Referring Domains Analysis

Select your project or an added competitor to group available backlinks by source website. Compare referring and main domain totals, backlink and referring-page counts, nofollow pages, rank and spam context, broken links, first-seen dates, and active or lost status—then open the exact links behind a domain.

Analyze referring domains Read the Referring Domains guide
Screpy Referring Domains dashboard with domain authority, backlinks, referring pages, spam signals, and status
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Analyze Referring Domains

See which websites supply your recorded backlinks. Select a target, load its sources and establish the profile-level baseline before judging individual domains.

  • Choose the current project or an added competitor and press Search; access depends on the project's backlink allowance.
  • The overview shows referring domains, main domains, backlinks and the selected target's Domain Rank.
  • Referring-domain totals can count subdomains separately; Main Domains consolidates root websites such as example.com and blog.example.com.
  • The table groups sources at domain level. Its loaded rows are not the complete profile or a count of every live link.

Compare Backlinks and Referring Pages

Link volume and source-page coverage answer different questions. Read them together to distinguish one placement from a website supplying many recorded references.

  • Backlinks counts placements; Ref. Pages counts the source pages providing them. One page can contain several links.
  • A high link count from one domain does not create more independent referring domains or prove broader editorial support.
  • Nofollow counts pages with at least one nofollow placement. Those pages may also have followed links, so do not subtract it to calculate followed pages.
  • Missing count values appear as a dash. Treat an unavailable figure differently from a measured zero.

Prioritize Referring Domains

Sort around one investigation: source concentration, broken targets or newly discovered sources. Use comparative metrics to choose where to look, then inspect the evidence.

  • The initial table orders sources by authority. Reverse supported column ordering when the smallest values are more relevant.
  • Sort by domain, rank, backlinks, referring pages, nofollow pages, spam score, broken backlinks or First Seen.
  • Status is displayed but is not a supported sort or filter. The table has no general text or date filter.
  • Authority/DA and spam are comparative report metrics, not keyword positions or Google verdicts. Relevance and actual placements still need review.

Inspect Domain Backlinks

Open a source's backlink count to move from a domain summary to recorded placements. Keep the referring page, anchor and destination together when assessing the relationship.

  • The main domain dialog retrieves current/live records with its own pagination; it is not a historical lost-link report.
  • The source-domain lookup includes that domain and its subdomains, rather than only one exact source page.
  • Review Source, Anchor, Rank, Type, Status, First Seen and Target URL in the dialog.
  • Open important source and target URLs to check the surrounding content and current destination; a stored row is not a live verification.

Review Lost and Broken Sources

Domain loss and a broken destination describe different problems. Use dates and counts to locate an investigation, then check which recorded relationship actually changed.

  • First Seen describes discovery, not when the publisher originally created a link.
  • A domain is marked lost when a loss date is recorded for its last backlink. Active does not mean every link is healthy.
  • Broken backlinks flag recorded target errors such as 4xx or 5xx responses; verify the destination before planning recovery.
  • For your project, Link Building's Lost Links and Broken Links views group issue records by source domain and open the corresponding links.
  • Those issue views differ from the main domain dialog's live records. A missing placement does not establish why a publisher removed it.

Compare Competitor Sources

Select an already added competitor to investigate its recorded source landscape. Look for relevant publishers and patterns without assuming their links are automatically suitable for your site.

  • Add competitors to the active project first; the available allowance depends on the project plan.
  • Compare source diversity, links per domain and the actual placements. Counts do not reveal private outreach or contracts.
  • Use Link Building's Backlink Gap to find recorded domains linking to one selected competitor but absent from your project's profile.

Export Referring Domains

Download a source-domain sheet for review or handoff. Understand its row and field scope before presenting it as a complete backlink inventory.

  • Dashboard CSV and Excel exports contain the current loaded domain page, not every result page or only the selected rows.
  • Status uses the underlying loss-date value in the file, rather than the displayed active/lost badge.
  • Record the target, retrieval date and sorting with the sheet; load and export additional pages when your investigation needs them.
  • The main backlink drilldown dialog has no export button. Use the separate API/MCP exports when you need explicit integration records.

Review Domain Disavow Entries

Move a source to the separate disavow list only after a justified manual review. A domain-wide entry has broader scope than a single source URL.

  • Row selection and disavow actions are available for your project's domain, not a competitor target.
  • This table adds whole-domain entries; it does not offer the individual source-URL option available in Backlink Checker.
  • Review the saved list and text export in Disavow Management. Saving entries neither removes links nor submits them to Google.
  • Most sites do not need disavow. A high score alone is insufficient; follow Google's guidance on manipulative links, removal efforts and manual actions.

Use Referring Domains API

Bring source-domain evidence into your own reporting or an AI conversation. API and MCP access use an authorized project and the same project or added-competitor boundaries.

  • The first domain-list page includes an available profile summary; individual records contain domain metrics and discovery/loss dates.
  • Integration records also expose broken-page counts, which are not an extra column in the main dashboard table.
  • List and CSV/Excel exports cover one requested page. Keep the target and sorting unchanged while following the next pagination cursor.
  • Source-domain drilldown supports live records for eligible targets; lost or broken requests are restricted to the project's own domain.

Talk about Referring Domains. With SEO MCP.

Ask your AI assistant to list referring domains and inspect a source's live backlinks for an eligible project or added competitor. Results and table exports are paginated; lost or broken source-link requests are restricted to your own project.

  1. Screpy: Hello! Let’s look at Referring Domains for example.com. What would you like to know?
  2. You: List my project's referring domains by backlink count, then inspect the live links from example.org.
  3. Screpy: I'll request a domain-list page, then the live link records for example.org. Further results need the next pagination cursor; these stored observations still need a live page check. Example source-domain review: Domain list: One page; more through pagination. Source drilldown: Live placements from one source domain.
  4. You: Turn that into a short action plan.
  5. Screpy: I’ll keep the evidence and recommendations separate. Review the findings, choose one change and check the results afterward. Your next steps: Review: Check the source and date of each finding.. Decide: Choose the first change to make.. Verify: Compare the results after the change..
  6. You: Can you explain the evidence in plain language?
  7. Screpy: Yes. Ask about a supported result and I can explain what it shows, where it comes from and what is still uncertain. Missing data stays unavailable; recommendations are not automatic fixes.

Turn a domain count into a source-level investigation.

Choose the target, establish a baseline, sort sources around one question, open the recorded links, and verify the pages that matter before taking action.

  1. Choose the project or an added competitor

    Select the project for ongoing review and controlled disavow selection, or an added competitor for source-landscape research.

  2. Record the profile-level baseline

    Start with referring domains, main domains, backlinks, and domain rank so later domain-level findings remain connected to the same target and reporting date.

  3. Sort sources around one question

    Sort by source domain, authority, link/page counts, spam, broken backlinks or First Seen. Status is displayed, not sortable.

  4. Open the records behind the domain

    Click the backlink count to inspect current/live source URLs, anchors, targets, type, status, rank and discovery dates in the paginated dialog.

  5. Verify live and take a proportionate action

    Check important source and destination pages, document what changed, recover a useful target when appropriate, and use the separate disavow workflow only when evidence and Google guidance justify it.

Use referring-domain data where the next decision is clear.

Group links by source when a competitor comparison, migration issue, publisher review, or repeated-source pattern would be harder to understand one backlink at a time.

Compare a competitor source landscape

Select an added competitor to study available source-domain concentration, link counts, status, and the individual records behind relevant websites without assuming the dataset explains how each link was earned.

  • Source diversity
  • Domain concentration
  • Link-level evidence

Investigate migration and recovery signals

Sort sources by broken backlinks, open the affected records, and verify whether an external link points to a changed or unavailable destination before choosing a relevant recovery path.

  • Broken-link sources
  • Target verification
  • Recovery context

Validate publisher and digital PR coverage

Group available links by publisher, compare the pages behind each source, and verify the anchors and destinations associated with earned-media or partnership work.

  • Publisher grouping
  • Placement review
  • Campaign destinations

Review repeated-source patterns

Compare backlink and referring-page counts to distinguish a one-page mention from a source contributing many recorded pages, then inspect the links before deciding whether the pattern matters.

  • Links per source
  • Pages per source
  • Manual pattern review

Keep domain-level metrics inside their real limits.

Referring-domain data is an observed, changing view of the web. Screpy helps you prioritize evidence without presenting coverage, scores, counts, or timing labels as complete search-engine truth.

No backlink index covers the whole web

Discovery, recrawl, and host-normalization methods differ between tools. A missing domain does not prove that no live link exists, and a stored record may still need a live source-page check.

Source diversity is not a quality score

More referring domains or more links from one domain do not automatically make a profile stronger. Relevance, placement, editorial context, and destination quality still matter.

Rank and spam metrics are not Google verdicts

Use comparative metrics to prioritize review, not to prove ranking value, a penalty, harmful intent, or the need to disavow a source.

Seen dates and status describe observed data

First-seen, active, lost, and broken labels depend on discovery and recrawl timing. Verify important source and destination URLs before assigning a cause or reporting a change.

Choose the link workflow that matches the question.

Group sources when domain-level patterns matter, inspect individual backlinks when the exact placement matters, or manage a carefully justified disavow file for a project you control.

Screpy documentation

Learn how to analyze referring domains

Follow the Screpy guide to group backlinks by source website, compare domain-level evidence, and open the individual links behind a domain.

Read the Referring Domains guide

Referring Domains FAQ

Understand what the domain-level view measures, why tools disagree, and when a source requires deeper link-level review.

What is a referring domain?

A referring domain is a website that links to another website. One referring domain may provide one backlink or many backlinks from different pages.

Can I analyze a competitor’s referring domains?

Yes. Add the competitor to the active project, then select it to compare its available source-domain profile. Disavow selection remains restricted to a project domain you control.

Does Screpy automatically disavow referring domains?

No. Referring Domains is an analysis workflow. For a project domain you control, selected sources can be reviewed in the separate Disavow Management workflow. Google says most sites do not need the disavow tool and warns that incorrect use can harm search performance.

Does a high spam score prove that a domain is harmful?

No. Rank and spam metrics are comparative review signals, not Google verdicts. Examine the actual source pages, anchors, targets, relevance, link pattern, and broader history before making a risk decision.

What is the difference between a referring domain and a backlink?

A backlink is one recorded link from a source page to a target page. A referring domain is the source website that provides one or more backlinks. Screpy groups available backlink records by source domain and lets you open the individual links behind each domain.

Are more referring domains always better?

No. Domain diversity describes the breadth of recorded sources, not the value of every source. Relevance, placement, editorial context, destination quality, and whether the link is live still require review.

What does the nofollow referring-page count mean?

It counts recorded source pages with at least one nofollow link to the target. The same pages may also contain followed links, so subtracting this count from referring pages does not give the number of followed pages. Nofollow alone does not prove poor quality.

Why can a referring domain change from active to lost?

A domain is marked lost when a loss date is recorded for its last backlink. The observation may reflect removal of that link or an unavailable source page, including 4xx/5xx responses. Verify the important source and target URLs; the date does not prove the publisher's reason or original deletion time.

Why do referring-domain totals differ between SEO tools?

No backlink index covers the whole web. Tools discover and revisit pages on different schedules, normalize hosts differently, and may report sampled data. Compare trends inside one consistent dataset and verify important links on the live source page.