Docs
Search docs...⌘K

Broken Backlinks

API + MCP
GET/v3/site-explorer/broken-backlinks

Query parameters

timeoutinteger

A manual timeout duration in seconds.

limitinteger

The number of results to return.

Default:1000
order_bystring

A column to order results by. See the response schema for valid column identifiers, except for http_code_target, last_visited_target, link_group_count, which are not supported in order_by for this endpoint.

Example:field_a,field_b:asc,field_c:desc
wherestring

The filter expression. The following column identifiers are recognized (this differs from the identifiers recognized by the select parameter).

selectstringRequired

A comma-separated list of columns to return. See response schema for valid column identifiers.

protocolstring

The protocol of your target.

Allowed values:bothhttphttps
Default:both
targetstring (url)Required

The target of the search: a domain or a URL.

modestring

The scope of the search based on the target you entered.

Allowed values:exactprefixdomainsubdomains
Default:subdomains
aggregationstring

The backlinks grouping mode.

Allowed values:similar_links1_per_domainall
Default:similar_links
outputstring

The output format.

Allowed values:jsoncsvxmlphp

Responses

backlinksarray<object>
ahrefs_rank_sourceinteger

The strength of the referring domain's backlink profile compared to the other websites in our database, with rank #1 being the strongest.

ahrefs_rank_targetinteger

The strength of the target domain's backlink profile compared to the other websites in our database, with rank #1 being the strongest.

altstring or null

The alt attribute of the link.

anchorstring

The clickable words in a link that point to a URL.

class_cinteger

(5 units) The number of unique class_c subnets linking to the referring page.

domain_rating_sourcenumber (float)

The strength of the referring domain's backlink profile compared to the others in our database on a 100-point scale.

domain_rating_targetnumber (float)

The strength of the referring domain's backlink profile compared to the others in our database on a 100-point scale.

encodingstring

The character set encoding of the referring page HTML.

first_seenstring (date-time)

The date the referring page URL was first discovered.

first_seen_linkstring (date-time)

The date we first found a backlink to your target on a given referring page.

http_codeinteger

The return code from HTTP protocol returned during the referring page crawl.

http_code_targetinteger or null

The return code from HTTP protocol returned during the target page crawl.

http_crawlboolean

The link was discovered without executing javascript and rendering the page.

ip_sourcestring or null

The referring domain IP address.

is_alternateboolean

The link with the rel=“alternate” attribute.

is_canonicalboolean

The link with the rel=“canonical” attribute.

is_contentboolean

The link was found in the biggest piece of content on the page.

is_dofollowboolean

The link has no special nofollow attribute.

is_formboolean

The link was found in a form HTML tag.

is_frameboolean

The link was found in an iframe HTML tag.

is_imageboolean

The link is a regular link that has an image inside their href attribute.

is_nofollowboolean

The link or the referring page has the nofollow attribute set.

is_redirectboolean

The link pointing to your target via a redirect.

is_root_sourceboolean

The referring domain name is a root domain name.

is_root_targetboolean

The target domain name is a root domain name.

is_rssboolean

The link was found in an RSS feed.

is_spamboolean

Indicates whether the backlink comes from a known spammy domain.

is_sponsoredboolean

The link has the Sponsored attribute set in the referring page HTML.

is_textboolean

The link is a standard href hyperlink.

is_ugcboolean

The link has the User Generated Content attribute set in the referring page HTML.

js_crawlboolean

The link was discovered after executing javascript and rendering the page.

languagesarray<string>

The languages listed in the referring page metadata or detected by the crawler to appear in the HTML.

last_seenstring (date-time) or null

The date we discovered that the link was lost.

last_visitedstring (date-time)

The date we last re-crawled the referring page to verify the backlink is alive.

last_visited_targetstring (date-time) or null

The date we last re-crawled the target page to verify that it is broken.

link_group_countinteger

The number of backlinks that were grouped together based on the aggregation parameter. This field cannot be used with aggregation 'all'.

link_typestring

The kind of the backlink.

Allowed values:redirectframetextformcanonicalalternaterssimage
linked_domains_source_domaininteger

The number of unique root domains linked from the referring domain.

linked_domains_source_pageinteger

The number of unique root domains linked from the referring page.

linked_domains_target_domaininteger

The number of unique root domains linked from the target domain.

links_externalinteger

The number of external links from the referring page.

links_internalinteger

The number of internal links from the referring page.

name_sourcestring

The complete referring domain name, including subdomains.

name_targetstring

The complete target domain name, including subdomains.

page_category_sourcestring or null

Comma-separated list of AI-predicted hierarchical category paths for the referring page. Each value is a slash-prefixed path (e.g. /Business_and_Industrial/Advertising_and_Marketing/Marketing).

page_sizeinteger

The size in bytes of the referring page content.

page_type_sourcestring or null

Comma-separated list of AI-predicted hierarchical page type paths for the referring page. Each value is a slash-prefixed path (e.g. /Article/How_to).

port_sourceinteger

The network port of the referring page URL.

port_targetinteger

The network port of the target page URL.

positionsinteger

The number of keywords that the referring page ranks for in the top 100 positions.

powered_byarray<string>

Web technologies used to build and serve the referring page content.

redirect_codeinteger or null

The HTTP status code of a referring page pointing to your target via a redirect.

redirect_kindarray<integer>

The HTTP status codes returned by the target redirecting URL or redirect chain.

refdomains_sourceinteger

(5 units) The number of unique referring domains linking to the referring page.

refdomains_source_domaininteger

(5 units) The number of unique referring domains linking to the referring domain.

refdomains_target_domaininteger

(5 units) The number of unique referring domains linking to the target domain.

root_name_sourcestring

The root domain name of the referring domain, not including subdomains.

root_name_targetstring

The root domain name of the target domain, not including subdomains.

snippet_leftstring

The snippet of text appearing just before the link.

snippet_rightstring

The snippet of text appearing just after the link.

source_page_authorstring or null

The author of the referring page.

titlestring

The html title of the referring page.

tld_class_sourcestring

The top level domain class of the referring domain.

Allowed values:govedunormal
tld_class_targetstring

The top level domain class of the target domain.

Allowed values:govedunormal
trafficinteger

(10 units) The referring page's estimated monthly organic traffic from search.

traffic_domaininteger

(10 units) The referring domain's estimated monthly organic traffic from search.

url_fromstring (url)

The URL of the page containing a link to your target.

url_from_plainstring

The referring page URL optimized for use as a filter.

url_rating_sourcenumber (float)

The strength of the referring page's backlink profile compared to the others in our database on a 100-point scale.

url_redirectarray<string (url)>

A redirect chain the target URL of the link points to.

url_redirect_with_targetarray<string>

The target URL of the link with its redirect chain.

url_tostring (url)

The URL the backlink points to.

url_to_plainstring

The target page URL optimized for use as a filter.