35 Expert-Recommended Link Building Tools

While interviewing 30 link building experts on backlink analysis, we snuck in a question about their favorite link building tools. 88 recommendations later, we decided this question deserved a little more solo attention :) We counted the experts' votes and made a list of their 35 recommended tools.

A quick note on the order of these tools - we ranked them roughly according to the number of citations they received from our experts. This means that roughly 50% of our link building experts use MajesticSEO.

Also, there were a total of 88 "votes" cast, indicating that most experts use multiple tools. Why so many tools? We think this quote from Michael Gray sums it up nicely: "By using multiple sources you see different things, can more easily filter out anomalies, or biases the tool owner might have had."

Finally, the focus of our group interview was backlink analysis in general, not outreach or link relationship management. BuzzStream and Raven managed to sneak in there anyways :)

We only asked 30 experts though, so this is far from scientific, just interesting :)

Without further ado, 35 Expert-Recommended Link Building Tools!

1. MajesticSEO: 15 Expert Citations
2. Yahoo Site Explorer: 12
3. Linkscape from SEOmoz: 8
4. LinkDiagnosis: 5
5. Hub Finder: 5
6. Google web searches: 4
7. Spreadsheet: 4
8. Yahoo web searches: 3
9. BuzzStream: 2
10. Raven Tools: 2
11. SEOQuake: 2
12. Open Site Explorer: 2
13. SEO for FireFox: 2
14. LinkAssistant
15. Google Analytics
16. Link Building Queries Tool
17. Backlink Watch
18. Whois.sc + IP Search in Bing
19. FirstLinkChecker
20. Link Research Tools
21. Backlink Anchor Text Analyzer
22. Google Webmaster Central
23. Bing Webmaster Center
24. BackLinks Analyzer tool
25. Archive.org
26. "view source"
27. Hostname and URL Counter Tool
28. Xenu Link Slueth
29. Back Link Analyzer
30. Backlink Watch
31. WebCEO
32. Compete.com
33. SEO Elite
34. Text Link Checker Tool
35. QuantCast

We also appreciated this quote from Jennifer Van Iderstyne for its expression of the solitary thrill that backlink analysis can provide its practitioners: "The best way to go, is to get in deep, up to your elbows to see, not just words and URLs, but the link's location, and co-citation along with the content of the linking page. So give me, Yahoo! An excel spread sheet, some headphones and a few hours to kill…that’s all I need for an in depth back link analysis."

More Link Building Tool Round Up Posts
Indispensable Link Building Tools
More Link Building Tool Goodness
How to Explore Backlinks Anchor Text
Tools to Explore and Validate Page Outbound Links
The Link Building Tool List from Link Building Wiki

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