How to check backlinks for a YouTube video

Backlinks aren't just a website thing. A YouTube video earns them too. Every blog, article, or forum post that embeds the video or links to its URL is a backlink to that video. Checking them is quick, and understanding what they're worth takes about two minutes.

How to check a video's backlinks

Two ways, both fast:

A backlink checker. Paste the full video URL (e.g. youtube.com/watch?v=…) into a checker exactly as you would a website. It returns the pages linking to or embedding that video.
A Google search. Search the video's exact title or its URL in quotes to surface pages that reference it. This is handy for finding embeds a crawler-based checker might miss.

Check the URL, not just the channel

Backlinks accrue to the specific watch-page URL. Check the individual video, not your channel homepage, or you'll miss where a particular video is actually being shared.

What those links are actually worth

Here's the honest part: most video backlinks are nofollow. YouTube embeds and social shares typically don't pass standard ranking authority. That doesn't make them worthless. They drive views, signal popularity, and expand reach. But it does change what you should expect from them. (If "nofollow" is fuzzy, here's the two-minute version.)

Video backlinks build the video's reach more than your website's authority. Both are worth having. Just don't confuse them.

Turning video reach into site authority

Since embed links point to YouTube, not your site, do this to capture SEO value for your own domain:

Link to your site in the description. Put it in the first line if you can, since that's the most-clicked spot on any video.
When a site embeds your video, ask for a link to your site too, right next to the embed, in the same post. That link can be dofollow, and it points where you want it.

For the full method applied to your own website's links, see how to check who is linking to your website.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check backlinks for a YouTube video?

Paste the full YouTube video URL into a backlink checker just as you would a website. It returns the pages that link to or embed that video. You can also search Google for the video's title or URL in quotes to surface sites that reference it. Both reveal where a video is being shared and cited.

Do YouTube videos have backlinks?

Yes. Any page that embeds a video or links to its URL is a backlink to that video. Popular videos accumulate embeds on blogs, news articles, and forums. Those links point to the YouTube watch page rather than your own site, so they build the video's reach more than your domain's authority.

Are YouTube embed links dofollow or nofollow?

Most links from a YouTube embed and from social shares are nofollow, so they pass little standard ranking authority. They still matter. They drive views, signal popularity, and expand reach. For SEO value to your own site, add links to your site in the video description and on the pages that embed the video.

How to check backlinks for a YouTube video

How to check a video's backlinks

What those links are actually worth

Turning video reach into site authority

Frequently asked questions

How do I check backlinks for a YouTube video?

Do YouTube videos have backlinks?

Are YouTube embed links dofollow or nofollow?

Keep reading

How to check a video's backlinks

What those links are actually worth

Turning video reach into site authority