Google Search Console gives you free, direct access to the links Google has discovered pointing to your site. Open the Links report in the left navigation, and you get four tables: your most-linked pages (external), the sites linking to you most often, the anchor text those links use, and your most internally-linked pages. The data exports to CSV or Google Sheets in two clicks.
The catch: Google is transparent that this is a sample, not a complete index. The report does not tell you whether a link is dofollow or nofollow, does not track when links go live or disappear, and caps table rows at 1,000. For most site owners, that sample is still the most reliable starting point because it reflects what Google’s own crawler has actually followed — and getting it into a spreadsheet is the first step toward a proper audit.
Where to Find the Links Report in GSC
Log into Google Search Console, select your property, and look at the left-hand navigation panel. Scroll down to find Links (it sits below the Coverage and Sitemaps sections). Click it.
The Links report loads with two main sections: External links (links from other sites pointing to yours) and Internal links (links between pages on your own site). Each section has its own tables.
What Each Table in the Links Report Tells You
There are four tables worth understanding before you export anything.
Top linked pages (external) shows your pages ranked by the number of external sites linking to them. Use this to confirm that the pages where you’ve invested the most in link-building or content are actually attracting links — and to spot pages that are earning links unexpectedly.
Top linking sites shows the root domains that contain the most links to your site. This is your referring domain list at a glance. Click any site in this list to drill down: you’ll see which of your pages it links to most, and clicking further reveals the specific pages on that linking site. That drill-down is useful for quickly confirming a backlink you built actually exists and points where you intended.
Top linking text shows the anchor text used in external links to your site. This is the table to watch for over-optimization. If one keyword phrase accounts for a large share of your anchors, that’s a pattern worth investigating before it becomes a flag. Healthy anchor distributions tend to include branded anchors, naked URLs, generic text (“click here”), and partial-match keyword anchors alongside exact-match ones.
Top internally linked pages shows which pages on your own site receive the most links from other pages on the same site. Pages not appearing here may be under-linked — a quick way to spot gaps in your internal link structure.
How to Export Your Backlink Data from GSC
To export link data, open the Links report and look for the Export External Links button at the top right of the External links section. Clicking it gives you three choices:
- Latest links — up to 100,000 rows sorted by the date Google most recently discovered each link.
- More sample links — up to 100,000 rows drawn from the broader set of links Google knows about, useful when your site has more than 100,000 linking pages.
- Top linking sites — the referring domain list, one row per root domain.
Each option exports as CSV, Google Sheets, or Excel. For most auditing workflows, start with “Latest links” to get a fresh snapshot, then use “More sample links” if you suspect the latest export is missing older links that are still live.
Once you have the CSV, the raw data contains the linking URL, the linked-to URL, and the date discovered. It does not include link attributes (dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, ugc), link status, or authority metrics — those require additional processing.
What GSC Link Data Shows vs. Does Not Show
| What GSC link data shows | What GSC link data does NOT show |
|---|---|
| Pages and sites linking to your site | Whether links are dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, or ugc |
| Anchor text used in external links | Current live/lost status of each link |
| Most internally linked pages | Link authority or domain rating |
| Date Google last discovered each link | Historical changes over time |
| Up to 100,000 rows per export | Every link Google knows about (it is a sample) |
Google’s own documentation states: “This report isn’t a comprehensive list of every link on your site. It shows a sample of internal and external links to help you understand your site’s overall link profile.”
The Honest Limitations of GSC Link Data
Understanding what the report cannot do prevents you from drawing wrong conclusions.
It is a sample, not a full index. Google has found links to your site that do not appear in this report. Tables cap at 1,000 rows in the on-screen view. Exports go up to 100,000 rows, but for larger sites that is still a sample. Google notes that “some URLs might be omitted for various reasons, such as non-indexed pages or deduped URLs.”
It does not show link attributes. The report doesn’t tell you whether a link carries rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored", or rel="ugc". GSC does not tell you dofollow vs nofollow for any link, which matters when you’re assessing which links actually pass PageRank and which ones Google treats as hints to ignore.
It does not track link status over time. Google’s documentation notes that “the report includes links that Google has found over time. These links may have since been removed, or a page may no longer exist.” You can’t use GSC alone to know whether a link you built six months ago is still live. To monitor your earned links and get alerted when one drops or goes nofollow, you need scheduled re-checks outside of GSC.
Counts can differ significantly from third-party tools. Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz each operate independent crawlers with large link indices. Your GSC link count will almost always be lower than what these tools report — not because GSC is wrong, but because each source has different crawl coverage and different inclusion criteria.
These gaps are not reasons to skip the GSC report. They are reasons to treat the export as a starting point: confirm the links you care about are there, classify them by attribute, and then set up monitoring for the ones that matter.
What to Do With Your GSC Link Export
Once you have the CSV, four tasks will give you the most immediate value:
- **De-duplicate to referring domains.** The export lists individual URLs. Group by root domain to see your true referring domain count — that’s the metric that correlates most closely with ranking authority, not raw link count.
- **Classify by link attribute.** GSC won’t do this for you. You’ll need to fetch each linking page and read the `rel` attribute on the link. Tools that batch this step save significant time.
- **Check anchor text distribution.** The Top linking text table gives you a quick read in GSC, but the export lets you model the distribution numerically. Flag any single keyword phrase that accounts for more than 20-25% of your anchors — that concentration can look manipulative.
- **Identify gaps and changes.** Compare exports over time to spot links that have disappeared. Cross-reference against the pages you’ve actively built links to; if a page isn’t getting the links showing up in GSC, something in your outreach or confirmation process needs attention.
For a structured approach to all four steps, see our guide on how to run a full backlink audit and the backlink audit checklist that covers each check in sequence.
The GSC export is also your input for building a Google disavow file if you find low-quality or spammy links pointing at your site. Understanding what a healthy backlink profile looks like before you start disavowing helps you avoid removing links that are actually helping you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the GSC Links report a complete list of my backlinks?
No. Google’s documentation states the report “isn’t a comprehensive list of every link on your site. It shows a sample of internal and external links to help you understand your site’s overall link profile.” Some URLs are omitted due to non-indexed pages, deduplication, or crawl coverage gaps. The on-screen tables cap at 1,000 rows; exports go up to 100,000 rows per export type.
Does Google Search Console show nofollow vs. dofollow links?
No. Google’s Links report does not indicate whether a link carries a rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored", or rel="ugc" attribute. To classify links by attribute, you need to fetch each linking page and read the HTML directly, or use a tool that does this in bulk.
How do I export my backlinks from Google Search Console?
Open the Links report, then click the Export External Links button in the top-right of the External links section. Choose Latest links (most recently discovered, up to 100,000 rows), More sample links (a broader sample from Google’s full link set), or Top linking sites (one row per referring domain). Each exports to CSV, Google Sheets, or Excel.
Why are some of my backlinks missing from GSC?
GSC shows a sample of the links Google has discovered. Links from non-indexed pages, pages Google has not recently crawled, or URLs Google has deduped may not appear. Third-party tools like Ahrefs and Semrush also operate independent crawlers with different coverage, so counts across tools will rarely match.
How often does the GSC Links report update?
Google does not publish a specific update frequency for the Links report. The data reflects links Google’s crawler has found “over time,” and the report can include links from pages that have since been removed. In practice, the data tends to lag behind real-world link changes by days to weeks.
Can I use GSC to know if a link I built is still live?
Not reliably. The GSC documentation notes that “these links may have since been removed, or a page may no longer exist.” The report is not a real-time status check. To know whether a specific link is currently live, you need to fetch the linking page and verify the link is present.
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