Overview
The URL Referring Domains block lists the unique domains that link to a target. Each domain includes its Domain Rating, dofollow link counts, and estimated traffic. Use it to measure link diversity and find authoritative sites that reference a target.Configuration
Target Domain / URL (Required)
The domain or URL to analyze. Example:{{step_1.output}}
Mode
How Ahrefs interprets the target. Default: Subdomains Options:Limit
Maximum number of results to return. Default: 10 Range: 1–1000 Example:25
Output Format
How the block returns data to the next step. Default: Text (Human Readable) Options: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 referring domains. Each item includes:
domain
The referring domain. Example:"techcrunch.com"
domain_rating
Ahrefs Domain Rating (0–100) of the referring domain. Example:91
dofollow_refdomains
Count of dofollow referring domains pointing to that domain. Example:54000
dofollow_linked_domains
Count of dofollow domains that this domain links out to. Example:12000
traffic_domain
Estimated monthly organic traffic of the referring domain. Example:8500000
first_seen
When Ahrefs first discovered a link from this domain. Example:"2022-11-03T14:05:00Z"
When Output Format is Text, these same fields are returned as readable markdown instead of JSON.
Sample Output
Best Practices
- Use referring domains to gauge link diversity, not raw backlink count.
- Sort by
domain_ratingin a later step to surface the most authoritative sources. - Use
JSON (Raw)when saving results to Google Sheets or processing in code. - Raise the Limit gradually; larger limits cost more Ahrefs units.
- Run inside a Loop block to compare referring domains across competitors.
Common Use Cases
What’s Next
- See individual links in URL Backlinks
- 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