# Backlinks Checker – Check Backlinks, Anchors & Link Strength (`rowfeed/backlink-checker`) Actor

Check backlinks of any website or page: every linking domain and page, anchor text, dofollow or nofollow, domain and page strength, spam score, first and last seen. Up to 10,000 per site. An Ahrefs and Semrush backlink checker alternative, pay per link.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/rowfeed/backlink-checker.md
- **Developed by:** [Rowfeed](https://apify.com/rowfeed) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Marketing, AI
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 3 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 backlinks

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Backlinks Checker – Check Backlinks, Anchors & Link Strength

Check the backlinks of any website or page: every site that links to it, the exact linking page, the anchor text, dofollow or nofollow, how strong the linking domain and page are, a spam score, and when the link was first and last seen. Strongest links first, up to 10,000 per site.
Built for SEO agencies and link builders auditing competitors and prospects, site owners watching their link profile, and AI agents that need backlink data mid-task.
The data comes through a licensed data provider (DataForSEO, with its own web-scale link index), not by scraping SEO tools, so runs do not fail on captchas, logins or blocks.

### What you get

- **Referring domains** (default): one row per linking domain with its strongest link, or **every backlink**, or one per anchor text.
- **Linking page and its title**, the **page linked to** and the **anchor text**.
- **Dofollow or nofollow**, link type (text, image, redirect, canonical ...).
- **Strength**: domain rank and page rank of the linker (0-1000), spam score (0-100).
- **First seen and last seen** dates, new links and links to broken pages flagged.
- **Total live backlinks** of the site, in the chosen mode.
- Check a whole site (`example.com`, with subdomains) or one page (`https://example.com/page`). Dofollow-only filter.

### Example output row

A real row for `notion.so`:

```json
{
  "target": "notion.so",
  "position": 2,
  "domain_from": "discord.me",
  "url_from": "https://discord.me/wallhaven",
  "page_from_title": "Wallhaven | Discord Me",
  "url_to": "https://www.notion.so/begeekedlabs/Reporting-a-Server-3d31e1132e634776a2fc950306687691",
  "anchor": "(Discord Me Report Guide)",
  "link_type": "anchor",
  "dofollow": true,
  "domain_from_rank": 589,
  "page_from_rank": 780,
  "spam_score": 0,
  "first_seen": "2020-05-29T09:19:41+00:00",
  "last_seen": "2026-10-16T19:52:27+00:00",
  "total_backlinks": 114867
}
```

### An Ahrefs and Semrush backlink checker alternative

Ahrefs and Semrush show backlinks inside monthly plans with row limits; this Actor returns the backlink list itself, paid per link:

- **What you get:** every linking domain and page, anchor text, dofollow/nofollow, domain and page strength, spam score, first and last seen, up to 10,000 links per site, in JSON, CSV or Excel.
- **What it is not:** the link index is DataForSEO's own web-scale index, so counts differ from Ahrefs' or Semrush's numbers (every index sees a different part of the web), and there is no link-building outreach workflow.
- **No subscription, no login:** check one site today, a hundred next month, and pay only for the links you pull.

### Input

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| `targets` | Domains (whole site with subdomains) or page URLs. Up to 1,000. |
| `maxBacklinks` | Per site, strongest first. 1 to 10,000. Default 100. |
| `mode` | `one_per_domain` (referring domains, default), `all` (every backlink) or `one_per_anchor`. |
| `dofollowOnly` | Leave out nofollow links. |

### Pricing

Pay per event, no subscription:

- **$1 per 1,000 backlinks** ($0.001 per row).
- $0.04 per lookup (each 1,000 backlinks of a site or page, also when it has none: the data provider bills every lookup).
- $0.001 per run start.

Examples: the top 100 referring domains of a site cost about $0.14. 1,000 backlinks cost about $1.04. 10,000 backlinks cost about $10.40.

You can cap the cost of a run with the maximum charge setting; the Actor never charges beyond it. Lines that are not a domain or URL are listed and never charged.
Live lookups need a paid Apify plan (any plan); the pre-filled example works on the free plan.

### Good to know

- Only live backlinks are listed (links that still exist at the last crawl); internal links of the site itself are left out.
- Ranks are DataForSEO's 0-1000 scale; they are comparable within this tool, not identical to other SEO tools' scores.
- For traffic and authority of many domains at once, see the Website Traffic Checker below.

### More SEO tools from Rowfeed

- [Backlink Monitor](https://apify.com/rowfeed/backlink-monitor) – new and lost backlinks of any site, each checked on the live page. Run it weekly for backlink alerts.
- [SEO Audit Tool & Website Crawler](https://apify.com/rowfeed/seo-site-audit) – titles, meta descriptions, H1, noindex, broken links and a 0-100 SEO score for every page.
- [Keyword Research Tool](https://apify.com/rowfeed/keyword-search-volume) – search volume, CPC, keyword difficulty, intent and keyword ideas (Google & Bing).
- [Competitor Keyword Research](https://apify.com/rowfeed/competitor-keywords) – every Google keyword any website ranks for, with position, volume and traffic.
- [SERP API & Rank Checker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-serp-api) – Google results for any keyword and country, with your domain's position.
- [Website Traffic & Domain Authority Checker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/website-traffic-checker) – traffic estimate and authority for up to 10,000 domains.
- [Broken Link Checker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/broken-link-checker) – 404s, dead links, broken images and redirect chains on any website.
- [AI Search Visibility Tracker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/ai-search-visibility-tracker) – is your brand named and cited by ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode.
- [Local Rank Tracker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-maps-rank-tracker) – Google Maps rankings on a geo-grid around a business.
- [Google Trends API](https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-trends-explorer) – interest over time, regions and rising searches.
- [Google Images API](https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-images-api) – image URLs and the pages they are on, for image SEO.
- [WHOIS Lookup & Domain Checker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/domain-rdap-checker) – domain age, expiry, registrar and DNS in bulk.
- [Sitemap URL Extractor](https://apify.com/rowfeed/sitemap-url-extractor) – every URL in a site's sitemaps, with lastmod.
- [PageSpeed Insights API](https://apify.com/rowfeed/pagespeed-insights-api) – Lighthouse scores, Core Web Vitals and real-user speed data for many pages at once.
- [DA PA Checker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/da-pa-checker) – domain authority, page authority and spam score for up to 10,000 domains or URLs.

Not affiliated with any SEO tool.

# Actor input Schema

## `targets` (type: `array`):

A domain (example.com) checks the whole site with subdomains; a URL with a path checks that one page. Up to 1,000.

## `maxBacklinks` (type: `integer`):

Strongest first. Up to 10,000; every 1,000 is one lookup.

## `mode` (type: `string`):

One per linking domain gives the list of referring domains with their best link.

## `dofollowOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Leave out nofollow links.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "targets": [
    "example.com",
    "https://example.com/blog/post"
  ],
  "maxBacklinks": 100,
  "mode": "one_per_domain",
  "dofollowOnly": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "targets": [
        "notion.so"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("rowfeed/backlink-checker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "targets": ["notion.so"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("rowfeed/backlink-checker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "targets": [
    "notion.so"
  ]
}' |
apify call rowfeed/backlink-checker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,rowfeed/backlink-checker"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/Hd5qaBVN4ydJS8Zbt/builds/OQg8VC76bbu3URjnq/openapi.json