Backlinks API Fresh

The Backlinks API provides live backlink data for any domain, subdomain, or webpage. DataForSEO crawls the web continuously, so the index is always up to date. You can retrieve inbound links, referring domain profiles, anchor text analysis, spam scores, and competitive link overlap data.

What It Covers

• Full backlink profiles with link-level metrics
• Referring domain and referring network breakdowns
• Anchor text lists with frequency data
• Domain authority and spam score metrics
• New and lost backlink tracking over time
• Competitor backlink overlap analysis
• Bulk queries for up to 1,000 targets in one request

All Endpoints (21 total)

All backlinks endpoints are Live method only — instant results, no task queuing.

Endpoint	Method	Description	Cost Est.
/v3/backlinks/summary/live	POST	Complete backlink profile snapshot: total links, referring domains, rank, spam score	~$0.01
/v3/backlinks/history/live	POST	Historical referring domain and backlink counts over time	~$0.01
/v3/backlinks/backlinks/live	POST	Detailed list of individual backlinks with link-level metrics	~$0.02–$0.10
/v3/backlinks/anchors/live	POST	Anchor text distribution with frequency stats	~$0.005
/v3/backlinks/domain_pages/live	POST	Pages on the target domain ranked by backlink count	~$0.01
/v3/backlinks/domain_pages_summary/live	POST	Per-page backlink summary across a domain	~$0.01
/v3/backlinks/referring_domains/live	POST	All domains linking to the target	~$0.01–$0.05
/v3/backlinks/referring_networks/live	POST	IP addresses and /24 subnets sending backlinks	~$0.01
/v3/backlinks/competitors/live	POST	Domains that share backlinks with the target	~$0.01
/v3/backlinks/domain_intersection/live	POST	Domains linking to multiple specified targets simultaneously	~$0.01
/v3/backlinks/page_intersection/live	POST	Pages linking to multiple specified targets	~$0.01
/v3/backlinks/timeseries_summary/live	POST	Backlink and referring domain counts over a date range	~$0.01
/v3/backlinks/timeseries_referring_domains/live	POST	Referring domain count trend over time	~$0.01
/v3/backlinks/new_lost/live	POST	New and lost backlinks for a target	~$0.01
/v3/backlinks/new_lost_referring_domains/live	POST	New and lost referring domains	~$0.01
/v3/backlinks/index/live	GET	Current size of the DataForSEO backlink index	Free
/v3/backlinks/bulk_ranks/live	POST	Domain rank scores for up to 1,000 targets	~$0.002/target
/v3/backlinks/bulk_backlinks/live	POST	Total backlink counts for up to 1,000 targets	~$0.002/target
/v3/backlinks/bulk_spam_score/live	POST	Spam scores for up to 1,000 targets	~$0.002/target
/v3/backlinks/bulk_referring_domains/live	POST	Referring domain count for up to 1,000 targets	~$0.002/target
/v3/backlinks/bulk_new_lost/live	POST	New/lost backlink counts for multiple targets	~$0.002/target

Key Metrics

Metric	Description
rank	DataForSEO domain authority score (0–100)
backlinks	Total number of inbound links
referring_domains	Number of unique domains with at least one backlink
referring_main_domains	Unique root domains (strips subdomains)
referring_ips	Unique IP addresses linking to the target
referring_subnets	Unique /24 IP subnets
spam_score	Link quality score — higher = more spammy
dofollow	Count of dofollow links
nofollow	Count of nofollow links
anchor	Anchor text of the backlink
page_from_rank	Authority score of the linking page
domain_from_rank	Authority score of the linking domain
first_seen	Date the backlink was first discovered
last_seen	Date the backlink was most recently confirmed
is_lost	Whether the link has been removed
is_new	Whether the link was recently discovered

Method

Backlinks API uses the Live method only — results are returned immediately in the response, with no separate task retrieval step required.

• Up to 2000 API calls per minute
• Max 30 simultaneous requests

Filtering

All list endpoints support filtering and sorting. You can filter by:

• Link type (dofollow / nofollow)
• Spam score range
• Domain rank range
• First seen / last seen dates
• Anchor text
• Page URL patterns

Filtering does not affect pricing.

Authentication

login="your_login"
password="your_password"
cred="$(printf ${login}:${password} | base64)"

curl --location --request POST "https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/backlinks/summary/live" \
  --header "Authorization: Basic ${cred}" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data-raw '[
    {
      "target": "dataforseo.com",
      "limit": 10
    }
  ]'

from client import RestClient

client = RestClient("your_login", "your_password")

post_data = dict()
post_data[0] = dict(
    target="dataforseo.com",
    limit=10
)

response = client.post("/v3/backlinks/summary/live", post_data)

if response["status_code"] == 20000:
    result = response["tasks"][0]["result"][0]
    print(f"Total backlinks: {result['backlinks']}")
    print(f"Referring domains: {result['referring_domains']}")
    print(f"Rank: {result['rank']}")

Pricing

Backlinks API requires separate access. The cost paid for access is added to your account balance and can be used across any DataForSEO API. Pricing varies by endpoint and number of results returned.