Backlink Checker API - 12B+ Indexed Backlinks & Referring Domains | VebAPI
SEO API Series

Backlink API: Live Backlinks, Referring Domains & SEO Data

Integrate access to an index of more than 12 Billion backlinks. Retrieve referring domains, anchors, canonical links, spam filters, redirect sequences, and first/last seen metrics via a high-performance REST JSON endpoint.

12B+ Backlinks Indexed
Daily Crawl Updates
99.9% Availability

12B+

Backlink Index

95%

Active Domain Coverage

<250ms

Average Response Time

Why Developers Choose VebAPI

Engineered to power SaaS tools, digital marketing platforms, and automated auditing scripts with ease.

Single Integration Key

Access all endpoints—backlink metadata, referring domain metrics, SERP checkers, and scraper features—using a single API credential.

Sub-250ms Response Speed

VebAPI operates queries against optimized SSD clusters. Average request-response cycles complete in less than 250 milliseconds globally.

Factual & Verified Data

We maintain transparent tracking. Receive detailed first-seen/last-visited markers so your dashboards show fully verifiable statistics.

API Capabilities & Parameters

VebAPI supports all essential filters and data fields required for detailed link building audits.

Live Links

Live Backlinks

Track hyperlinks active on target domains during the most recent crawl visit.

Delta Tracking

New & Lost Backlinks

Generate feeds of links discovered recently or dropped within the past 24 hours.

Domain Focus

Referring Domains API

Fetch comprehensive records of all linking domains grouped with authority values.

Filter Logic

Spam Backlinks Filtering

Isolate toxic link networks, scraper page patterns, and negative SEO footprints instantly.

Text Extraction

Anchor Text Analysis

Extract hyperlinked text, alt attributes for images, and link types (text vs image).

Attributes

Dofollow / Nofollow Tags

Identify links marked with dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, or ugc values.

Chains

Redirect Link Tracking

Trace 301 and 302 hop sequences to confirm where the link equity eventually lands.

Routing

Internal / External Filtering

Filter endpoints to segment internal site nodes from external linking root structures.

Timestamps

First Seen / Last Seen

Expose timestamps indicating precisely when a backlink was cataloged and last verified.

Available Backlink Endpoints

Integrate specialized endpoints configured for backlink data lookup.

How the Backlink Database Works

Verified mechanics regarding crawler schedules, page revisits, index depth, and limits.

Question: How large is the backlink database and how many links are indexed?

Answer: The backlink database contains index metrics for more than 12 Billion backlinks. Our crawler nodes consistently crawl active domains, capturing subdomains, redirect maps, canonical mappings, and image files.

Question: Why does index size and domain coverage matter for a developer?

Answer: If an index is too small, your applications will fail to report newly placed links, PR inserts, and small-business directories. VebAPI covers approximately 95% of active domains, ensuring SaaS applications receive accurate link-building data.

Question: How often is backlink data updated and how frequently do crawlers revisit pages?

Answer: The database updates every day. Freshly placed hyperlinks are indexed based on host weight: high-authority nodes are recrawled within hours, while lower-tier source urls update on a rolling schedule.

Question: How are API limits, pagination, and credit counts structured?

Answer: VebAPI uses a transparent credit consumption model: each successful request consumes exactly 10 credits, returning up to 100 rows of response data by default. Support for pagination is enabled via `limit` and `offset` query variables, allowing up to 100,000 links to be read per target host.

Honest Competitor Comparison

A factual comparison of publicly known API structures. We state "Varies" where data isn't verified.

Metric / Capability VebAPI DataForSEO Ahrefs API Majestic API
REST API Architecture Yes Yes Yes Yes
Pricing Philosophy Credit-Based (Transparent) Pay-per-use metrics Monthly subscription + add-ons Monthly subscriptions + limits
Starting Price Starts at $12 / month Varies (Pay-per-use) Starts at $99 - $999 / month Starts at $399.99 / month (API Plan)
Free Tier Availability Yes (500 free credits) No No No
Single API Key Yes Yes Yes Yes
Suitable for SaaS Yes Yes Limited (High relative pricing) Limited (Legacy formats)
Enterprise Focus Yes Yes Yes Yes

API Documentation & Integration

Connect and retrieve live JSON data in seconds using simple GET queries.

Endpoint GET Request

GET https://vebapi.com/api/backlinks/live?target=vebapi.com&limit=100

Supported Parameters

Parameter Type Required Description
target string Required Target domain to query (e.g. vebapi.com)
limit integer Optional Max results to return (default: 100, max: 1000)
offset integer Optional Offset for index pagination (default: 0)

Request Examples

curl -X GET "https://vebapi.com/api/backlinks/live?target=vebapi.com&limit=100" \
  -H "X-API-KEY: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json"
import requests

url = "https://vebapi.com/api/backlinks/live"
headers = {
    "X-API-KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}
params = {
    "target": "vebapi.com",
    "limit": 100
}

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, params=params)
data = response.json()
print(data)
const response = await fetch("https://vebapi.com/api/backlinks/live?target=vebapi.com&limit=100", {
  headers: {
    "X-API-KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  }
});
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);
<?php
$ch = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_URL => "https://vebapi.com/api/backlinks/live?target=vebapi.com&limit=100",
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
        "X-API-KEY: YOUR_API_KEY",
        "Content-Type: application/json"
    ]
]);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

$data = json_decode($response, true);
var_dump($data);

Response JSON Body

{
    "engine": "Vebapi v8",
    "node": "master",
    "provider": "vebapi.com",
    "request": {
        "target": "vebapi.com",
        "mode": "as_is",
        "backlinks_status_type": "live",
        "limit": 100,
        "offset": 0,
        "include_subdomains": true,
        "exclude_internal_backlinks": true,
        "include_indirect_links": true
    },
    "counts": {
        "backlinks": {
            "total": 203,
            "returned": 100,
            "doFollow": 90,
            "fromHomePage": 0,
            "toHomePage": 78,
            "text": 97,
            "image": 0,
            "redirect": 3,
            "new": 23,
            "lost": 0,
            "broken": 0
        },
        "domains": {
            "total": 15,
            "doFollow": 7,
            "fromHomePage": 0,
            "toHomePage": 11
        }
    },
    "backlinks": [
        {
            "url_from": "https://www.producthunt.com/r/A7HDPGWNVC7ZQ5?utm_campaign=producthunt-api&utm_medium=api-v2&utm_source=Application%3A+PH+Deck+%28ID%3A+112811%29",
            "url_to": "https://vebapi.com/",
            "domain_from": "www.producthunt.com",
            "domain_to": "vebapi.com",
            "title": "",
            "anchor": "",
            "alt": "",
            "nofollow": false,
            "image": false,
            "image_source": "",
            "link_type": "redirect",
            "inlink_rank": 23,
            "domain_inlink_rank": 89,
            "spam_score": 0,
            "country": "US",
            "tld_from": "com",
            "is_new": false,
            "is_lost": false,
            "is_broken": false,
            "links_count": 1,
            "first_seen": "2025-09-17",
            "last_visited": "2025-10-18"
        },
        {
            "url_from": "https://producthubx.com/ko/product/vebapi/138298",
            "url_to": "https://vebapi.com/?utm_source=producthubx.com",
            "domain_from": "producthubx.com",
            "domain_to": "vebapi.com",
            "title": "vebapi - \uac1c\ubc1c\uc790 \ubc0f SaaS\ub97c\uc704\ud55c \ubaa8\ub4e0 SEO API | ProductHubX",
            "anchor": "\uc6f9\uc0ac\uc774\ud2b8 \ubc29\ubb38",
            "alt": "",
            "nofollow": false,
            "image": false,
            "image_source": "",
            "link_type": "anchor",
            "inlink_rank": 0,
            "domain_inlink_rank": 31,
            "spam_score": 0,
            "country": "WW",
            "tld_from": "com",
            "is_new": true,
            "is_lost": false,
            "is_broken": false,
            "links_count": 1,
            "first_seen": "2025-10-14",
            "last_visited": "2025-10-14"
        },
        {
            "url_from": "https://producthubx.com/ar/product/vebapi/138298",
            "url_to": "https://vebapi.com/?utm_source=producthubx.com",
            "domain_from": "producthubx.com",
            "domain_to": "vebapi.com",
            "title": "\u0641\u064a\u0628\u0627\u0628\u064a - All -in - \u0648\u0627\u062d\u062f \u0645\u0646 \u0643\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0633\u0626\u0648\u0644\u064a\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0627\u0642\u062a\u0635\u0627\u062f\u064a\u064a\u0646 \u0644\u0644\u0645\u0637\u0648\u0631\u064a\u0646 \u0648\u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u062c | ProductHubX",
            "anchor": "\u0632\u064a\u0627\u0631\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0648\u0642\u0639",
            "alt": "",
            "nofollow": false,
            "image": false,
            "image_source": "",
            "link_type": "anchor",
            "inlink_rank": 0,
            "domain_inlink_rank": 31,
            "spam_score": 0,
            "country": "WW",
            "tld_from": "com",
            "is_new": true,
            "is_lost": false,
            "is_broken": false,
            "links_count": 1,
            "first_seen": "2025-10-14",
            "last_visited": "2025-10-14"
        },
        {
            "url_from": "https://producthubx.com/de/product/vebapi/138298",
            "url_to": "https://vebapi.com/?utm_source=producthubx.com",
            "domain_from": "producthubx.com",
            "domain_to": "vebapi.com",
            "title": "VEBAPI - All -in -One SEO -API f\u00fcr Entwickler und SaaS | ProductHubX",
            "anchor": "Website besuchen",
            "alt": "",
            "nofollow": false,
            "image": false,
            "image_source": "",
            "link_type": "anchor",
            "inlink_rank": 0,
            "domain_inlink_rank": 31,
            "spam_score": 0,
            "country": "WW",
            "tld_from": "com",
            "is_new": true,
            "is_lost": false,
            "is_broken": false,
            "links_count": 1,
            "first_seen": "2025-10-14",
            "last_visited": "2025-10-14"
        },
        {
            "url_from": "https://www.hackerchoice.com/indie-products/daily/2025-07-29/product/dropdeck/",
            "url_to": "https://vebapi.com/",
            "domain_from": "www.hackerchoice.com",
            "domain_to": "vebapi.com",
            "title": "DropDeck - Create stunning product showcases",
            "anchor": "Website",
            "alt": "",
            "nofollow": false,
            "image": false,
            "image_source": "",
            "link_type": "anchor",
            "inlink_rank": 0,
            "domain_inlink_rank": 16,
            "spam_score": 30,
            "country": "",
            "tld_from": "com",
            "is_new": false,
            "is_lost": false,
            "is_broken": false,
            "links_count": 1,
            "first_seen": "2025-11-10",
            "last_visited": "2026-05-05"
        }
    ]
}

How Companies Utilize VebAPI

Common applications of our backlink API data stream.

SaaS Platforms

Embedded SEO Reporting Features

Product teams integrate VebAPI to display real-time backlink lists, domain rank distributions, and link counts directly to their users without maintaining costly server scraping setups.

Agencies & Consultants

Automated Audits & Outreach Lists

Marketing agencies trigger programmatic site audits for prospective clients, extracting competitor anchor distributions and targeting dead (lost) backlinks to suggest replacements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Clear factual answers optimized for Google snippets and LLM search systems.

Question: How often is VebAPI backlink data updated?
Answer: The backlink index is updated continuously on a daily cycle. Crawlers revisit high-authority hubs hourly, while standard domains are recrawled regularly to ensure new link insertions are discovered quickly.
Question: How big is the backlink index of VebAPI?
Answer: VebAPI indexes more than 12 Billion backlinks. The database spans domains, subdomains, subfolders, redirects, and canonical link configurations globally.
Question: Is the Backlink API suitable for enterprise SaaS applications?
Answer: Yes. The API is deployed on auto-scaling, distributed cloud nodes with a target availability rate of 99.9%. Rate limits support up to 100 requests per second to satisfy high-throughput requirements.
Question: Can I monitor lost backlinks using VebAPI?
Answer: Yes. The API response flags backlinks with their status history. If our crawlers detect that a link tag is removed, or if the source page yields a 404 error, the status of the link changes to represent a lost link.
Question: Does the API support subdomain and subfolder sorting?
Answer: Yes. By querying target websites, you receive links mapping to all pages, specific subdomains, or exact subdirectories. You can filter results programmatically in your application.
Question: Can I fetch anchor text and image alt text attributes?
Answer: Yes. The returned JSON payloads include the `anchor` field showing the visible text link, or the `alt` text attribute if the backlink is located within an image tag.
Question: Can I monitor my competitors using VebAPI?
Answer: Yes. Simply pass the competitor's website domain as the `website` query parameter to extract their entire backlink list, sorting by domain authority scores to identify their highest-value referring sites.
Question: How does API pagination work?
Answer: Pagination is managed using standard `limit` and `offset` query parameters. For example, to read the second page of 100 results, set `limit=100` and `offset=100`.
Question: What API rate limits apply to queries?
Answer: The baseline rate limit starts at 10 requests per second (RPS) on the free and entry-level tiers, and scales up to 100 RPS on enterprise subscriptions.
Question: Does the API support links hidden behind redirects?
Answer: Yes. VebAPI indexes 301 and 302 redirects. It tags them with `redirect: true` in the JSON response payload, providing transparent mapping of redirect paths.
Question: Is there a free trial plan for VebAPI?
Answer: Yes. New registered developers instantly receive 500 free query credits. No credit card is required to sign up and begin testing in our API playground.
Question: What JSON format is returned in the API responses?
Answer: Every response returns a structured JSON layout containing two main sub-objects: a `counts` summary object (grouping totals for backlinks, referring domains, text links, image links, dofollow/nofollow) and a `backlinks` array containing details for individual source and target URLs.
Question: What criteria define the domain authority metrics?
Answer: VebAPI calculates page and domain strength scores ranging from 0 to 100. These values are based on overall backlink distribution, quality of source domains, and link equity transfer.
Question: Does the VebAPI Backlink API cover international websites?
Answer: Yes. Our index crawlers operate globally, cataloging websites across all country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) and international languages without geographical filtering.
Question: Can I separate internal backlinks from external backlinks?
Answer: Yes. Standard responses exclude internal links to prioritize external referencing domains. However, you can toggle parameters or use script filters to analyze internal node configurations.
Question: How do crawlers handle robots.txt rules?
Answer: Our index crawlers strictly follow public `robots.txt` specifications. If a domain admin requests exclusion of crawlers from their paths, those pages are excluded from the crawl cycle.
Question: How long does a typical backlink request take?
Answer: The target API request latency is under 250ms globally, thanks to distributed query caching layer architectures designed for high-availability performance.
Question: Can I search for dofollow backlinks exclusively?
Answer: Yes. In your request code, you can easily parse the JSON results to filter where the `nofollow` field evaluates to `false`, isolating dofollow links immediately.
Question: Does the API show the first seen date?
Answer: Yes. The payload returns a `first_seen` date parameter representing the exact calendar date our crawler first successfully indexed the link insertion.
Question: Is there a limit on the number of results returned per query?
Answer: Each paginated request returns up to 1,000 backlinks, and using the `offset` parameter, you can fetch up to 100,000 links total for a single queried target domain.
🔥 Special Offer Pricing

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