backlink intelligence, in plain english.
tactical guides, methodology deep-dives, and side-by-side breakdowns of what enterprise SEO tools really cost you.
how to get backlinks for free in 2026
free options for surveying a backlink profile - gsc, bing webmaster, crawlgraph's free tier - and what each one actually shows. for full lists, $99 once.
an honest take: when to use ahrefs vs when to use crawlgraph
ahrefs is worth $129/month for continuous link-signal monitoring. crawlgraph is worth $99 once for outreach prospecting. here's why both are correct.
google search console backlinks: what it shows
gsc is the only free backlink data source straight from google - but it caps the report at ~1,000 referring domains, only shows data for sites you've verified, and surfaces a filtered subset of what google actually indexed. here's the full walkthrough plus how to get around the limits.
where ahrefs and moz get their backlink data
ahrefs, moz, semrush, and majestic each run their own proprietary crawler and ship a curated index - which is why no two backlink tools ever agree. here's the methodology, the size claims, and why common crawl is the only open alternative.
bing webmaster tools backlinks (free, no signup)
bing webmaster tools shows backlink data for free - and unlike google search console, it surfaces backlinks for sites you don't own through the similar sites report. here's the full walkthrough, the gsc comparison, and the export workflow.
how long does google take to count a backlink?
"how long for google to count a backlink" is actually three questions: how long to crawl, how long to index, and how long for it to influence rankings. the answers are days, weeks, and months - and each phase has different bottlenecks.
referring domain vs backlink — the difference
a backlink is one link. a referring domain is one site - it can give you ten thousand links and still count as one. google weighs referring domain count more heavily than raw backlinks, and the ratio between them is itself a quality signal.
common crawl release schedule (next crawl)
common crawl publishes a new web crawl every 1-2 months. the hyperlink graph follows about six weeks later. here's the full release history, the next expected drop, and why the cadence matters for backlink data freshness.
crawlgraph vs semrush — focused vs all-in-one
semrush ships fifty things. crawlgraph ships one. here's why - for a real subset of seos - that's the point.
ahrefs vs crawlgraph - what you actually pay for
a $99 lifetime license vs $129/mo. broken down by feature, by api call, by what the data really shows.
common crawl, explained for SEOs
the 4.4B-edge open dataset that quietly powers half the AI training runs - and how we turn it into rank intelligence.
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