How To Measure The Link Popularity Of A Website - Guide To The Best Tools

Link popularity is essentially based on the number of incoming links to a specific web site or web page; the more the number of incoming links, the higher the link popularity.

Photo credit: solarseven

But link popularity is both a measure and a process. As a process it strives to earn inbound links from other websites to improve the importance of a specific site. As a measure it helps determine how popular a web page is by the number of backlinks (incoming links). Search engines such as Google use value as a measure to help them rank your any web site inside search engine result pages.

Indeed, links pointing to a web page play an integral role in SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Along with giving more importance to the number of links a web page has, search engines also pay close attention to link patterns. So it is not only the number of links pointing to your web page that determines your position inside the SERPs, but also the quality of those very links.

The quality of a link is determined by two factors:

a) authority of the web page linking to you and

b) the link anchor text.

Be aware therefore, that not all incoming links are born the same. As a matter of fact a raw count of how "popular" a page only based on the number of inbound links, it is only of limited value. A qualified analysis should also factor in link context and link quality, which are critical elements of how search engines, such as Google, make use of links to determine who appears higher or lower inside search engine result pages.

To find out more about the link popularity of your own website, I've gathered and reviewed the best tools and web services that allow you to measure your web site link popularity. I have also prepared a comparative table showcasing the key features of these link popularity checking tools to facilitate your choice.

Here below the list of criteria I have used to review the best tools and services to measure the link popularity of your website:

• Search engine references: Search engines utilized to count all incoming links.
• Comparative analysis: Comparative reporting against one or more sites.
• Email Reporting: Link popularity report sent to your inbox.
• Domain exclusion: Exclusion of incoming links from your own domain.
• PageRank Check: Google ranking check for your site.

How To Measure The Link Popularity Of A Website Comparison Table

How To Measure The Link Popularity Of A Website - Best Tools And Services

1. Yahoo! Site Explorer
   
   
   
   Yahoo! has a free service that shows you how many web pages are linking back to your website. With Yahoo! Site Explorer you can exclude your own domain and include / exclude your subdomains. You can also get a report of the incoming links to your entire website or only to a selected web page. Data can also be exported in table (.TSV) format and downloaded to your computer. You can embed a branded Yahoo! badge on your website to display your link popularity. No URL comparison, email report or PageRank check.
   
   http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Marketleap ***DEAD
   
   
   
   Link Popularity Check by Marketleap measures the popularity of your website by checking how many web pages are linking back to you. Search engines used to gather the information are: Google, Yahoo!, AOL, HotBot, FAST and AltaVista. You can compare your own website with up to two sites and check which website has more incoming links. You can also select the category (Movies, Music, News, Media, etc.) of the websites you are comparing. No email report, domain exclusion or Page Rank check. Free to use.
   
   http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Linkscape
   
   
   
   Linkscape tool scouts the whole web to find web pages that are linking back to you. The data you get include: mozRank index, individual incoming links, domains linking to your site and mozRank of your subdomain (specific URLs for sections of your website). You can exclude your own domain from the results. Features like URL comparison, email reporting or PageRank check are not available.
   
   http://www.seomoz.org/linkscape
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Free-Webmaster-Tools
   
   
   
   Link Popularity check from Free-Webmaster-Tools uses seven major search engines to collect all links you have from other web pages. Search engines used are: Google, AllTheWeb, HotBot, Lycos, AOL, Live Search, and Altavista. Your site results can also be compared with two URLs of your choice. The report of your link popularity is e-mailed to you. No domain exclusion and PageRank check.
   
   http://www.free-webmaster-tools.com/link_popularity.htm
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Xinu Returns
   
   
   
   Xinu Returns is a web service which shows you a configurable dashboard of major items to check to boost your link popularity. You see data like Alexa Rankings, Google PageRank, Technorati authority and many others, all in a glance. A specific section of the dashboard indicates the number of links you receive from search engines like Google, Yahoo!, Live Search, Lycos, AllTheWeb, Ask, HotBot and Altavista. No URL comparison, email reporting and domain exclusion.
   
   http://xinureturns.com/
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Backlink Watch!
   
   
   
   Backlink Watch! is a free web service that helps you to check how many incoming links you have from other websites. The service indicates precisely which item in a web page is linking to you: image, anchor text, banner, etc. Also, Backlink Watch! identifies "nofollow" links, which are incoming links that are not indexed by search engines. PageRank check is available as well. No websites comparison, email report or domain exclusion.
   
   http://www.backlinkwatch.com/
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. SEO Centro
   
   
   
   The free Link Popularity tool from SEO Centro searches on Google, Yahoo, AllTheWeb, AltaVista, and Live Search to determine how many links you have from other websites. You can compare the link popularity results of your site with two more URLs and receive a detailed report to your own mailbox. No domain exclusion or PageRank check.
   
   http://www.seocentro.com/tools/search-engines/link-popularity.html
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. AddME
   
   
   
   AddME is a free web service to check your link popularity just by typing the URL of your website. Inbound links are retrieved from Google, Yahoo!, AllTheWeb, Ask and Altavista. No URL comparison, email reporting, domain exclusion or PageRank check available.
   
   http://www.addme.com/popularity.htm
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Popuri.us
   
   
   
   Popuri.us allows you to check at a glance the link popularity of your site counting your inbound links, ranking, social bookmarks, subscribers and more. Links to your website are collected from Google, Yahoo! and Live Search. PageRank check is available. You can embed the results of your popularity inside a web page using a widget. No URL comparison, email reporting or domain exclusion. Free to use.
   
   http://popuri.us/

Alternative Ways To Measure The Link Popularity Of Your Website

1. Google

   

   Write the name of your website like this: "link:www.example.com" inside Google Search and the result will display a list of webpages that link to your website.






2. Yahoo!

   

   To find links to your website using Yahoo! Search, type "linkdomain:example.com -site:example.com". This search will return a list of all the pages that link to your own website, excluding your domain.

N.B.: Some services e-mail you a report of your link popularity instead of showing immediately the results on your screen. You should always be very careful when giving away your personal address, as it may expose your mailbox to unwanted promotional e-mails, or even spam. That's why if you want to keep your e-mail address private, you may consider using one of the free web services that create a disposable and anonymous email inbox.

Originally prepared by Robin Good and Daniele Bazzano for MasterNewMedia, and first published on June 22nd, 2009 as "How To Measure The Link Popularity Of A Website - Guide To The Best Tools".