2.77 billion domain links indexed
Check your backlinks like a case file
Pull referring domains, anchors and DR as JSON from our own index of 181 million domains, then test the graph for networks, footprints and planted links. Free lookups need no key.
- Free: domain, overview, stats, suggest
- intersect finds shared referrers across 2 to 10 sites
- From $0.10 per 1,000 calls
$ curl "https://theanchornet.com/api.php?action=intersect&domains=rival-a.com,rival-b.com&key=sk_live_..."
What it is for
Check your backlinks as evidence, not as a number
A total count tells you almost nothing. The useful questions are about shape: who links, how often, with what words, and whether the same hands appear twice. Four lines of inquiry we see most.
Hunt a network in a rival's profile
Run intersect on three or four competitors. Domains that link to all of them, and to nobody else, deserve a closer look. Method in network footprints.
Look for planted links in your own
A sudden pile of exact-match anchors is not always your doing. Pull anchors monthly and compare. See defending a profile.
Reconcile counts that disagree
Two tools, two totals. Usually the cause is dull: a redirect, a robots rule, a crawl date. The troubleshooting table lists them.
Keep the chain of custody
Save the raw JSON, the date and the call. A finding you cannot reproduce next month is a rumour. Recipes live in casework with curl.
One request, one exhibit
Domains that link to two rivals at once. The call costs 2 credits, which is $0.0002, whatever the number of rows returned.
curl "https://theanchornet.com/api.php?action=intersect&domains=rival-a.com,rival-b.com&per=500&key=sk_live_..." \
-o exhibit_a_$(date +%F).jsonCompare
What each action can testify to
| Question on the file | Action | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| How strong is this domain, roughly? | domain, overview, stats | Free |
| Which of 2,000 domains look thin? | bulk_dr | 1 credit |
| Who links to this site? | refdomains, backlinks | 2 credits |
| What words do they use? | anchors, anchor_cloud | 2 credits |
| Who shares referrers with whom? | intersect | 2 credits |
| Who else is linked with this exact anchor? | keyword | 3 credits |
- domains in our own link index
- 181,132,097
- domain-to-domain links
- 2,774,625,913
- backlinks behind them, refreshed about monthly
- 798.5 billion
- domains compared in one intersect call, at most
- 10
- free credit, no card
- $100
Our position
A graph is circumstantial evidence
A shared referrer proves a shared referrer. It does not prove a shared owner, and it never proves intent. Treat every pattern as a lead to confirm by hand.
- One odd domain is noise; twenty alike are a pattern
- Refreshed roughly monthly, so last week's links may be missing
- For keywords and rank tracking, Ahrefs or Semrush are fuller tools
Who it is for
How an examination usually runs
Start narrow. Take one domain and call the free overview to see where it stands. Nothing is spent yet, and you will know within a minute whether the profile is worth a paid pull.
Then widen the frame. Pull the referring domains, sort them by rating, and look at the tail rather than the head, because networks hide in the low-rated bulk that nobody reads. Our DR is round(100 · log(ref_domains + 1) / log(2·10^7)), a log scale, so the first hundred referring domains move the score far more than the next hundred.
Last, write it down. Date, request, filename. Google's own Search Console links report covers your site only, which is why a rival's graph has to come from an index like ours or from Ahrefs, Majestic or Moz.
Checklist
Before you call a pattern a network
- Two or more domains share the same anchor wording, not just the same topic
- Their DR clusters in a narrow band, for example all between 12 and 18
- The same targets receive links from all of them
- You opened three of the pages by hand and confirmed the links exist
- You saved the response and the date of the call
FAQ
Questions people put to the file
How do I check your backlinks for free?
Use the free overview, domain and stats actions, or the checker on this page. They need no key and no card. Deeper pulls such as refdomains cost 2 credits each, covered by the $100 sign-up credit for tens of thousands of calls.
Can I see who links to a competitor's site?
Yes. Any domain can be queried, not only your own. That is the point of an external index. The data refreshes about monthly, so very recent links can be absent, and you should confirm important ones by opening the linking page.
Why does my tool show more links than yours?
Indexes differ in crawl depth, dates and how they count. We count from our own crawler and our own index, refreshed roughly monthly. Compare referring domains rather than raw backlinks, because the first figure is steadier between tools.
Can the API prove a private blog network?
No. It surfaces footprints: shared referrers, similar anchors, clustered ratings. A human still has to read the pages. Our method page explains which footprints are strong, which are weak, and why a single one never settles anything.
Is a negative-SEO attack visible in the data?
Sometimes. A burst of unrelated exact-match anchors from low-rated domains is the classic trace. Since the December 2022 link spam update Google says it ignores most such links, so check first, then decide if acting is even needed.
What does a check cost on a normal day?
Free actions cost nothing. A refdomains pull is 2 credits, or $0.0002. One thousand of them is $0.20. There is no subscription and no minimum, and the sign-up credit is $100 with no card required.
Is the DR the same as Ahrefs DR?
No. It is our own metric, computed from referring domain counts on a log scale. It is comparable in spirit to Ahrefs DR or Moz DA but not the same number, so never mix the three in one table.