SEO

5 Backlink APIs to Master Your Link Building Strategy in 2025

Creating an effective marketing strategy means covering all your bases. When considering the future of your website, ranking high should be one of your crucial goals. Search engines monitor numerous metrics, and backlinking remains essential.

Getting backlinks is an ongoing process requiring a detailed inbound marketing strategy. Access to your current performance and competitors’ approaches can help you take action quickly.

That’s where a backlink API comes in handy. It lets you access data that indicates who’s linking to your competitors’ websites and who they are linking to in their strategy. Furthermore, you can examine who they’re collaborating with now and their past partners.

Before examining the best picks in the market, let’s review the basics of APIs and why you need one.

Table of Contents

What is an API?

APIs (application programming interfaces) are systems developers implement in various software products to quickly access different information types. For example, your smartphone’s weather app collects weather information from APIs created by developers.

It makes communication between applications efficient.

First, a team of developers creates an API for a particular software product. They pre-set the information the API will offer to its users. Then, a different team of developers working on another product can access the data feed from the API and call it for their app. 

The majority of applications we use today utilize APIs for quick information exchange. These tools have become a standard in the IT industry, as it simplifies communication between programs.

Why should you use one?

The main benefit of using various APIs is access to abundant information with a couple of clicks. Plus, it’s a big time saver because it automates the whole process, as you’d otherwise have to search for information manually.

With an API, your software tool or an app simply requests data from another system, and you get all the necessary information.

Additionally, you can develop your app to communicate with multiple APIs. That would enable you to use a single tool to get data from several different APIs in one place. 

Taking that step would speed up your in-house processes as your team could centralize all the data in one place. The functionality of these tools can be some of the following benefits for your business:

  • Higher productivity
  • Lower costs
  • Better in-house organization of processes
  • Team versatility through working with multiple APIs
  • Access to copious amounts of real-time data

Implement different APIs to help your teams be more efficient. This is a worthwhile investment that can help you grow your business.

Now that we’re familiar with APIs and why they are an excellent step for your business, let’s look at the specific set of APIs. The ones that can audit your website and present you with backlink data are essential ranking factors.

Luckily, there are plenty of options available in the market today. Let’s explore a couple of those that offer exceptional APIs.

1. SEMrush

SEMrush is another big name in the SEO industry that counts huge amounts of indexed websites, backlinks and keyword data.. Semrush has introduced AI Overview Tracking in Organic Research, allowing users to track AI Overviews (AIOs) beyond Position Tracking. This feature provides insights into AIO rankings for websites and expands data access to show AIO rankings for queries not manually tracked.

The company simplifies integration, allowing brands to start using its API quickly and optimize its data. However, like Ahrefs, API access is only available to Business plan subscribers, and it comes at a steep price.

On top of that, additional costs might vary depending on the number of requests with the API.

However, aside from backlinking data, you also get keyword information to get keyword ideas for your content.

The company offers plenty of valuable resources on its website, which SEO readers will find beneficial.

2. DataForSEO

DataForSEO offers a feature-rich backlinks API. With the ever-growing index of backlinks, the team behind the DataForSEO provides quite a lot of value to their clients. 

The tool is convenient as it’s easy to implement. It provides real-time data for millions of domains and subdomains globally.

When auditing your website or your competitor’s websites, you can receive the following data:

  • Backlinks — Find all the backlinks leading to every single page of the website you’re auditing. You can see some of the patterns that your competitors are using. Furthermore, you can better see your weak points and create a more effective backlink strategy for a better ranking.
  • Relevant domains — Analyze how domains are linking to one another. You’ll be able to see which domains are interlinked.
  • Link intersection — Use the API to detect websites that link to numerous other websites from the same niche. Analyze the data to discover backlinking opportunities for your brand.

These functionalities make DataForSEO API a valuable addition to your SEO set of tools. But there’s more. The company offers help with the integration process and pay-as-you-go pricing model.

Your API costs depend on the number of requests you make to it. Therefore, your costs will vary from one month to another, depending on your use.

3. Ahrefs

Ahrefs has established itself as a giant in the SEO world. The company takes pride in its crawler, which, according to them, is the second-largest crawler,, outperforming other big companies such as Bing and Yahoo.

That means that accessing their API yields an impressive number of indexed backlinks. The sheer amount of data opens up many options for API subscribers, but it affects the pricing.

The API is available in three different plans, which are Standard, Plus, and Premium. The pricing is quite steep, plus you get additional charges if you overstep the pre-set API request limit for every plan.

This tool is a viable option for all businesses that are looking to improve their backlinking score. However, it will require a slightly higher investment.

4. Mozscape

Moz has become an essential part of the SEO industry. The company’s Domain Authority browser extension is prevalent among SEO professionals. Mozscape API is rich, with over 40 trillion links in its database.

What’s more, not only will you get to see all the backlinks, but you’ll be able to access more details about them, such as their anchors and whether they are do-follow or no-follow links.

These insights are necessary to get a complete picture of what the competitors are doing and what you can do to improve your position in the market.

The API also displays information such as Domain Authority and Page Authority, helping you get an immediate picture of how high something is likely to rank.

The Entry Level API plan is affordable but comes with plenty of limitations. It suggests users use a low-volume plan with the same price tag as Ahrefs and SEMrush. The most demanding users can opt for mid-volume or Enterprise plans.

Overall, Mozscape is an excellent backlink API with a more than rich backlink database.

5. Majestic

Last but not least, Majestic offers a robust platform with an API with a massive index of backlinks. Like the abovementioned companies, Majestic is also a veteran in the SEO sphere. Features like Trust Flow, Citation Flow, and Flow Metric Score show the quality of your website.

You’ll also find plenty of helpful API documentation that helps developers integrate the API with their software tools more efficiently.

Access to the powerful API is only available to Full API plan subscribers. However, as you keep pushing the analysis units up, the plan’s price also follows. 

While a bit cheaper than SEMrush, Ahrefs and Mozscape, Majestic’s API price is still high.

Opting for one of these APIs will depend on your business needs. The key is to find a tool that will get the job done without spending too much money. Therefore, value is one of the most important factors to keep in mind. But that’s not all. There are many other elements to consider:

  • Examine Features and Data Coverage
    Review the API data. Look for tools that offer more than just backlink analysis, such as keyword insights, content evaluation, and technical SEO capabilities.
  • Assess Backlink Database Size and Accuracy
    Consider the scale and quality of the API’s backlink database. Larger databases typically deliver more precise data, like SEO PowerSuite’s extensive collection of 6.5 trillion backlinks and 4.2 million referring domains.
  • Check Ease of Integration and Use
    Ensure the API is straightforward to implement. To streamline the process, favor solutions with clear documentation, user-friendly endpoints, and dependable customer support.
  • Evaluate Provider Reputation and Experience
    Research the API provider’s standing in the industry. Opt for established names like DataForSEO or SEO PowerSuite, which are trusted for their reliability and efficiency.
  • Determine Cost-Effectiveness
    Compare the API’s pricing against the value it delivers. Analyze the cost per data unit or feature and ensure it aligns with your budget and requirements.
  • Consider Customization and Scalability
    Look for APIs that can adapt to your business needs. Choose a solution that offers flexible plans, customizable data outputs, and scalable options to support growth.

Paying attention to these things will let you opt for the most optimal backlink API for your business.

Concluding thoughts

Gaining access to big data can help elevate your business efforts significantly. Data analytics is essential for staying competitive in the modern market, as it allows you to estimate your next business moves better.

Accessing an exceptional backlink API can help your website rank higher. Picking one of the options we’ve analyzed in this article will undoubtedly help you achieve the right results. Take your time to evaluate the best option for you. It will help you identify areas for improvement.

FAQs:

  1. What is a backlink API?

A backlink API is a tool that allows you to discover and analyze backlinks pointing to your website automatically. This information can be used to improve your SEO strategy.

  1. How do backlink APIs benefit my link-building strategy?

Backlink APIs help you identify new link opportunities, monitor your competitors’ backlinks, and track the effectiveness of your link-building efforts.

  1. Are there any free backlink API options available?

While many popular backlink APIs are paid, some free options are available, such as the Google Search Console API. However, these free options often have limitations regarding data depth and frequency of updates.

Nick

Nick Chernets is the Founder and CEO of DataForSEO , the leading provider of marketing data. Just as much as he is passionate about data analysis and SEO — Nick also enjoys sharing his experience from the business side of the industry.

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