Domain Authority Checker, Bulk Backlink Stats API

Domain Authority Checker, Bulk Backlink Stats API: domain rank (0 to 100), backlinks, dofollow and nofollow links, referring domains, broken backlinks and backlink spam score for thousands of domains. Schedule it to monitor 30-day new and lost backlinks. Licensed DataForSEO data.

What data does Domain Authority Checker, Bulk Backlink Stats API return?

Each run returns one dataset item per result with these fields:

Field	Type	Description
input	string	Your entry exactly as given (trimmed), so you can match rows to your list.
domain	string or null	The domain that was checked, lower-case, without protocol, path or a leading www. Null when the entry is not a valid domain.
domainRank	integer or null	DataForSEO domain rank from 0 to 100, a PageRank-style score of the domain's backlink profile. It is not Moz DA or Ahrefs DR.
backlinks	integer or null	Live backlinks pointing to the domain.
dofollowBacklinks	integer or null	Backlinks without a nofollow attribute (backlinks minus nofollow backlinks). Null when the nofollow count is not available.
nofollowBacklinks	integer or null	Backlinks with a nofollow attribute. Null when the source does not report it for this domain.
referringDomains	integer or null	Distinct domains (including subdomains) linking to the domain.
referringMainDomains	integer or null	Distinct root domains linking to the domain.
referringIps	integer or null	Distinct IP addresses of the sites linking to the domain.
referringSubnets	integer or null	Distinct C-class subnets of the sites linking to the domain.
referringPages	integer or null	Distinct pages linking to the domain.
brokenBacklinks	integer or null	Backlinks pointing to pages of the domain that return an error.
backlinksSpamScore	integer or null	Average spam score (0 to 100) of the backlinks pointing to the domain, not a spam score of the domain itself; higher means more links come from spammy sites.
firstSeen	string or null	When the first backlink to the domain was found (ISO 8601), or null if none.
newBacklinks30d	integer or null	Backlinks found in the last 30 days. Null unless 30-day changes are on.
lostBacklinks30d	integer or null	Backlinks lost in the last 30 days. Null unless 30-day changes are on.
newReferringDomains30d	integer or null	Referring domains first seen in the last 30 days. Null unless 30-day changes are on.
lostReferringDomains30d	integer or null	Referring domains lost in the last 30 days. Null unless 30-day changes are on.
checkedAt	string	When this row was produced (ISO 8601).
source	string	Where the numbers come from: always DataForSEO Backlinks.
error	string or null	Why the entry could not be checked (for example not a valid domain). Rows with an error are free. Null on rows with data.

Sample output

Real output from the prefilled example input (first 1 of 1 results):

[
  {
    "input": "apify.com",
    "domain": "apify.com",
    "domainRank": 78,
    "backlinks": 2174020,
    "dofollowBacklinks": 1202772,
    "nofollowBacklinks": 971248,
    "referringDomains": 12978,
    "referringMainDomains": 10394,
    "referringIps": 7801,
    "referringSubnets": 3644,
    "referringPages": 1939364,
    "brokenBacklinks": 24033,
    "backlinksSpamScore": 17,
    "firstSeen": "2019-01-16T11:42:42.000Z",
    "newBacklinks30d": null,
    "lostBacklinks30d": null,
    "newReferringDomains30d": null,
    "lostReferringDomains30d": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-02T04:41:00.000Z",
    "source": "DataForSEO Backlinks",
    "error": null
  }
]

Use cases

• Link building and outreach: rank a list of prospect sites by domain rank, referring domains and backlink spam score before you reach out.
• Expired and aged domain research: check thousands of domains at once for backlinks, referring domains, broken backlinks and first-seen date.
• SEO audits and reporting: track your own and competitors' backlink profiles, with 30-day new and lost backlinks and referring domains.
• AI agents and automations: a clean, typed dataset that an agent or a Make, Zapier or n8n flow can read directly.

Input examples

The prefilled example input. It runs in seconds and returns a handful of results:

{
  "domains": [
    "apify.com"
  ]
}

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
domains	array	yes		Domains, subdomains or full URLs to check, one per line (bulk paste works). URLs are reduced to their domain and a leading www. is dropped, so https://www.example.com/page is checked as example.com. Duplicates are checked once. Up to 100,000 per run.
includeChanges	boolean	no	false	Also return new and lost backlinks and referring domains over the last 30 days. This makes two extra data requests per batch of up to 100 domains, each charged as a batch event.
includeSubdomains	boolean	no	true	When on, backlinks to every subdomain of a domain are counted too (blog.example.com counts toward example.com). Turn off to count only the exact domain or subdomain you entered.

How much does Domain Authority Checker, Bulk Backlink Stats API cost?

This actor uses pay-per-event pricing: you pay only for results you get, plus a small fee per run. Higher Apify plans get a lower price per result.

Event	Free plan	Bronze plan	Silver plan	Gold plan
Domain checked (per 1,000)	$4.00	$4.00	$3.60	$3.20
Data batch (per request)	$0.039	$0.039	$0.039	$0.039
Actor start (per run)	$0.00005	$0.00005	$0.00005	$0.00005

1,000 results cost $4.39005 on the Bronze plan. In one run, 1,000 results cost $4.39005 on the Free plan, $4.39005 on the Bronze plan, $3.99005 on the Silver plan and $3.59005 on the Gold plan, including the data request and the actor start.

Domain checked: One domain row with data in your dataset. Rows for entries that are not valid domains are free. Data batch: One request to the DataForSEO Backlinks API for up to 100 domains, charged only when the request succeeds. With 30-day changes on, each batch makes two more requests. Actor start: Charged once when a run starts (Apify counts one start per GB of memory). You can set a maximum cost per run in the run options; the actor stops cleanly when it is reached.

Schedule and monitor

Monitor backlink profiles: put your own domains and your competitors' domains in one task, turn on includeChanges, and schedule it weekly. Each run reports domain rank, backlinks and referring domains for every domain, plus the backlinks and referring domains gained and lost in the last 30 days, with a checkedAt time on every row.

Run Domain Authority Checker, Bulk Backlink Stats API on a schedule to keep your data fresh and to monitor what changed since the last run:

1. Run the actor once with your input, then save that input as a task in Apify Console.
2. Open Schedules in Apify Console, click Create new, choose the task and set how often it runs with a cron expression, for example 0 6 * * 1 for every Monday at 06:00. Schedules support time zones and daylight saving time.
3. Every scheduled run writes a new dataset. Compare it with the previous run, or send it onward with a webhook or one of the integrations below.

Integrations and API

Domain Authority Checker, Bulk Backlink Stats API runs on the Apify platform, so its results can go wherever Apify connects:

• API: start a run and read the results over HTTP from any language (examples below).
• Make, Zapier and n8n: Apify has official integrations for all three. Run the actor from a Make scenario, a Zap or an n8n workflow and pass each result to the next step, such as a spreadsheet, a CRM or a chat message.
• Webhooks: have Apify call your own URL when a run succeeds or fails, for example to load the new dataset into your system.
• Schedules: run it automatically at the times you choose (see Schedule and monitor above).
• Downloads: export any run's dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, HTML table, RSS or JSONL.

Run it with the API

One request starts a run and returns its dataset items, for runs that finish within 300 seconds. For bigger runs, start the run, then read its dataset when it finishes.

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/hhonlineventures~domain-authority-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"domains": ["apify.com"]}'

JavaScript, with npm install apify-client:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('hhonlineventures/domain-authority-checker').call({"domains": ["apify.com"]});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python, with pip install apify-client:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("hhonlineventures/domain-authority-checker").call(run_input={'domains': ['apify.com']})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

Your API token is in Apify Console under API & Integrations.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

AI agents can run Domain Authority Checker, Bulk Backlink Stats API as a tool through the Apify MCP server (https://mcp.apify.com). The agent reads the input schema and the output fields above, fills in the input and gets the dataset back, with no glue code.

To give an agent exactly this actor, add the server to your MCP client with the actor in the tools parameter:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=hhonlineventures/domain-authority-checker"
    }
  }
}

On first connection your browser opens so you can sign in to Apify and approve access. A client that cannot do that can send an Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN> header instead, and a client that runs only local servers can start npx -y @apify/actors-mcp-server with APIFY_TOKEN set.

Then ask in plain language, for example:

Run Domain Authority Checker, Bulk Backlink Stats API with this input: {"domains": ["apify.com"]}. Show me the results as a table.

The server also has search-actors, fetch-actor-details and call-actor tools, which let an agent find this actor in Apify Store, read its details and run it. Agent runs are charged the same pay-per-event prices as any other run.

Limits

• Data comes from the DataForSEO Backlinks index. Numbers differ from Ahrefs, Moz, Semrush or Majestic because every company crawls the web differently.
• domainRank is DataForSEO's 0 to 100 rank. It is not Moz Domain Authority (DA) or Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR), though it measures the same idea.
• backlinksSpamScore is the average DataForSEO spam score (0 to 100) of the backlinks pointing to the domain. It describes the links, not the domain itself, so it is not a spam rating of the domain.
• nofollowBacklinks may be null: DataForSEO reports link attributes as a list of the 10 most common ones, and the nofollow count is known only when nofollow appears in that list (or the list is shorter than 10). dofollowBacklinks (backlinks minus nofollow backlinks) is null whenever nofollowBacklinks is.
• The actor checks whole domains and subdomains. A URL is reduced to its domain, so page-level metrics are not returned.
• IP addresses and entries without a top-level domain (like localhost) are not checked; they get a free row with an error.
• Up to 100,000 domains per run, sent in batches of 100 (the data provider's limit per request).

Search terms buyers use

• domain authority checker
• bulk domain authority checker
• bulk DA checker
• domain rating checker
• backlink checker API
• referring domains checker
• website authority checker
• Ahrefs alternative
• Moz DA alternative
• bulk backlink checker

FAQ

Is this Moz DA or Ahrefs DR?

No. The Domain Authority Checker API returns DataForSEO's domain rank (0 to 100), computed from its own backlink index with a PageRank-style method. It answers the same question (how strong is this domain's link profile) and is consistent across domains, so it works for ranking and filtering lists. Nothing is scraped from Ahrefs, Moz or Semrush.

How many domains can I check in one run?

Up to 100,000. Paste them one per line, or send them as the domains array through the API. URLs, uppercase and a leading www. are cleaned up for you, and duplicates are checked once.

What do the two charges mean?

Each batch of up to 100 domains is one request to the data provider, charged as a data batch only when the request succeeds (a failed request is never charged). Each domain with data is then charged once. Entries that are not valid domains are free. With 30-day changes on, each batch makes two more requests (new and lost backlinks, new and lost referring domains).

What happens if I set a maximum cost per run?

The actor checks only as many domains as your limit pays for, never makes a data request it cannot pay for, and stops cleanly. Your dataset holds every domain that was checked.

Do I need a DataForSEO account or API key?

No. The data access is built in. You only need an Apify account.