> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hiveku.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Monitor Your Backlinks

> Track who's linking to your site and spot new or lost links

Backlinks — other sites linking to yours — are one of Google's strongest trust signals. Quality inbound links boost rankings; spammy ones can hurt them. Backlinks tracks both.

<Info>
  Path: **Marketing > SEO > Tools > Backlinks**
</Info>

## Three Ways to Work with Backlinks

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="AI Chat" icon="wand-magic-sparkles">
    Ask questions in plain English
  </Card>

  <Card title="Backlinks UI" icon="link">
    Browse, filter, export
  </Card>

  <Card title="API" icon="code">
    Programmatic access for reports
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="AI Chat">
    Quick answers without clicking through filters:

    * *"Show me my new backlinks from this week"*
    * *"Which backlinks have the highest domain authority?"*
    * *"Do I have any links from spammy domains I should disavow?"*
    * *"Compare my backlink profile to acme-competitor.com"*

    The AI pulls directly from your Backlinks index and returns formatted tables you can export.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Backlinks UI">
    For hands-on analysis and client-ready reports.

    <Steps>
      <Step title="Open Backlinks">
        Go to **Marketing > SEO > Tools > Backlinks**.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Review the summary">
        Top of the page shows your totals: all-time backlinks, referring domains, Domain Rating average, new this week, lost this week.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Drill into individual links">
        The main table lists every backlink with its source URL, anchor text, DR, spam score, and first-seen date. Click any row for full context.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Export for reports">
        Filter to what you need, click **Export**. CSV or PDF.
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="API">
    For custom dashboards or feeding data into other tools. Endpoints return backlink lists, referring domains, and link status changes. Authenticate with your project API key. Full reference in the Developer Docs.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## What the Metrics Mean

* **Total backlinks** — every link ever indexed. Can include multiple links from the same page or domain.
* **Referring domains** — unique sites linking to you. Usually the more meaningful number — one link from 100 different domains beats 100 links from one domain.
* **Domain Rating (DR)** — 0-100 authority score for the linking site. A link from DR 80 is worth far more than one from DR 10.
* **Spam Score** — quality signal based on patterns common to spammy sites. Lower is better; anything above 50 warrants a look.
* **Anchor text distribution** — the clickable text of incoming links. Too many "click here" anchors means missed branding; too many exact-match keyword anchors can look manipulative to Google.
* **Link type** — `dofollow` passes SEO authority, `nofollow` doesn't (but still drives traffic and brand awareness).

## Filter and Segment

The table supports rich filters:

* **DR range** — see only your high-authority backlinks
* **Link type** — dofollow vs nofollow
* **First seen** — filter to the last 7, 30, or 90 days for "new backlinks" reports
* **Status** — active, lost, redirected
* **Anchor text** — find all links using a specific phrase
* **Linking domain** — see every page from a single site that links to you

Save any filter combination as a segment. Segments appear as one-click tabs for recurring reports.

## Watch New and Lost Links

The **New** tab surfaces backlinks first seen in the last 7/30 days. Useful for:

* Thank-you outreach to new linking sites
* PR attribution (did that press release actually land links?)
* Spotting toxic link injection from negative SEO attacks

The **Lost** tab shows backlinks that used to exist but are now gone. For high-DR lost links, consider reaching out — the linking page may have been updated and dropped your link by mistake, and a friendly email often restores it.

<Tip>
  Set alerts on lost high-authority backlinks. For DR 70+ links that disappear, you want to know within hours, not at your next monthly check-in.
</Tip>

## Competitor Backlink Analysis

Want to find link-building opportunities? Look at who links to your competitors.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Competitor view">
    In Backlinks, click **Competitor Analysis**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter a competitor domain">
    Type a competitor's URL. Up to 5 competitors per analysis.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review their backlink profile">
    Same metrics as your own data — referring domains, DR, anchor text. You can sort by "Links to competitor but not to you" to find obvious outreach targets.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Export outreach list">
    Filter to the domains you want to pitch, export CSV, and feed into your outreach tool (see [Cold Email](/how-tos/cold-email)).
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Info>
  Backlink data comes from our index, which is refreshed regularly. Very new backlinks (posted in the last few days) may not appear until the next crawl cycle.
</Info>

## Verify It Worked

Pick one backlink you know exists — your LinkedIn profile page, a guest post you wrote, a press mention. Search for that source URL in Backlinks. It should appear within a few days of first being live. If it doesn't show after two weeks, submit a recrawl request from the Backlinks settings page.

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Low backlink count on a new site">
    Normal. New domains take months to accumulate natural backlinks. Focus on proactive link-building: guest posts, digital PR, partnerships, industry directories, and product launches. Competitor analysis is the fastest way to find likely-willing link targets.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Suspiciously high spam score">
    Look at the linking domain. If it's clearly low-quality (PBN, foreign-language spam site, scraped content), consider disavowing it through Google Search Console. Disavow aggressively only if rankings seem to be hurt — a few spammy links rarely matter.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Anchor text is all `click here` or raw URLs">
    Missed branding opportunity, not a problem. When you do outreach, suggest better anchor text ("Acme's guide to X" instead of "click here"). Don't try to change existing links at scale — looks manipulative.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A backlink I know exists isn't showing">
    Our index refreshes on a regular cycle. New links can take 3-14 days to appear. For urgent cases (e.g., verifying a paid placement), submit a manual recrawl in settings.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Sudden spike in new backlinks looks like spam">
    Could be a negative SEO attack, a scraper site, or just your content going viral. Review the new links manually. For genuine spam injection, disavow through Google Search Console.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## What's Next?

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Track Rankings" icon="chart-line" href="/how-tos/track-rankings">
    Monitor how your backlinks translate into rankings
  </Card>

  <Card title="Cold Email Outreach" icon="envelope" href="/how-tos/cold-email">
    Build your backlink profile with targeted outreach
  </Card>
</CardGroup>