Not every backlink is doing something. Here's which ones are.
Behind every backlink count sits a network of sources, signals, destinations and changes. A link is worth something because of what it contributes: authority, relevance, trust, discovery, or the chance of being picked up by AI systems. SEORCE scores the value of your linking sources as well as the count.
A link count isn't a link strategy.
A raw link count and a generic authority number tell you a profile is growing or shrinking. They don't tell you whether the sources behind it are worth anything.
A typical backlink report
- –One authority number for the whole domain, however it was linked
- –A raw backlink total, with no view of how many distinct sources sit behind it
- –A spam score with no guidance on what to do about it
- –No link to what competitors have that you don't
SEORCE
- ✓Link Impact Score for every linking domain, built from what that source contributes
- ✓Referring domains counted separately from raw backlinks, so concentration is visible
- ✓Spam exposure flagged for review, never an automatic disavow instruction
- ✓Gaps ranked against up to five competitors by opportunity
A score is the last layer. The index underneath is what makes it trustworthy.
Anyone can show you a number. What makes it worth acting on is what's underneath it: a crawl large enough to be credible, every referring domain and anchor counted, and the risk patterns surfaced before you commit to anything.
See each layer →Backlinks don't come from "the internet." They come from specific domains.
SEORCE shows exactly who is linking to you, who matters most, who you're missing, and who has disappeared.
Four questions, one map.
Your domain sits at the centre. Everything else in this cluster answers one of four questions about who is around it.
- Who links to youBacklink Checker, against your domain or any other.
- Who mattersLink Quality and Referring Domains, scored and counted by source.
- Who you're missingCompetitor Gap Analysis, against up to five rivals.
- Who leftLost Links, with a priority order for reclaiming them.
Five signals say whether a profile is healthy.
Quality, coverage, risk, momentum and distribution. Each one has its own page, and together they explain a profile instead of just measuring it.
- QualityIs the source valuable? Link Impact Score and Citation Potential.
- CoverageIs your authority spread across enough real domains? Referring Domains.
- RiskAny suspicious patterns? Anchor Risk and Toxic Links.
- MomentumGrowing or shrinking? Link Velocity and Lost Links.
- DistributionWhere is that authority landing? Page-Level Link Equity.
Finding the gap is the start, not the finish.
SEORCE doesn't stop at telling you a competitor has more links. It identifies which domains are creating the gap, then connects to what you do about it.
- Backlinks picks the gapCompetitor Gap Analysis ranks the domains you're missing by opportunity.
- Content Studio builds the assetSomething worth linking to, written in your voice.
- Rank Tracker and AI Beacon verify itDid rankings move, and did AI systems start citing you?
Finds the gap
Domains linking to competitors, not you, ranked by opportunity.
Builds the asset
An article worth linking to, in your brand voice.
Shows what moved
Rankings, and whether AI systems started citing you.
Link Impact Score and Citation Potential.
LIS asks how valuable a linking domain is to your SEO profile. Citation Potential asks how likely that same source is to be referenced by AI systems. Together they show where SEO value and AI visibility potential overlap.
- LIS: an SEO questionSix inputs, from domain authority to spam exposure, weighted into one score per domain.
- Citation Potential: an AI questionAn estimate of characteristics associated with being referenced by AI systems. Never a promise.
- The overlap is the priorityHigh on both is where outreach and recovery effort goes first.
The numbers behind every score on this page.
pages in the SEORCE link index
root domains tracked
links indexed
Figures as reported by SEORCE, September 2026
The backlink operating loop.
Who links to you
And who links to competitors, or stopped linking at all.
Backlink Checker →Coverage, risk and momentum
Concentration, suspicious anchors, spam exposure, trend.
Anchor Risk →What's worth doing
Gaps ranked by opportunity, losses ranked by reclaim value.
Gap Analysis →Pursue, review, recover
Outreach, disavow decisions and reclamation, then checked against rankings and AI visibility.
Put the link data to work.
What is Link Impact Score, and how is it different from a generic authority score?
Link Impact Score (LIS) is SEORCE's score from 0 to 100 for every domain linking to you, built from six inputs: domain authority, link count, follow ratio, first-link rate, spam exposure and Citation Potential. Instead of one generic authority number applied to a whole domain, LIS scores what each specific linking source is worth to your profile. Citation Potential sits alongside it and estimates whether that same source has characteristics associated with being referenced by AI systems, which is a prediction, not a guarantee.
Key facts
- LIS scores the linking domain, not an individual link
- Built from six inputs, with Citation Potential among them
- Citation Potential is a separate, AI-facing estimate, never a causal promise
- AI Beacon shows what AI systems cite, once a link is live
Last reviewed 15 October 2026 by the SEORCE team.
Backlinks, answered.
A score from 0 to 100 for every domain linking to you, built from six inputs: domain authority, link count, follow ratio, first-link rate, spam exposure and Citation Potential. It replaces a single generic authority number with a score for what that specific source is worth to your profile.
No. Citation Potential estimates whether a linking source has characteristics associated with being referenced by AI systems. It's a prediction, not a guarantee. AI Beacon shows what AI systems cite once the link is live.
A backlink isn't only a ranking input. It shows which external sources recognise your pages, where your authority is concentrated, what competitors have that you don't, and how that footprint changes over time.
Yes. Backlink Checker works against any domain, tracked or not, and Competitor Gap Analysis compares your profile against up to five competitors to find who's linking to them and not you.
Yes. Link Impact Score evaluates source quality, Citation Potential adds an AI-visibility dimension, and Competitor Gap Analysis ranks the domains you're missing by opportunity, so your team decides what to pursue.
No. High spam exposure is a review signal, not an automatic disavow recommendation or proof of a manual action. SEORCE flags domains for review; deciding whether to disavow stays a judgement call for your team.
No. SEORCE doesn't treat link building as something to automate. It identifies, scores, diagnoses and prioritises, so your team knows who to approach and why, and Content Studio helps you build what deserves the link.
Lost Links records the source, last-seen date, prior Link Impact Score and anchor for every link that disappeared, ranked so you know which ones are worth reclaiming first.
Pages move, merge or get renamed after the link was placed. The link still contributes to the destination, but a direct link to the current canonical URL is cleaner and easier to maintain. Page-Level Link Equity finds these so Technical Suite can fix the redirect chain.
There's no universal safe ratio. SEORCE evaluates anchor concentration relative to your own profile and flags patterns worth investigating, rather than applying a fixed threshold.
A check is a free, instant look at any domain's current backlink profile. Tracking adds that domain as a project, so SEORCE monitors it continuously and shows what changes over time.
The index currently covers 7.5 trillion pages and 44.7 trillion links across 724.0 million root domains, refreshed continuously as the crawl runs.
See who's worth linking to.
Add your domain, see your Link Impact Score and Citation Potential for every linking source, and find out who's missing.
Join 3,000+ users already on SEORCE.