🔗 Semrush - Backlink Analysis

Overview

Analyze backlink profiles including authority scores, referring domains, link types, and anchor distribution.

Backlinks Overview

Get Backlinks Overview

GET /backlinks/overview/:domain

Purpose: Get comprehensive backlink metrics for a domain

Request:

GET /v1/integrations/semrush/backlinks/overview/example.com?new=false
Authorization: Bearer {jwt_token}

Semrush API:

GET https://api.semrush.com/analytics/v1/?type=backlinks_overview&key={API_KEY}&target_type=root_domain&target={DOMAIN}&export_columns=ascore,total,domains_num,urls_num,ips_num,ipclassc_num,follows_num,nofollows_num,sponsored_num,ugc_num,texts_num,images_num,forms_num,frames_num

API Parameters:

• type: backlinks_overview
• target_type: root_domain
• export_columns: 14 metrics (see below)

CSV Response Columns:

ascore;total;domains_num;urls_num;ips_num;ipclassc_num;follows_num;nofollows_num;sponsored_num;ugc_num;texts_num;images_num;forms_num;frames_num

JSON Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "SUCCESS",
  "data": {
    "data": [
      {
        "ascore": "42",
        "total": "15280",
        "domains_num": "3425",
        "urls_num": "12150",
        "ips_num": "2850",
        "ipclassc_num": "2340",
        "follows_num": "12500",
        "nofollows_num": "2780",
        "sponsored_num": "450",
        "ugc_num": "125",
        "texts_num": "14850",
        "images_num": "380",
        "forms_num": "30",
        "frames_num": "20"
      }
    ],
    "createdAt": "2025-10-10T08:00:00Z",
    "lastUpdate": "2025-10-10T08:00:00Z",
    "nextUpdate": "2025-10-17T08:00:00Z",
    "daysSinceUpdate": 0,
    "daysUntilUpdate": 7,
    "isStale": false
  }
}

Caching:

• Cache Type: backlinks_overview
• TTL: 7 days

Backlink Metrics

Core Metrics

Metric	Field	Description
Authority Score	ascore	Domain authority (0-100)
Total Backlinks	total	Total backlink count
Referring Domains	domains_num	Unique domains linking
Referring URLs	urls_num	Unique pages linking
Referring IPs	ips_num	Unique IP addresses
Referring Subnets	ipclassc_num	Unique IP subnets (Class C)

Link Types

Type	Field	Description
Follow Links	follows_num	Links passing PageRank
Nofollow Links	nofollows_num	Links not passing PageRank
Sponsored Links	sponsored_num	Paid/sponsored links
UGC Links	ugc_num	User-generated content links

Anchor Types

Type	Field	Description
Text Links	texts_num	Standard text anchors
Image Links	images_num	Image-based links
Form Links	forms_num	Form submission links
Frame Links	frames_num	Frame/iframe links

Authority Score

Score Interpretation

Score	Authority Level	Quality
80-100	Exceptional	Top-tier sites (news, gov, edu)
60-79	Very High	Strong authority sites
40-59	High	Established sites
20-39	Medium	Average sites
0-19	Low	New or weak sites

Factors Affecting Score

• Number of referring domains
• Quality of referring domains
• Backlink diversity
• Link growth rate
• Spam score (inverse)

Use Cases

1. Backlink Profile Health Check

Assess overall link profile:

const overview = backlinks.data[0];
const followRatio = ((parseInt(overview.follows_num) / parseInt(overview.total)) * 100).toFixed(1);
const domainToLinkRatio = (parseInt(overview.domains_num) / parseInt(overview.total)).toFixed(3);

console.log(`Authority Score: ${overview.ascore}/100`);
console.log(`Follow Link Ratio: ${followRatio}%`);
console.log(`Domain Diversity: ${domainToLinkRatio}`);

2. Link Quality Assessment

Calculate quality metrics:

const totalLinks = parseInt(overview.total);
const nofollows = parseInt(overview.nofollows_num);
const sponsored = parseInt(overview.sponsored_num);
const ugc = parseInt(overview.ugc_num);

const qualityLinks = totalLinks - nofollows - sponsored - ugc;
const qualityRatio = ((qualityLinks / totalLinks) * 100).toFixed(1);

console.log(`Quality Links: ${qualityRatio}%`);

3. IP Diversity Check

Assess link network health:

const domains = parseInt(overview.domains_num);
const ips = parseInt(overview.ips_num);
const subnets = parseInt(overview.ipclassc_num);

const ipDiversity = ((ips / domains) * 100).toFixed(1);
const subnetDiversity = ((subnets / domains) * 100).toFixed(1);

console.log(`IP Diversity: ${ipDiversity}% (${ips} IPs from ${domains} domains)`);
console.log(`Subnet Diversity: ${subnetDiversity}%`);

4. Anchor Distribution Analysis

Analyze anchor text variety:

const textAnchors = parseInt(overview.texts_num);
const imageAnchors = parseInt(overview.images_num);
const totalAnchors = textAnchors + imageAnchors;

const textRatio = ((textAnchors / totalAnchors) * 100).toFixed(1);

console.log(`Text Anchors: ${textRatio}%`);
console.log(`Image Anchors: ${100 - textRatio}%`);

5. Competitor Comparison

Compare backlink profiles:

# Get your backlinks
GET /backlinks/overview/yourclient.com

# Get competitor backlinks
GET /backlinks/overview/competitor.com

# Compare authority scores and referring domains

Best Practices

Healthy Backlink Profile

✅ Good Indicators:

• High authority score (40+)
• 70%+ follow links
• High domain-to-link ratio (> 0.2)
• Good IP diversity
• Low sponsored/UGC ratio

❌ Warning Signs:

• Low authority score (< 20)
• High nofollow ratio (> 50%)
• Low domain diversity
• Many links from same IP subnet
• High sponsored link percentage

Related Documentation

• Domain Analytics
• Competitor Analysis
• Semrush Backlinks API