality Content: Develop informative and valuable content that naturally attracts links from other websites. Focus on creating content that is unique, engaging, and relevant to your target audience.
2. Guest Blogging: Contribute guest posts to reputable blogs in your industry. Include a link back to your site within the author bio or content. Ensure the blogs you choose have a strong following and are relevant to your niche.
3. Reach Out to Influencers: Identify influencers and thought leaders in your industry and establish relationships with them. Engage with their content, share their posts, and reach out to them with collaboration opportunities. This can lead to them linking to your site or mentioning you in their content.
4. Broken Link Building: Find websites in your niche that have broken links. Reach out to the site owners and suggest replacing the broken link with a link to a relevant page on your website. This provides value to the site owner and helps you acquire backlinks.
5. Social Media Promotion: Share your content on social media platforms and encourage others to link to it. Engage with your audience and foster discussions around your content to generate organic backlinks.

How Do I Know If My Site Has Bad Backlinks?

Identifying bad backlinks is crucial to maintain a healthy website and avoid potential penalties from search engines. Here’s how to assess if your site has bad backlinks:

1. Use Google Search Console: Google Search Console provides a “Links to Your Site” report that shows the backlinks pointing to your site. Analyze this report and look for any suspicious or low-quality links.
2. Monitor Referral Traffic: Keep an eye on your website’s referral traffic in Google Analytics. If you notice a sudden influx of traffic from irrelevant or spammy websites, it could indicate the presence of bad backlinks.
3. Check Link Quality: Manually review the websites that link to your site. Look for signs of low-quality or spammy sites, such as poor design, irrelevant content, or suspicious practices.

How Do I Check and Remove Bad Backlinks?

Once you’ve identified bad backlinks, it’s crucial to remove or disavow them to protect your site’s reputation. Here’s how you can check and remove bad backlinks:

1. Contact Site Owners: Reach out to the webmasters of the sites with bad backlinks and request removal. Be polite and provide specific details about the backlinks you want them to remove.
2. Use Disavow Tool: If you can’t get the bad backlinks removed manually, you can use Google’s Disavow Tool. This tool allows you to inform Google that you want to disavow certain backlinks, indicating that you don’t want them to be considered when evaluating your site’s ranking.
3. Regularly Monitor Backlinks: Continuously monitor your backlink profile using tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz. These tools can provide insights into your backlink profile, including new backlinks and potential spammy links.

How to Measure Referral Traffic

Measuring referral traffic helps you understand the effectiveness of your backlink strategy. Here’s how to measure referral traffic:

1. Google Analytics: In Google Analytics, navigate to the “Acquisition” section and select “All Traffic” followed by “Referrals.” This report shows the websites that refer traffic to your site and the performance metrics associated with each referral source.
2. Referral Traffic Metrics: Analyze metrics like sessions, bounce rate, average session duration, and conversion rate for each referral source. This data helps you gauge the quality and engagement level of the traffic coming from different backlinks.

Improving and Getting More Referral Traffic

To improve and gain more referral traffic, consider the following strategies:

1. Build Relationships: Foster connections with influencers, bloggers, and webmasters in your industry. Engage with their content, collaborate on projects, and contribute guest posts to their websites. These relationships can lead to more referral traffic.
2. Create Shareable Content: Develop high-quality, informative, and visually appealing content that people naturally want to share. This increases the likelihood of your content being linked to and shared by others.
3. Promote Your Content: Actively share your content on social media platforms, relevant forums, and online communities. Encourage your audience to share your content, which can lead to increased referral traffic.
4. Participate in Online Discussions: Engage in discussions related to your industry on platforms like Quora, Reddit, and LinkedIn groups. Provide valuable insights and include links to relevant content on your website when appropriate. This can drive traffic from these platforms.

Remember, building referral traffic takes time and effort. Focus on creating valuable content, fostering relationships, and consistently promoting your website to attract more referral traffic over time.

By implementing these strategies and effectively measuring your referral traffic, you can improve your website’s visibility, attract high-quality backlinks, and drive relevant traffic to your site.

FAQs About How To Check Backlinks In Google Analytics

Can I see backlinks in Google Analytics?

No, Google Analytics does not provide a direct view of backlinks. It primarily focuses on website traffic and user behavior metrics.

How do I find backlinks on Google?

To find backlinks on Google, you can use advanced search operators or specialized backlink analysis tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz.

How can I see my backlinks?

You can see your backlinks by using dedicated backlink analysis tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz, or by accessing backlink reports in tools like Google Search Console.

How do I check my backlinks in GSC?

To check your backlinks in Google Search Console, navigate to the “Links” section under the “Search Traffic” menu. There you can view external links pointing to your site.

How do I check SEO in Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is not primarily designed for checking SEO. However, you can track organic search traffic, keyword performance, and landing page metrics to gain insights into your website’s SEO performance.

How do I monitor SEO with Google Analytics?

To monitor SEO with Google Analytics, you can set up custom reports or segments to analyze organic search traffic, user behavior, conversion rates, and other relevant metrics.

Why is Google not showing backlinks?

Google’s link index is not comprehensive, and not all backlinks may be shown in tools like Google Search Console or other backlink analysis tools. 

Additionally, some backlinks may be marked as nofollow, which search engines may not consider when displaying backlink data.

Does Google Search Console show all backlinks?

Google Search Console may not show all backlinks to your site. It provides a sample of the backlinks that Google has discovered and considers relevant for your site’s indexing and ranking.

How do I know if my backlinks are indexed?

You can check if your backlinks are indexed by performing a search on Google using the “site:” operator followed by the URL of the page containing the backlink. If the page appears in the search results, it indicates that it has been indexed.

How do I audit backlinks in Google Search Console?

To audit backlinks in Google Search Console, review the “Links to Your Site” report under the “Search Traffic” menu. Analyze the backlinks’ quality, relevance, and potential issues such as spammy or low-quality links.

Does Google Analytics include SEO?

Google Analytics does not directly provide SEO data. However, it offers insights into website traffic, user behavior, and conversion metrics that can be used to evaluate the performance of SEO efforts.

How do I check SEO visibility?

To check SEO visibility, you can use third-party SEO tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs, which provide visibility metrics based on organic search rankings, estimated traffic, and keyword positions.

How do I Analyze keywords in Google Analytics?

To analyze keywords in Google Analytics, go to the “Acquisition” section, select “All Traffic,” and then choose “Organic Search.” In the “Keyword” report, you can view the keywords that drive organic traffic to your site.

What is the only way to track SEO results?

The only way to track SEO results is by monitoring changes in organic search rankings, organic traffic, conversions, and other relevant metrics using SEO tools and analytics platforms like Google Analytics.

Can Google Analytics track leads?

Yes, Google Analytics can track leads by setting up conversion goals or tracking events that capture specific user actions, such as form submissions or button clicks associated with lead generation.

Final Thoughts About How To Check Backlinks In Google Analytics

In conclusion, Google Analytics provides valuable insights for website owners to track and analyze their backlinks. 

While it may not directly display a comprehensive list of backlinks, it offers tools and reports that can help monitor referral traffic and evaluate the impact of backlinks on overall website performance. 

By navigating to the Referrals Report and utilizing features like audience segmentation, primary dimensions, and advanced filters, you can gain a deeper understanding of your backlink profile. 

Additionally, integrating Google Analytics with Google Search Console and utilizing custom reports can enhance your backlink analysis. 

Regularly checking and monitoring backlinks in Google Analytics is crucial for optimizing your website’s SEO strategy and improving your online visibility.