Moz Domain Authority Checker

Extract Domain Authority, spam score, backlinks, ranking keywords, competitors, and 13 total SEO metrics from Moz.com free domain analysis — without needing a Moz Pro subscription or API key.

This lightweight actor uses plain HTTP requests (no browser), making it fast, cheap, and reliable. Analyze up to 10 domains per run.

What data can you extract?

For every domain the actor returns a structured JSON with 4 core metrics and 9 detailed data arrays:

Core metrics

Metric	Description	Example
Domain Authority (DA)	Moz's 0–100 score predicting how well a site ranks	94
Spam Score	Percentage indicating likelihood of being penalized	1
Linking Root Domains	Unique root domains that link to the site	1,300,000
Ranking Keywords	Total keywords the domain ranks for in Google	9,000,000

Detailed analysis arrays

Data	What's inside
Top Pages by Links	Highest-authority pages with their Page Authority (PA) scores
Top Linking Domains	Most valuable domains linking to the site with their DA
Discovered & Lost Links	Monthly trend of new and lost linking domains (up to 61 months)
Keywords by Est. Clicks	Keywords sorted by estimated organic click volume
Top Ranking Keywords	Keywords where the domain ranks highest
Branded Keywords	Brand-related search terms with monthly volume
Keyword Ranking Distribution	Breakdown by rank position (#1-3, #4-10, #11-20, etc.)
Top Search Competitors	Competing domains with DA and visibility scores
Top Questions	Related questions from "People Also Ask" with relevance scores

Use cases

• SEO audits — Bulk-check DA and spam scores across your portfolio or client list
• Competitor research — Compare Domain Authority and keyword overlap with competitors
• Link building — Find top linking domains and discover new backlink opportunities
• Content strategy — Identify top-ranking keywords, branded terms, and FAQ questions
• Due diligence — Evaluate domain quality and spam risk before purchasing or partnering

Input

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
domains	string[]	required	1–10 domains to check. Protocols (https://), www., and trailing slashes are stripped automatically
maxRetries	integer	10	Retry attempts per domain. Higher values improve reliability but increase run time
useProxy	boolean	true	Enable Apify proxy rotation. Strongly recommended for consistent results
proxyType	string	RESIDENTIAL	RESIDENTIAL for best reliability, DATACENTER for lower cost

Example input

{
  "domains": ["google.com", "apple.com", "github.com"],
  "maxRetries": 10,
  "useProxy": true,
  "proxyType": "RESIDENTIAL"
}

Tip: You don't need to clean up your domain list — the actor handles https://www.example.com/path and normalizes it to example.com. Duplicates are automatically removed.

Output

Each domain produces one dataset item with all 13 metrics. Results are pushed to the dataset immediately as they complete, so you can monitor progress in real time.

Example output (google.com)

{
  "success": true,
  "domain": "google.com",
  "errorCode": null,
  "error": null,
  "domain_authority": 94,
  "spam_score": 1,
  "linking_root_domains": 1300000,
  "ranking_keywords": 9000000,
  "top_pages_by_links": [
    { "link": "https://google.com/", "pa": 90 },
    { "link": "https://google.com/chrome", "pa": 75 },
    { "link": "https://google.com/maps/place/", "pa": 75 },
    { "link": "https://google.com/maps", "pa": 74 }
  ],
  "top_linking_domains": [
    { "domain": "www.google.com", "da": 100 },
    { "domain": "youtube.com", "da": 100 },
    { "domain": "linkedin.com", "da": 99 },
    { "domain": "wordpress.org", "da": 99 }
  ],
  "discovered_and_lost_linking_domains": [
    { "date": "12/14", "discovered": 490, "lost": -142 }
  ],
  "keywords_by_estimated_clicks": [
    { "keyword": "gmail", "visibility": 35688971 }
  ],
  "top_ranking_keywords": [
    { "keyword": "google", "rank": 1 }
  ],
  "branded_keywords": [
    { "keyword": "google", "volume": 50940000 }
  ],
  "keyword_ranking_distribution": [
    { "rank_position": "#1-3", "domain": "google.com", "amount": 1340196 }
  ],
  "top_search_competitors": [
    { "domain": "www.google.com", "da": 100, "visibility": 10.26 }
  ],
  "top_questions": [
    { "question": "How do I access Google Play on Android?", "relevance": 156.49 }
  ],
  "checkTime": "2026-02-13T22:18:00.000Z",
  "timeMs": 3200,
  "attempts": 1
}

Dataset views

The output dataset includes 5 pre-configured views for easy exploration in the Apify Console:

View	Fields shown
Main Metrics	Domain, DA, Spam %, Backlinks, Keywords, Status
Keywords Analysis	Top keywords, keywords by clicks, branded keywords
Backlinks Analysis	Linking domains, top pages, link history
Competitive Analysis	Competitors, ranking distribution, top questions
Complete Data	All fields

Error handling

When a domain fails, the result still appears in the dataset with success: false and a structured errorCode:

Error code	Meaning	What to do
CLOUDFLARE_BLOCKED	Anti-bot protection not bypassed	Try again with RESIDENTIAL proxy and higher maxRetries
NO_DATA	Moz has no metrics for this domain	Domain is too new or has no backlinks — this is expected
RATE_LIMITED	Free analysis limit reached	Increase maxRetries to cycle through more proxy IPs
NETWORK_ERROR	Connection timeout or DNS failure	Check domain spelling, retry later
PARSE_ERROR	Page loaded but data extraction failed	Moz may have changed their page layout — open an issue

How it works

1. Validates input domains — normalizes URLs, removes duplicates, enforces the 10-domain limit
2. Configures the Apify proxy pool with round-robin rotation (fresh IP per request)
3. Fetches each domain's Moz analysis page using got-scraping with TLS fingerprint impersonation
4. Detects Cloudflare challenges, rate limit redirects, and "no data" pages before parsing
5. Parses the HTML using JSDOM, extracting all 13 metric sections from cards, tables, and embedded chart scripts
6. Retries on failure with exponential backoff (1.5s × attempt, capped at 10s, with random jitter)
7. Pushes each result to the dataset immediately — no waiting for all domains to finish

No browser required. Unlike Playwright-based scrapers, this actor uses lightweight HTTP requests with ~256 MB RAM, keeping compute costs low.

Integrations

JavaScript / Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('jdtpnjtp/moz-domain-authority-checker').call({
    domains: ['example.com', 'competitor.com'],
    maxRetries: 10,
    useProxy: true,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

for (const item of items) {
    console.log(`${item.domain}: DA=${item.domain_authority}, Spam=${item.spam_score}%`);
}

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_API_TOKEN')

run = client.actor('jdtpnjtp/moz-domain-authority-checker').call(run_input={
    'domains': ['example.com', 'competitor.com'],
    'maxRetries': 10,
    'useProxy': True,
})

for item in client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).iterate_items():
    print(f"{item['domain']}: DA={item['domain_authority']}, Spam={item['spam_score']}%")

Webhooks and scheduling

• Set up a webhook to send results to your app, Slack, or Google Sheets when a run completes
• Use scheduled runs to track Domain Authority changes over time (weekly or monthly)

Cost estimate

Component	Cost
Compute	~0.05 USD per domain (256 MB, ~10s per domain)
Residential proxy	~0.01–0.03 USD per domain depending on retries
Typical 10-domain run	~0.5–1.0 USD total

Save money: Use DATACENTER proxy type for non-critical checks — it's 5–10x cheaper than residential, though slightly less reliable against Cloudflare.

Limitations

• 10 domains per run — for larger batches, schedule multiple runs or use the API to chain them
• Free Moz data only — the actor scrapes Moz's public domain analysis page, not the paid Moz Pro API
• Rate limits — Moz may throttle requests; the actor handles this with automatic retries and proxy rotation
• Data freshness — metrics reflect what Moz shows on their free analysis page, which may lag behind Moz Pro data

FAQ

Do I need a Moz account? No. The actor scrapes the free public analysis page at moz.com/domain-analysis.

Why did a domain return NO_DATA? Moz doesn't have metrics for very new domains or domains with no backlinks. This is a Moz limitation, not an actor issue.

Why is Domain Authority different from what I see on Moz? Make sure you're comparing the same domain format. The actor strips www. — so google.com and www.google.com may show different DA values on Moz.

Can I run more than 10 domains? Not in a single run. Use the Apify API or scheduler to chain multiple runs for larger batches.

Changelog

• v2.0 — Complete rewrite. HTTP-only (removed Playwright), 13 metrics, structured error codes, 10-domain limit, round-robin proxy, exponential backoff with jitter.

Support

Found a bug or have a feature request? Open an issue on the actor's page or contact me through Apify Console.