backlink-audit

# Backlink Audit Workflows Chained workflows for auditing, analyzing and prospecting backlinks with DataForSEO. Every block below is one `api_request` call: the first line is the `method` and `path`, the second is `data`. Before the first call to a path, read its page with `docs_search` and agree a budget (`cost-awareness` skill). Paths and minimal bodies for the whole API are in `../mcp-patterns/references/endpoint-paths.md`. ## Workflow 1: Full Profile Audit Comprehensive audit of a domain's entire backlink profile. ### Step 1 — Get Summary Metrics The summary gives the high-level profile: total backlinks, referring domains, dofollow and nofollow counts, rank, and broken backlinks. ``` POST /v3/backlinks/summary/live data: [{"target": "example.com"}] ``` ### Step 2 — Pull Individual Backlinks Use `mode: "one_per_domain"` to get one representative backlink per referring domain, so thousands of links from one domain do not flood the result. Start with a `limit` of 100 to 200. ``` POST /v3/backlinks/backlinks/live data: [{"target": "example.com", "mode": "one_per_domain", "limit": 100, "order_by": ["rank,desc"]}] ``` ### Step 3 — Analyze Referring Domains A domain-level view of who links to you, with each referring domain's rank, backlink count and first and last seen dates. ``` POST /v3/backlinks/referring_domains/live data: [{"target": "example.com", "limit": 200, "order_by": ["rank,desc"]}] ``` ### Step 4 — Review Anchor Text Distribution Look for over-optimized anchors (exact-match commercial terms above 5 to 10 percent of the total), suspicious patterns (foreign-language anchors you did not build), and the ratio of branded to generic anchors. ``` POST /v3/backlinks/anchors/live data: [{"target": "example.com", "limit": 200, "order_by": ["backlinks,desc"]}] ``` Combine the four results into a profile summary: total links, domain diversity, dofollow ratio, anchor health and the top linking domains. ## Workflow 2: Spam Detection Identify toxic and spammy backlinks that could trigger penalties. ### Step 1 — Bulk Spam Score Check Send your domain, and optionally competitors for comparison. One call takes up to 1000 targets. ``` POST /v3/backlinks/bulk_spam_score/live data: [{"targets": ["example.com", "competitor1.com", "competitor2.com"]}] ``` ### Step 2 — Review Suspicious Anchors Run the anchors call from Workflow 1 and flag anchors that match known spam patterns: gambling terms, pharma keywords, foreign-language text unrelated to your niche, or exact-match commercial phrases in high volume. ### Step 3 — Inspect Low-Rank Referring Domains Sort referring domains by ascending rank to surface the lowest-authority linkers. Domains with rank 0 to 5 and high backlink counts are often spam networks. ``` POST /v3/backlinks/referring_domains/live data: [{"target": "example.com", "limit": 100, "order_by": ["rank,asc"]}] ``` ### Step 4 — Build a Disavow List Compile the domains that meet two or more spam indicators: - Spam score above 50 - Rank below 10 with generic or spammy anchor text - Anchor text in a language or topic unrelated to your site - Hundreds of outbound links (link farm behavior) Format the disavow list as `domain:spamsite.com` entries, one per line. ## Workflow 3: Link Building Prospecting Find new link opportunities by analyzing competitor backlink profiles. ### Step 1 — Find Backlink Competitors Domains with a similar backlink profile (they share many of your referring domains). ``` POST /v3/backlinks/competitors/live data: [{"target": "example.com", "limit": 20}] ``` ### Step 2 — Compare Referring Domains Run the referring domains call on your top 2 or 3 competitors and cross-reference with your own list from Workflow 1. ### Step 3 — Identify Gap Domains Domain intersection finds referring domains that link to the competitors and not to you. `targets` is an object keyed "1", "2", and so on; `exclude_targets` removes domains that already link to you. ``` POST /v3/backlinks/domain_intersection/live data: [{"targets": {"1": "competitor1.com", "2": "competitor2.com"}, "exclude_targets": ["example.com"], "limit": 200}] ``` ### Step 4 — Qualify Prospects Keep gap domains with rank above 30 and check their backlink counts. High-rank domains that link to several competitors in your niche are the highest-priority outreach targets. ## Workflow 4: Historical Trends and Link Velocity Track how a backlink profile changes over time. ### Step 1 — Get Timeseries Summary Historical backlink and referring domain counts. Identify growth spikes, drops and plateaus. ``` POST /v3/backlinks/timeseries_summary/live data: [{"target": "example.com", "date_from": "2025-01-01"}] ``` ### Step 2 — Check New and Lost Timeseries The rate of new against lost backlinks. A healthy profile gains more than it loses. A sudden spike of new links may be a spam attack; a sudden drop may mean link removals or site issues. ``` POST /v3/backlinks/timeseries_new_lost_summary/live data: [{"target": "example.com", "date_from": "2025-01-01"}] ``` ### Step 3 — Get Recent Changes in Bulk The most recent new and lost backlinks across one or many domains. `date_from` is the threshold: links first seen after it are new, links seen before it and not since are lost. ``` POST /v3/backlinks/bulk_new_lost_backlinks/live data: [{"targets": ["example.com"], "date_from": "2026-09-01"}] ``` ### Step 4 — Monitor Referring Domain Changes Which referring domains were gained or lost. ``` POST /v3/backlinks/bulk_new_lost_referring_domains/live data: [{"targets": ["example.com"], "date_from": "2026-09-01"}] ``` Compare link velocity with competitors to judge whether your link building keeps pace. ## Interpreting Backlink Metrics | Metric | Description | Healthy Range | |--------|-------------|---------------| | `rank` | Domain authority equivalent (0-1000) | >30 for meaningful authority | | `backlinks` | Total backlink count | Context-dependent; quality > quantity | | `referring_domains` | Unique domains linking to you | Higher diversity = healthier profile | | `dofollow` | Count of dofollow links | 60-80% of total is typical | | `nofollow` | Count of nofollow links | 20-40% is natural | | `referring_domains_nofollow` | Domains with only nofollow links | Should not dominate | | `broken_backlinks` | Links pointing to 404/error pages | Reclaim these via redirects | | `anchor` | Anchor text used in the link | Branded anchors should dominate | | `spam_score` | 0-100 likelihood of spam | <30 safe, 30-60 review, >60 toxic | ## Target Format Pass domains without protocol or `www.`. Pass pages as absolute URLs. | Target Type | Format | Example | |-------------|--------|---------| | Domain | bare domain | `example.com` | | Subdomain | include subdomain | `blog.example.com` | | Page | full URL with protocol | `https://example.com/blog/guide` | | Path | protocol + path | `https://example.com/blog/` | ## Bulk Operations Bulk endpoints answer for many targets in one call. Prefer them when analyzing 3 or more targets. | Path under `/v3/backlinks/` | Max targets | Returns | |-------------|-------------|---------| | `bulk_backlinks/live` | 1000 | Backlink counts per target | | `bulk_ranks/live` | 1000 | Rank per target | | `bulk_referring_domains/live` | 1000 | Referring domain counts per target | | `bulk_spam_score/live` | 1000 | Spam scores per target | | `bulk_new_lost_backlinks/live` | 1000 | Recent new and lost links per target | | `bulk_new_lost_referring_domains/live` | 1000 | Recent new and lost referring domains | | `bulk_pages_summary/live` | 1000 | Page-level backlink summary | <example> User: "Audit the backlink profile of example.com and find toxic links" Workflow: 1. docs_search for the four paths below; show the plan (4 calls, limits 100 to 200); get the user's budget 2. api_request POST /v3/backlinks/summary/live for "example.com" — totals, referring domains, dofollow ratio, broken links 3. POST /v3/backlinks/bulk_spam_score/live with targets ["example.com"] — overall spam score 4. POST /v3/backlinks/referring_domains/live with order_by ["rank,asc"], limit 100 — the lowest-authority linkers 5. POST /v3/backlinks/anchors/live with limit 200 — anchor text distribution 6. Flag domains with rank < 10 and spammy anchor patterns 7. Present: profile summary (healthy metrics against concerns), anchor distribution, suspected toxic domains with evidence, draft disavow list </example> <example> User: "Find link building opportunities by looking at competitor backlinks" Workflow: 1. docs_search for the paths below; get the user's budget 2. api_request POST /v3/backlinks/summary/live for "yourdomain.com" — baseline 3. POST /v3/backlinks/competitors/live for "yourdomain.com" — backlink competitors 4. POST /v3/backlinks/domain_intersection/live with targets {"1": "competitor1.com", "2": "competitor2.com"}, exclude_targets ["yourdomain.com"], limit 200 5. Keep gap domains with rank > 30 6. POST /v3/backlinks/bulk_ranks/live with the top 50 gap domains to confirm authority 7. Present: prospect domains sorted by rank, how many competitors each links to, suggested outreach priority and estimated difficulty (higher rank is more valuable and harder to earn) </example>