Sometimes you need to know what websites are linking to yours (or, cleverer still, what websites link to your competitors). Sometimes you need to know what websites are linking to the websites linking to yours (bit of a tongue-twister that one). This information can help you determine what sites potentially offer the best backlinks for promoting your website, which is a key area in any Search Engine Optimisation strategy.

The major search engines have long offered the link: command for finding data on a site’s backlinks. Unfortunately this command has been ‘broken’ on Google, and I tend to ignore MSN, not because the site: command is pants but because of the poor SERPs. This leaves me with Yahoo.

At the beginning of August Yahoo updated Yahoo Site Explorer and introduced some features that I find myself using more and more every day.

When you use the site: command you are presented with a fairly comprehensive list of the backlinks to your site (when compared with a number of other online tools offering this service Yahoo appears to present the most comprehensive list). You also have the option of either page (‘link:’) or domain (‘linkdomain:’) backlink analysis:

But what’s really nice is the ability to explore the backlinks of any site linking to yours by using the ‘Explore URL’ option displayed as you rollover each row:

There is an option to add sites to your Yahoo account, but to date I have not heard of any benefit in doing so – the features are available whether you add your site to your account or not judging by some of the posts on the Site Explorer Forum.

If you are running any link-building campaigns and need a decent backlink checker I would recommend giving it a try. Oh, and if do try it out I’d love to hear your feedback on Site Explorer.