Key Takeaways
- Bing Backlinks Tool is a free Bing Webmaster Tools feature for analyzing referring pages, domains, anchor texts, and linked site pages.
- Its competitive dashboard compares a verified site with up to two competitors, revealing shared referring domains and potential backlink gaps.
- Bing reports representative backlink data rather than a complete profile, with interface limits across domains, anchor texts, pages, and comparisons.
- Microsoft removed Bing’s Disavow Links feature in October 2023, while still advising against link schemes, link buying, and link spamming.
Bing Backlinks Tool is a free backlink analysis and competitive research feature within Bing Webmaster Tools. It provides information about referring domains, referring pages, and anchor texts identified by Bing, helping website owners, developers, and marketers understand how other websites link to a site.
The tool can also compare a verified website with up to two competing or similar sites, making it useful for identifying shared referring domains and potential backlink gaps. However, according to Bing’s official Backlinks documentation, the detailed backlink information represents only a sample of Bing’s backlink data rather than a complete backlink profile.
Note
Google Search Console’s Links report is the closest equivalent to the Bing Backlinks Tool. It reports external links, top linking sites, top linked pages, and top linking text for a verified property. Like Bing, Google does not present its report as a complete inventory of every known backlink. However, Search Console does not provide Bing’s built-in competitor backlink comparison.
What Is the Bing Backlinks Tool Used For?
Bing Backlinks Tool supports both first-party backlink analysis and competitor research.
1. First-Party Link Auditing and Monitoring
The tool summarizes referring pages, referring domains, and anchor texts detected by Bing, with additional backlink details available through its individual reports.
Referring Domain Tracking: The Domains report lists unique domains linking to the site and backlinks Bing has detected from each domain. Selecting a domain reveals source URLs, target URLs, and the anchor text used for individual links.
Anchor Text Analysis: The Anchor Texts report shows the words or phrases used in external links and their corresponding backlink counts. This can reveal branded, descriptive, keyword-focused, or unusually repetitive anchor text patterns.
Referring Page and Target URL Analysis: The Pages report lists external pages linking to the website and shows the corresponding target URL and anchor text. This can help determine where backlinks originate and which site pages they point to.
2. Competitor Backlink Analysis
Unlike Google Search Console, whose Links report focuses on the verified property, Bing allows a verified website to be compared with up to two other sites.
Direct Backlink Comparisons: The Backlinks to Any Site feature allows a verified website to be compared with up to two other websites, making it possible to analyze three sites together. Bing then displays referring-domain and anchor-text data for the selected sites.
Finding Shared Links and Backlink Gaps: Filters can show domains common to all compared sites or domains that link to competitors but not to the verified site. These backlink gaps can provide ideas for outreach, digital PR, partnerships, and link-building research.
For its detailed comparison lists, Bing considers the top 500 referring domains and anchor texts by backlink count.
3. Automated Handling of Unnatural Links
Bing no longer provides a manual Disavow Links feature. Microsoft removed the feature and its associated API in October 2023, stating that improvements in Bing’s AI systems allow it to better distinguish natural from unnatural links and ignore or discount unnatural links when appropriate.
This, however, does not make backlink quality irrelevant. Bing still advises website owners to avoid practices such as link schemes, link buying, and link spamming.
Bing also allows backlink data to be downloaded for further analysis. The Domains, Anchor Texts, and Pages reports support data export, while comparison drill-downs can export the available rows shown for the selected referring domain or anchor text.
How to Access the Bing Backlinks Tool
- Log in to Bing Webmaster Tools and select the relevant verified website.
- Open the SEO section in the left-hand navigation.
- Select Backlinks.
The tool splits its reporting interface into two primary sections:
1. Backlinks for Your Site
The “Backlinks for Your Site” dashboard is divided into three reports:
- Domains: This report lists referring domains and their backlink counts. Individual domains can be opened to inspect source URLs, target URLs, and anchor texts.
- Pages: Pages shows external pages linking to the website, the destination page being referenced, and the anchor text used.
- Anchor Texts: This report lists external anchor texts and their corresponding backlink counts, with drill-down data showing the referring pages using each anchor.
2. Backlinks to Any Site
Backlinks to Any Site is the competitive intelligence dashboard. It allows the verified site to be compared with up to two other websites and shows referring-domain and anchor-text comparisons. Filters can identify common domains or domains that link to competing sites but not to the verified website.
Key Metrics to Track in the Bing Backlinks Tool
The Bing Backlinks Tool provides several metrics that help evaluate a website’s backlink profile, referring sources, and link distribution.
- Referring Pages: This shows the number of external pages Bing has detected linking to the site. Because Bing provides representative backlink data, the figure should not be treated as an exhaustive backlink inventory.
- Total Referring Domains: This shows how many distinct domains link to the site. Referring-domain diversity can provide more context than raw backlink totals alone.
- Top Anchor Texts: Frequently used anchor text can reveal how external websites describe the site and whether linking patterns are branded, descriptive, keyword-focused, or unusually repetitive.
- Referring Pages and Target URLs: The Pages report shows which external pages link to the site, which site URLs they point to, and the anchor text used.
- Competitor Link Intersections and Gaps: Comparison filters reveal domains linking to all selected websites and domains that link to competing sites but do not link to the verified website.
- Competitor Referring Domain Comparison: Comparing referring-domain profiles can highlight differences in backlink coverage and uncover potential link-development opportunities.
Data Rows and Truncation Limits
The Bing Webmaster Tools Backlinks dashboard places reporting limits on the detailed backlink data displayed in its interface.
Domain and Anchor Text Limits: The Domains report displays detailed information for up to 1,500 referring domains, while the Anchor Texts report supports up to 1,500 anchor texts.
Domain and Anchor Text Drill-Down Limits: An individual referring domain can show details for up to 10,000 backlinks. Selecting an anchor text can display up to 10,000 referring pages using that anchor.
Pages Report Limit: The Pages report provides detailed data for as many as 100,000 URLs.
Competitive Comparison Limits: Bing uses the top 500 referring domains and anchor texts, ranked by backlink count, to prepare its comparison lists. Selecting a referring domain or anchor text within the comparison can display up to 100 referring pages.
These limits reinforce an important distinction: the Bing Backlinks Tool is useful for backlink analysis and competitive research, but it should not be treated as a complete record of every backlink Bing has discovered.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can competitor backlinks be analyzed using the Bing Backlinks Tool?
Yes, Backlinks to Any Site allows a verified website to be compared against up to two other websites. The comparison can reveal common referring domains, anchor texts, and domains linking to competitors but not to the verified site.
How is the Bing Backlinks Tool different from Google Search Console’s link report?
Both tools provide information about backlinks, linking sites, anchor text, and linked pages. Bing additionally provides built-in backlink comparison with up to two other websites, while Google Search Console’s Links report focuses on links associated with the verified property and does not provide the same competitor-comparison interface.
How long does it take for a new backlink to appear in the tool?
Bing does not publish a guaranteed timeframe for a newly created backlink to appear in the Backlinks report. Visibility depends on when Bing discovers, crawls, processes, and includes the referring page in its reporting data.
Can toxic links be manually disavowed in Bing Webmaster Tools?
No, Microsoft removed the Disavow Links feature and associated API in October 2023. Bing states that its systems can identify unnatural links and ignore or discount them without requiring manual disavow submissions.
Does the Bing Backlinks Tool show every backlink pointing to a website?
No, Bing states that the detailed backlink information is a representative set rather than a complete backlink profile. The report should therefore not be interpreted as an exhaustive inventory of all inbound links.
