Articles often link to websites, product pages or press hits without mentioning certain keywords, which means key placements can fly under the radar. With Backlink searching, your team can effectively understand where your press hits are placed online, providing a holistic view of your PR efforts.

The video below provides an overview of backlink searching in Muck Rack.

To search for backlinks navigate to the search bar on the Article tab. Type Link: followed by all or part of the URL you are searching for.

For example, search Link:muckrack.com to locate articles that contain a hyperlink to any page on muckrack.com embedded in the article text:

There are a variety of ways you can use the Backlink operator in a search to yield your desired results -- check out the examples below to spark some ideas:

Want to find press hits that include a link to your website even if the article may not include your company's name? Try a search like:

Example search: Link:tacobell.com

Result: All searchable articles that contain a hyperlink to any page on tacobell.com embedded in the article text

If you want to find articles that contain links to specific areas of your site, like to a referral campaign you have going on or owned content, you can use the Link operator in a search like the examples below:

Example search: Link:wired.com?itm_campaign=*

Result: All searchable articles that contain a hyperlink to any page on wired.com with a query string variable of “itm_campaign” that has any value embedded in the article text

Example search: Link:wired.com*?itm_campaign=referral3

Result: All searchable articles that contain a hyperlink to any page on wired.com with a query string variable of “itm_campaign” that has the value “referral3” embedded in the article text

Example search: Link:nike.com/store/*

Result: All searchable articles that contain a hyperlink to any Nike store page (directory) embedded in the text

Had a big story come out (good or bad) about you or a client and want to see if any other media outlets are linking to it in their stories? Try running a search like the one below with the URL of the original story:

Example search: Link:https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/what-would-mister-rogers-do/600772/

Result: All searchable articles that contain this specific URL hyperlink embedded in the text

For the articles that link to your less than desirable press hits, this tool enables you to stay on top of crisis comms and reach out to journalists as soon as their story drops.

The Link operator can be combined with any other boolean operator in Muck Rack to create hyper-specific article searches. Check out some examples below of how you can combine operators:

Example search: Link:wired.com AND “Muck Rack”

Result: All searchable articles that contain a hyperlink to any page on wired.com embedded in the text, and whose article text mentions the term “Muck Rack"

Example search: Link:wired.com AND Link:muckrack.com

Result: All searchable articles that contain a hyperlink to any page on wired.com and a hyperlink to any page on muckrack.com embedded in the text

The Link operator can be used in Search as well as other tools in Muck Rack including Alerts, Coverage Reports, Dashboards and more.

Need help? Click the chat icon in the lower right and our team will be happy to assist!