The short version: there is no single, official total number of backlinks for any website, so stop hunting for it. Check Google Search Console for what Google itself sees, then check a crawler tool like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz for a broader view, and expect the two numbers to disagree by a lot. What matters far more than the total is whether that number is made of real, relevant links or a pile of spam nobody will ever click.
Why nobody can give you one true number
Every backlink checker, including the free ones and the expensive ones, works by crawling the web with its own bots and storing what it finds in its own database. None of them crawl every page on the internet, none of them update in real time, and none of them agree with each other. That's not a flaw you need to fix. It's just how this works.
Google Search Console shows you links Google has crawled and indexed for your specific site, verified through your property. Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz run their own independent crawlers, which means their index size, freshness, and coverage all differ from Google's and from each other's. Ask three tools for "the total number of backlinks" on the same domain on the same day and you'll get three different answers, sometimes wildly different ones.
Step by step: where to look
1. Google Search Console (free, and the closest thing to ground truth)
- Log in to Search Console and select your verified property
- Click "Links" in the left menu
- Under "External links" you'll see "Top linking sites" and a total count of linking pages and linking domains
- Click "More" to export the full list as a spreadsheet
This is the number Google is working with for your site, which makes it the most useful figure if you care about rankings rather than vanity metrics. The downside is it only shows a sample, and Google doesn't fully explain how that sample is chosen.
2. A third-party crawler tool for the bigger picture
Search Console alone won't show you links your competitors have or a full historical trend, so this is where a real backlinks counter earns its place. Type your domain into the tool's backlink checker, and you'll get a total backlinks count, a referring domains count (this is the number that matters far more, and I'll come back to that), and often a breakdown by follow versus nofollow, and by new versus lost links.
If you want a fast, no-login way to sanity check where your site stands before you commit to a paid tool, a domain authority checker will usually pull a rough backlink and referring domain count alongside the score, which is enough for a first look.
3. Cross-check before you trust the figure
Run the same domain through two different checkers and compare referring domains, not just raw backlink totals. If one tool shows 400 referring domains and another shows 90, that gap usually means one tool's crawler has found a batch of old, low-quality, or spammy links the other hasn't indexed yet, not that your site suddenly gained or lost hundreds of links overnight.
A worked example
Say you run a small online plant nursery with a site that's been live for four years. You check Google Search Console and it shows 890 external links from 210 referring domains. You then run the same domain through a paid backlink checker and it shows 6,400 total backlinks from 340 referring domains.
Which one is right? Both are, for what they're measuring. Search Console is showing you links Google has crawled and is currently weighing. The third-party tool is showing you a wider crawl that includes older links, some now-dead pages that still technically point at you, and a chunk of directory and forum links that add volume without adding much value. The useful number here isn't 890 or 6,400. It's the 210 to 340 referring domains, and specifically how many of those domains are sites you'd want a customer to visit.
The bit most guides skip: a big total can mean nothing
Plenty of sites carry tens of thousands of backlinks and still don't rank, because most of those links come from scraped directories, auto-generated forum profiles, or comment spam left over from years ago. A total backlinks number on its own tells you almost nothing about link quality, relevance, or whether those pages send a single visitor. I've seen the pattern often enough in this industry to say it plainly: a site with 300 backlinks from 40 relevant, real, active domains will usually outperform a site with 9,000 backlinks from 200 low-quality ones. If your total looks impressive but rankings haven't moved, the total was never the problem worth chasing.
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This is also why you should be wary of any tool or agency that quotes you a headline backlink number as proof of a link building campaign's success. Ask for referring domains, ask what those domains are, and ask whether the links are still live six months later.
What to check regularly instead of a one-off total
A single snapshot total is only useful the day you look at it. What helps you make decisions is watching the trend, and there's a real process for tracking how many backlinks your site has gained this year rather than eyeballing a number that resets your understanding every time you check it. Set a monthly reminder, pull the same report from the same tool, and log referring domains gained and lost side by side.
If you want the fullest possible view of every page linking to you, including the ones smaller free checkers miss, it's worth learning how to see all the backlinks going to your site across multiple sources, because relying on one tool alone will always leave gaps.
Does the total change your rankings?
Short answer: not directly, and not in the way most people assume. Google has said publicly, including through spokespeople quoted in outlets like Search Engine Land, that link quality and relevance matter far more than raw count. A deeper look at whether the number of backlinks you have changes your rankings is worth reading before you spend a single hour chasing a bigger total for its own sake.
A quick checklist for today
- Log into Google Search Console and pull your external links total right now, it takes under five minutes
- Run your domain through one third-party checker for a second data point
- Ignore the raw backlink number and note the referring domains figure instead
- Skim the top 20 linking domains and ask whether a real customer would ever land on those pages
- Set a recurring monthly check rather than a one-off count
Frequently asked questions
What's the fastest free way to check my backlinks?
Google Search Console is free, requires no card details, and gives you the total external links and referring domains Google itself is tracking for your verified property, updated within its own crawl schedule.
Why do Ahrefs and Google Search Console show different numbers?
They run entirely separate crawlers with different databases, different crawl frequencies, and different rules for what counts as a live, indexable link, so their totals will rarely match and that's normal, not an error.
Should I care more about total backlinks or referring domains?
Referring domains, every time. One hundred links from one hundred different real sites is worth far more than one thousand links from ten spammy sites, because search engines weigh diversity and quality over sheer volume.
How often should I recheck my backlink total?
Monthly is enough for most small business sites. Checking daily or weekly just shows you crawl noise from the tool, not any meaningful change in how your site is being linked to.
