• Google: The link command
• Yahoo: Site explorer

In this case, Yahoo’s tool is vastly superior to Google’s.

The Google tool requires that you enter the following into its search engine: link:yourdomain. For example, to see a list of the sites that link to the site google.com, you’d enter link:google.com into Google’s search engine.

You’ll then see a list of all the sites that link to Google. All? Well, no actually. And that’s why Yahoo’s Site Explorer tool is superior.

With Site Explorer (click the above link to visit), you enter the URL of the site into a search box. Then click the “Explore URL” button. You’ll be presented with a list of pages Yahoo has indexed from that site.

Near the top of the page you’ll find 2 buttons. The first is currently selected, and titled “Pages”. The second is titled “In links”. Click the “In links” button to see all the pages that link to the site of your choice.

As you’ll quickly find, the list is far more extensive than Google’s link command. You get more information, and more useful information. This tool provides additional features, allowing you to find out much more about the people linking to you.

From an SEO perspective, Site Explorer is more useful as a way of finding out the the kinds of website that tend to link to you. This makes it easier to find new sites that are likely to want to link to you.

Want more free SEO tools?

Want more free SEO tools to help you with your search engine optimization? Check out my favourite free SEO tools, and download your own copy of The DIY Guide to SEO (DIY SEO).