Backlink Analysis Guide
How to read the project backlink analysis dashboard: referring domains, new and lost links, anchor text, and quality heuristics from a stored snapshot. Starter+. This page is the how-to. The product page is the dashboard LP.
What this dashboard shows
Backlink analysis is a Starter+ project workspace. You fetch a DataForSEO snapshot for the site on that project, then read tabs. It is not a live crawl of every site on the web, not a free checker, and not a campaign we run for you.
Tabs in the workspace
- • Overview: backlink and referring-domain counts
- • Growth: new and lost links in the UI
- • Anchor text: how others label the link
- • Domains: graph plus table of referring hosts
- • Quality: spam and authority heuristics
Also on the dashboard
- • Top linked pages graph
- • Competitor opportunity graph (domains that link to a rival you added, not to you)
- • Refresh when you want a newer snapshot
- • Compare, then fix pages in Site Audit
How a snapshot works
1. Create a project
Add the website you want to study. Backlink analysis is scoped to that project, same as Site Audit and competitor tracking.
2. Fetch the snapshot
We pull referring-domain and backlink metrics from DataForSEO and store them. Open the dashboard when the snapshot is ready. Refresh later if you need a newer picture.
3. Read referring domains first
Unique hosts matter more than raw link count. Use the domains graph and table to see who links to you. Pagination is normal. This is not a claim that we list every link on the internet.
4. Compare, then fix
Use the competitor opportunity graph for domains that link to a rival you added. Then jump to Site Audit when the page itself is the problem, not the links.
How to read the main surfaces
Referring domains
Unique websites linking to your project. Diversity of hosts is usually a healthier signal than a pile of links from one place.
New and lost links
The Growth tab compares snapshots so you can see what appeared or dropped. That lives in the dashboard. We do not send live email or push alerts when a link changes.
Quality heuristics
The Quality tab flags spam and low-authority patterns in the snapshot so you can review them. It is a review aid. We do not generate a Google Disavow file or remove links for you.
Anchor text
See how other sites label the link. Look for a natural mix. Exact-match overuse is a review signal, not something we auto-rewrite.
What this guide does not do
No live alerts
New and lost links show after you refresh and open Growth. There is no backlink notification pipeline.
No outreach service
The competitor graph shows domains that link to a rival you added. You still choose whether to contact anyone. We do not run campaigns.
No free checker on this surface
The dashboard is Starter+. Free site audit still crawls your pages. It does not replace this referring-domain snapshot.
