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Link Research

Links (also called backlinks or inbound links) are created when one page links to another; you can think of them like votes that pass visitors and link equity to your site from other pages on the web. Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank in search engine result pages (SERPs).

With Link Explorer's vast link index you can uncover valuable prospects, create a solid strategy, and track your progress. To gather link data we use a crawler called Dotbot that starts with high-value links. We prioritize the links we crawl based on a machine-learning algorithm that mimics Google's index.

Newly discovered links can be added to our index within about 3 days. It may take longer for us to discover backlinks to your site based on factors like the crawlability of the referring pages or the quality of the links and their referring pages.

What can I learn in this section of the Help Hub?

Within this section of the Help Hub, you can learn...

And so much more! You can use the left-hand navigation to explore various articles related to Link Explorer or use the search bar to query a specific term. We've also outlined some common customer queries below to help you find the information you need!

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Be sure to also check out our Next Level blog posts from the Moz Blog to learn more about how to use our tools, including our post on how to easily find backlink opportunities.

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Moz offers a wide variety of training courses via Moz Academy! The catalog includes courses touching on various SEO topics, from backlink basics to link building strategies and more. You can view the course catalog and get started on the Moz Academy page.

Link Explorer Overview

Common Customer Queries

  • The index that powers Link Explorer is constantly updating to provide fresh link data. This does not mean that DA and PA will change with every data update; they will only change if we find new links to a particular site. Read more about how we index the web.
  • The Moz link index is built by crawling and indexing links. Our crawler, Dotbot, is built on a machine-learning based model that is trained to start with high-value links to gain a better understanding of how Google rankings work and calculate metrics like Page and Domain Authority. Read more about how we index the web.
  • After being found, newly discovered links can be added to our index within about 3 days. It may take longer for us to discover backlinks to your site based on factors like the crawlability of the referring pages or the quality of the links and their referring pages. It is a good idea to check to see if we've indexed the referring page on which the link is found. If we haven't indexed the referring page yet, you won't see your link in our index. You can use Link Tracking Lists to help monitor the discovery of your backlinks. Read more about how we index the web and how to investigate why Moz isn’t finding your links.
  • Once you’ve checked that the referring page can be indexed, we advise using Link Tracking Lists to help monitor the discovery of your backlinks.
  • Both DA and PA are relative to the Internet as a whole. If a large authoritative website acquired a billion new links, everyone’s PA and DA would drop relative to that site. Because of this, it’s always best to look at PA and DA in comparison to your competitors.
  • It’s important to note that the data you’re seeing in Link Explorer is based on when we last crawled a link. This means that if a link is removed or altered after the last time we crawled it, it will still be marked as active until we attempt to recrawl that link again.
  • The only way to check for Domain Authority, Page Authority or Spam Score in bulk would be our Links API.
  • If you’d like to see what sites are linking to your competitors but not to you, you can use Link Intersect to see that data. We have a Link Intersect guide to help get you started with this section of the tool.
  • Within your Top Pages, you can sort by status code to see what links are pointing to broken pages on your site.
  • No, Spam Score is not based on the links that are pointing to your site. It is based on 27 common features we’ve found that correlate to being banned or penalized by Google. You can read more about this in our Spam Score guide.