Backlink Checker & Bulk Domain Authority

Check the backlink profile and authority of up to 1,000 domains or URLs in one run, and pull full backlink lists for the ones you care about. For each target you get an authority score (DataForSEO rank 0-100, not Moz DA / Ahrefs DR), total backlinks, referring domains (dofollow and total), referring IPs and subnets, a spam score, broken links, first-seen date, the top linking TLDs, link types and countries, and optionally the new and lost backlinks of the last N days. Backlink lists come with the linking URL, anchor text, dofollow/nofollow, source authority, page title, placement and first/last seen. Schedule it with only-new backlinks to get alerted when a site links to you or a competitor.

No Ahrefs, Moz or Semrush subscription and no API key: data comes from DataForSEO's licensed backlink index, and you pay per result.

Built for:

• SEO agencies and link builders: vet prospect lists in bulk by authority and spam score, audit client and competitor link profiles.
• Domain investors and marketplaces: score expiring or for-sale domains by backlinks and referring domains.
• Site owners and PR teams: new-backlink alerts, lost-link checks, competitor link gap research.

What you get

Row (type)	What's in it	Charged
domain	target, authorityScore (0-100), rank (0-1000), mainDomainRank, backlinks, referringDomains, referringDomainsDofollow, referringMainDomains, referringPages, referringIps, referringSubnets, spamScore, brokenBacklinks, brokenPages, firstSeen, topTlds, linkTypes, linkAttributes, platformTypes, countries, optional newBacklinks / lostBacklinks / newLostSince, and list status	domain-metrics (only targets with backlinks)
backlink	target, position, domainFrom, urlFrom, urlTo, anchor, dofollow, linkType, attributes, domainFromScore, domainFromRank, pageFromRank, pageFromTitle, pageFromLanguage, domainFromCountry, spamScore, semanticLocation, textBefore, textAfter, isBroken, urlToStatusCode, firstSeen, lastSeen, isNew (monitor mode)	backlink
referring-domain	target, position, domainFrom, domainFromScore, backlinksFromDomain, referringPages, spamScore, brokenBacklinks, firstSeen, lostDate, linkTypes	backlink

Input examples

Bulk authority check for a prospect list (metrics only):

{ "targets": ["example.com", "another-site.com", "third-site.org"], "listType": "none" }

Top 500 dofollow backlinks of a competitor, strongest first, low spam only:

{ "targets": ["competitor.com"], "maxRowsPerTarget": 500, "dofollowOnly": true, "maxSpamScore": 30 }

Weekly new-backlink alert for your site and two competitors:

{ "targets": ["yoursite.com", "competitor-one.com", "competitor-two.com"], "includeMetrics": false,
  "onlyNewBacklinks": true, "maxRowsPerTarget": 200, "monitorId": "weekly-links" }

Tips

• A domain covers all its subdomains; enter a full URL (https://example.com/page) for one page.
• Authority score is DataForSEO's rank (0-1000, based on the link graph, similar in spirit to PageRank) divided by 10. It is not Moz Domain Authority or Ahrefs Domain Rating, and numbers differ between tools. Compare sites with the same metric.
• Only new backlinks: each run makes one bulk lookup (up to 1,000 targets) to see which targets gained links since the last run, then fetches lists only for those, newest first. Delivered links are remembered in your Apify account (key-value store backlink-monitor).
• For a domain's organic traffic, ranked keywords and competitors, use our Domain SEO Data Actor; it uses the same backlink metrics.

Output examples

{
  "type": "domain", "target": "printify.com", "status": "ok", "authorityScore": 45, "rank": 449,
  "backlinks": 187133, "referringDomains": 19329, "referringDomainsDofollow": 14670, "referringMainDomains": 17709,
  "referringPages": 159414, "referringIps": 9567, "referringSubnets": 3847, "spamScore": 12,
  "brokenBacklinks": 20012, "brokenPages": 315, "firstSeen": "2019-01-17T21:59:12Z",
  "newBacklinks": 14817, "lostBacklinks": 1917, "newLostSince": "2026-09-17",
  "linkTypes": { "anchor": 137876, "image": 20257, "redirect": 846, "canonical": 435 }
}

{
  "type": "backlink", "target": "example.com", "position": 1, "domainFrom": "blog.example.org",
  "urlFrom": "https://blog.example.org/best-tools", "urlTo": "https://example.com/",
  "anchor": "example.com", "dofollow": false, "linkType": "anchor", "attributes": ["ugc", "external", "noopener", "nofollow"],
  "domainFromScore": 55, "pageFromTitle": "The best tools we use",
  "semanticLocation": "main", "spamScore": 0, "firstSeen": "2026-10-17T02:03:38Z", "lastSeen": "2026-10-17T02:03:38Z"
}

The dataset has four views: Overview, Domain metrics, Backlinks and Referring domains. Export to CSV, Excel or JSON, or send new backlinks to Slack, Google Sheets or email with Apify integrations.

Pricing (pay per event)

Event	When it is charged
Actor start	once per run
bulk-lookup	one bulk request covering up to 1,000 targets: metrics, new/lost counts, or the monitor check
domain-metrics	one target with backlink metrics
backlink-list	one page of up to 1,000 backlinks or referring domains for a target
backlink	one backlink or referring-domain row delivered

You are not charged for:

• targets with no backlinks in the index (or domains that don't exist), and failed requests;
• list pages that return nothing, and in monitor mode, targets with no new backlinks and links you already received;
• new/lost counts when every target has zero new and zero lost links;
• skipped inputs, and anything beyond your run's maximum charge. The run stops cleanly and lists what it didn't process.

Apify free plan: metrics for 10 targets and backlink lists for 2 targets x 100 rows per run. Any paid Apify plan unlocks 1,000 targets and up to 10,000 rows per target (lists for up to 50 targets per run).

Use from AI agents (MCP)

AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor can run this Actor through Apify's MCP server (https://mcp.apify.com). The agent can look up the Actor, read its input schema, run it and read the results. Runs use your own Apify account and are charged at the prices on this page.

• Actor name: vncntlabs/backlink-checker
• Server URL with only this tool: https://mcp.apify.com?tools=vncntlabs/backlink-checker. The default https://mcp.apify.com also works; the agent can then search Apify Store and call the Actor by name.
• Claude (desktop app or claude.ai): Settings > Connectors > Add custom connector, paste the server URL, then sign in to Apify.
• ChatGPT: turn on Developer mode, then Settings > Apps & Connectors > Create, paste the server URL and choose OAuth.
• Cursor: run /add-plugin apify in Cursor chat and connect the Apify MCP server under Cursor Settings > Tools & MCPs, or add the server to mcp.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "apify": { "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=vncntlabs/backlink-checker" } } }

Example prompt: "Use the Apify Actor vncntlabs/backlink-checker to get the authority score, total backlinks and referring domains for example.com and competitor.com."

To cap the cost of an agent's run, it can pass maxTotalChargeUsd in the run options.

FAQ

Where does the data come from? DataForSEO's backlink index, a continuously crawled link graph licensed for resale. Counts are estimates of the live web and will not match other tools exactly.

Is the authority score the same as Moz DA or Ahrefs DR? No. It is a 0-100 scale of DataForSEO's own rank. It ranks sites consistently, so it works for comparing and filtering lists.

How fresh is it? New links usually appear within days of being crawled; firstSeen and lastSeen show when each link was found and last confirmed.

Can I check thousands of domains? Yes: up to 1,000 per run, in one bulk request. Run it again for more.