Backlink Growth Tracker
Track new and lost referring domains over time.
Time-series CSV
Header: period,referring_domains,total_backlinks,new_domains,lost_domains — comma-separated, lowercase column names.
Referring domains over time
Per-period
New / lost icons count referring domains acquired or dropped in each reporting window (from your CSV).
Start here · Reading your link velocity sheet
Each row is one reporting period (month, week, or custom label). Required headers: period, referring_domains, total_backlinks, new_domains, lost_domains.
When at least two rows exist, summary tiles compare first versus last sample for referring-domain and total-backlink percent change. Avg new domains / period averages gross new acquisitions across data rows (not calendar months). Churn ratio divides total lost domains by total new domains—values above 50% tint amber; if total new domains in the paste is zero, churn shows — (undefined).
A sparkline graphs referring domains chronologically. The Per-period list shows refs, total backlinks, new vs lost icons, a neutral net badge at zero, and Copy table saves the grid as tab-separated values (includes a computed net column).
When to use this tool
- Retainer reporting
Prove momentum after digital PR sprints with month-over-month CSV rows.
- Negative SEO monitoring
Sudden churn spikes with flat growth warrant investigation.
- Competitive benchmarking
Paste sanitized competitor exports beside your own in separate browser tabs.
- CFO-friendly summaries
Percent tiles translate well to board slides.
Examples
Walk through these with the form above — they are practice scenarios, not live data.
Single row
Try this
Leave only the header plus one data row.
What to look for
Summary cards stay hidden until a second period exists—you still see a dashed hint and the one parsed row in Per-period.
Churn warning tone
Try this
Set many lost domains with modest new acquisitions across the series.
What to look for
Churn ratio rises past 0.5 and gains amber styling.
Short tutorial
Follow in order the first time you use the tool; later you can skip to the step you need.
- Step 1 — Export consistent periods
Match vendor definitions for new vs lost domains each month.
- Step 2 — Align header names
Lowercase header row must include the five canonical columns.
- Step 3 — Paste chronologically
Earlier periods first so first-vs-last math matches your narrative.
- Step 4 — Interpret deltas and churn
Pair percent growth with qualitative wins/losses.
- Step 5 — Deepen analysis
Use Backlink Anchor Profiler for mix risks and Referring Domain Analyzer on the latest month's URLs.
More detail
New here? Skim Start here first, then run one Examples scenario in the form above.
Backlink Growth Tracker does one job: track new and lost referring domains over time. It lives under Backlinks & Anchors on SEOToolkits, where the beginner idea is simple: Backlink SEO studies links from other sites because those links can pass trust, context, and referral traffic.
FAQ
- Why is churn lost/new?
- It approximates replacement pressure—high churn means you must acquire faster to grow net refs.
- Wrong or missing column headers?
- The first row must include all five lowercase comma-separated names exactly; otherwise the tool stops with an alert and nothing is charted.
- Why does churn show a dash?
- When the sum of new_domains across your rows is zero, lost ÷ new is undefined—UI shows — instead of 0%.
- Can periods be non-monthly?
- Yes—labels are opaque strings; spacing does not affect calculations.
- Missing total_backlinks?
- Zeros parse as zero—keep the column even if your tool omits values occasionally.
- Currency or traffic metrics?
- Not supported—stick to link counters from your SEO vendor.
Related tools
Same workflow cluster on SEOToolkits — open another module without leaving context.
Referring Domain Analyzer
Break down your referring-domain profile by metric and TLD.
Backlink Anchor Profiler
Profile a domain's anchor mix for over-optimization risk.
Competitor Backlink Gap
Find sites linking to your competitors but not to you.
Toxic Backlink Detector
Flag spam, PBN, and link-scheme footprints in your link profile.