Overview
The URL Backlinks block retrieves backlinks pointing to a domain or URL from Ahrefs. Each backlink includes the source page, anchor text, source Domain Rating, and traffic. Use it to audit a link profile, study competitor links, or feed link data into later steps.Configuration
Target Domain / URL (Required)
The domain or URL to analyze. Example:{{step_1.output}}
Mode
How Ahrefs interprets the target. Default: Subdomains Options:Aggregation
How backlinks are grouped in the results. Default: 1 per domain Options:
Use
1 per domain for a quick view of unique link sources. Use All to inspect every individual link.
Limit
Maximum number of results to return. Default: 10 Range: 1–1000 Example:50
Output Format
How the block returns data to the next step. Default: Text (Human Readable) Options:
Choose
JSON (Raw) when a later step needs to read individual fields. Choose Text when feeding results into an LLM block.
Error Handling
Define what happens if the block fails to retrieve data. Options:- Terminate Workflow: Stop execution immediately.
- Continue Execution: Proceed to the next step despite the error.
Output Data
When Output Format isJSON (Raw), the block returns a list of backlinks. Each item includes:
url_from
The page that links to the target. Example:"https://blog.example.com/best-crm-tools"
url_to
The target page that receives the link. Example:"https://hubspot.com/products/crm"
anchor
The clickable anchor text of the link. Example:"HubSpot CRM"
domain_rating_source
Ahrefs Domain Rating (0–100) of the linking domain. Example:72
traffic
Estimated monthly organic traffic of the source page. Example:4500
is_dofollow
Whether the link passes ranking value. Example:true
first_seen_link
When Ahrefs first discovered the link. Example:"2023-08-14T09:21:00Z"
When Output Format is Text, these same fields are returned as readable markdown instead of JSON.
Sample Output
Best Practices
- Start with
1 per domainaggregation to see unique link sources quickly. - Raise the Limit only when you need deeper data; large limits cost more Ahrefs units.
- Use
JSON (Raw)when saving results to Google Sheets or processing in code. - Use
Textwhen passing results into an LLM block for analysis. - Run inside a Loop block to audit several targets in one workflow.
- Filter by
domain_rating_sourcein a later step to focus on high-authority links.
Common Use Cases
What’s Next
- See referring sites in URL Referring Domains
- Find dead links in URL Broken Backlinks
- Check authority in Domain Rating
- Compare many targets with Batch Analysis
- Process multiple targets with the Loop Block
- Save data in Google Sheets
- Analyze results with the LLM Block
- Reference step outputs with Variable Referencing