I'm trying to figure out if there's a free way to get information on backlinks to my site.

I've had webmaster tools and google analytics set up for years. But I can't find access to data about site backlinks in either toolset. Webmaster tools, under 'traffic'->'links to your site' gives me the same message for all of my sites: "No data available".

I haven't been able to find anything in GA that gives any information on backlinks.

I've heard of using "links:" as an operator in google search, but for each of my sites, this returns either zero or very few results in cases when I know I have many backlinks. Most of the links simple aren't shown.

My thinking is that google maintains a graph of who links to my site, so I figured that they might let me see it. But I can't figure out how.

I've found this tool on a spammy website: http://www.backlinkwatch.com. It offers more data than google on my backlines, and offers more results in exchange for a paid subscription. The data it offers for free looks good, but the results are limited and the site has popups and obnoxious ads.

So, in short: how do I get data on who links to me? Is there a free way?