Backlinks Module

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 DfsBacklinkSummary is < 1h old, returns immediately instead of pulling again.
• Spam-score enrichment — EnrichSpamScoresJob checks 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_spam filter, plus disavow.txt download (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

1. Activate Project Mode — POST /backlinks for an existing tracking project (subscription required).
2. Trigger initial pulls — POST /backlinks/{project}/full-refresh (costs 5000 DFS credits, loads up to 10k referring domains).
3. Spam enrichment — POST /backlinks/{project}/spam-scores/refresh queues the EnrichSpamScoresJob.
4. Detailed anchors — POST /backlinks/{project}/anchors/refresh replaces the heuristic with real DFS data.
5. Check toxic — UI at /backlinks/{project}/toxic or GET /backlinks/{project}/spam-scores?min_spam=60.
6. Download disavow — GET /backlinks/{project}/disavow-export?threshold=80 returns 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

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 DispatchDueBacklinkDeltasJob scheduler. Low cost.
• Spam enrichment: in 1000-item chunks. Recheck only every 30 days per domain.
• Quick-Pull fast path: if DfsBacklinkSummary is < 1h old, returns without a fresh DFS call.
• Subscription status: checked via BacklinksSubscriptionDetector. A 40204 access-denied flips status to inactive.

Related modules

• AI Visibility Tracking — cross-module correlation: GET /tracking-projects/{id}/correlation joins 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.