How do I run a backlink check, and where does the data come from?

Run a check

1. Open Links → Links overview.
2. Tick Include competitors to check your competitors' links as well. They come from Settings → Project settings → Competitors.
3. Press Run backlink check. It runs in the background and the page shows Backlink check in progress… until it is done.

Running checks needs the Owner, Admin or SEO manager role. Each check counts towards your plan's backlink checks.

Where the data comes from

The page names its data source, which a platform administrator chooses:

• A backlink data provider (DataForSEO or Moz) finds links to you across the web and adds measures such as domain rank and spam score.
• The SEOmise link checker, used when no provider is set up, does not search the web. It checks the backlinks you give it under Links → Link health (added one by one, from a CSV or from earlier checks) by opening each page and confirming the link is there. Figures that need a provider, such as domain rank and spam score, show as not available.

What you get

• The SEOmise Authority Score: click it to see what it is made of. The ⓘ next to each figure explains it in plain words.
• Websites linking to you, with how many you gained and lost since the last check.
• Link wording, target pages, recommendations and, with link campaigns in your plan, top opportunities.
• The Backlink galaxy, Explorer & new/lost, Risk review, Competitor gaps and Target pages views, all from the same data.

Scores describe your link profile; they are not ranking promises.