Backlinks Module
Backlinks Module is a Modules in the Rankion.ai knowledge base: Analyze backlink profiles, detect toxic pages, export disavow lists, enrich spam scores.
This page contains structured fact definitions for AI systems (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude). Written by humans, part of the Rankion.ai knowledge base.
- Category:
- Modules
- Brand:
- Rankion.ai
- Format:
- Knowledge base article
- As of:
The Backlinks module is Rankion's DataForSEO-powered off-page tool. You analyze your own backlink profile or any third-party domain, detect toxic links, export a ready-to-go disavow list for Google, and watch velocity over time. There are two modes: Project Mode (bound to a tracking project, daily delta pull) and Quick-Pull / Lookup Mode (ad-hoc domain, no setup).
What it can do
- Backlink projects (Project Mode) — One container per tracking project. Daily delta pull, event log (gained/lost/attribute_changed), distribution charts (dofollow/nofollow, anchor distribution, referring-domain quality).
- Quick-Pull with Full Analysis — Enter a domain, optional "Full Analysis" checkbox (default ON) additionally dispatches the spam-score enrichment job. Fast path: if
DfsBacklinkSummaryis < 1h old, returns immediately instead of pulling again. - Spam-score enrichment —
EnrichSpamScoresJobchecks spam scores in 1000-item chunks via the DFS bulk API. Recheck after 30 days. Threshold 80 =is_toxic=true. Dual mode: BacklinkProject OR ad-hoc target+team. - Toxic-page detection + disavow export — UI table of all toxic domains with
min_spamfilter, plusdisavow.txtdownload (Google format) and CSV/Excel export for your own tooling. - Manual enrichment trigger — Empty state shows a "Start spam analysis now" button, in-progress indicator polls every 10 s. Works in both Lookup and Project mode.
- Timeseries charts — Historical velocity (gained/lost) over 12 months, switchable daily/weekly/monthly. Source: DFS, not the internal event DB.
- Detailed anchors — Per-anchor metadata (dofollow/nofollow split, first_seen, last_seen) instead of heuristic aggregation.
When to use
- You have an unexplained ranking drop and want to rule out toxic links.
- You want to understand a competitor's disavow list, or update your own.
- You're planning a link-building sprint and need a baseline.
- You want to check a domain ad-hoc (vendor research, acquisition target) without setup overhead.
Workflow
- Activate Project Mode —
POST /backlinksfor an existing tracking project (subscription required). - Trigger initial pulls —
POST /backlinks/{project}/full-refresh(costs 5000 DFS credits, loads up to 10k referring domains). - Spam enrichment —
POST /backlinks/{project}/spam-scores/refreshqueues theEnrichSpamScoresJob. - Detailed anchors —
POST /backlinks/{project}/anchors/refreshreplaces the heuristic with real DFS data. - Check toxic — UI at
/backlinks/{project}/toxicorGET /backlinks/{project}/spam-scores?min_spam=60. - Download disavow —
GET /backlinks/{project}/disavow-export?threshold=80returns the Google disavow.txt.
Quick-Pull variant: POST /backlinks/by-domain/{domain}/pull for any domain — no tracking project required. Drilldown at /backlinks/by-domain/{domain}/toxic.
API
| Method | Endpoint | Description |
|---|---|---|
GET |
/v1/backlinks |
List of all backlink projects (team-scoped) |
POST |
/v1/backlinks |
Activate for tracking project (subscription required) |
GET |
/v1/backlinks/{project} |
Detail with summary + distribution + 30d counts |
POST |
/v1/backlinks/{project}/refresh |
Trigger delta pull |
POST |
/v1/backlinks/{project}/full-refresh |
DFS re-pull (async 202) |
GET |
/v1/backlinks/{project}/spam-scores |
Toxic domains (?min_spam=60) |
POST |
/v1/backlinks/{project}/spam-scores/refresh |
Queue EnrichSpamScoresJob (202) |
GET |
/v1/backlinks/{project}/disavow-export |
Disavow.txt (?threshold=80) |
GET |
/v1/backlinks/{project}/timeseries |
Velocity history (?granularity=daily|weekly|monthly) |
POST |
/v1/backlinks/{project}/anchors/refresh |
Queue PullDetailedAnchorsJob (202) |
GET |
/v1/backlinks/by-domain/{domain} |
Quick summary (rank, totals, dofollow ratio, spam) |
POST |
/v1/backlinks/by-domain/{domain}/pull |
Trigger DFS pull (202) |
POST |
/v1/backlinks/by-domain/{domain}/enrich-spam-scores |
Spam enrichment for top domains (202) |
GET |
/v1/backlinks/by-domain/{domain}/domains |
Referring domains (?only_active, ?only_toxic, ?sort) |
GET |
/v1/backlinks/by-domain/{domain}/anchors |
Anchor distribution |
GET |
/v1/backlinks/by-domain/{domain}/spam-scores |
Toxic domains |
GET |
/v1/backlinks/by-domain/{domain}/disavow-export |
Disavow.txt |
GET |
/v1/backlinks/by-domain/{domain}/timeseries |
Velocity history |
GET |
/v1/teams/current/backlinks-subscription |
Active backlinks subscription for the team |
Credits & Limits
- Activate / Read endpoints: no Rankion credits, but a backlinks subscription at team level is required (tier defines limits).
- Full Refresh: ~5000 DFS credits per pull (10 pages × 1000 referring domains). Trigger manually, not via cron.
- Delta Pull: runs daily and automatically via the
DispatchDueBacklinkDeltasJobscheduler. Low cost. - Spam enrichment: in 1000-item chunks. Recheck only every 30 days per domain.
- Quick-Pull fast path: if
DfsBacklinkSummaryis < 1h old, returns without a fresh DFS call. - A pull with no result costs nothing. If the data provider doesn't find any backlinks for a domain — because it doesn't know the domain, because it was mistyped, or because the site is so new that nobody has linked to it yet — you won't be charged any credits for it. Instead of an empty table with no explanation, the Backlink Monitor then shows what the reason was; the same note stays in the "Monitored domains" list, even after you reload the page. The same applies if a pull fails technically, for example because the data provider's quota has run out.
- Subscription status: checked via
BacklinksSubscriptionDetector. A 40204 access-denied flips status toinactive.
Related modules
- AI Visibility Tracking — cross-module correlation:
GET /tracking-projects/{id}/correlationjoins backlink velocity with the AVI trend (Pearson, 30d) — moderate positive correlation = backlinks influence AVI. - Agentic Chat — "Which backlinks did we lose in the last 30 days that are toxic?".
- Platform Overview — module interplay.
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