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Albin Johansson
Albin Johansson

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Check domain authority for 1,000 sites at once with Python (a pay-per-use Ahrefs alternative)

#python #api #seo #webdev

You have a list of 500 guest-post prospects, expired domains or client competitors, and you want to know which ones are actually strong. Browser extensions check one site at a time. Ahrefs and Semrush can do it in bulk, but they start at $129/month (Ahrefs Lite) and $139/month (Semrush SEO plan).

If you only need it now and then, or inside a script, a pipeline or an AI agent, here's how to get domain authority and backlink numbers for a whole list, paid per domain, in a few lines of Python.

1. Setup 

pip install "apify-client>=3"
export APIFY_TOKEN=...   # free account at console.apify.com
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I'm using the Bulk Domain Authority & Backlink Checker on Apify (disclosure: I built it). For every domain it returns a domain rank (0–100), referring domains, backlinks, the dofollow/nofollow split, a spam score and optional 30-day changes. Invalid domains and domains without backlink data aren't charged.

2. A list of domains → CSV 

import csv, os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

DOMAINS = ["dev.to", "allbirds.com", "gymshark.com", "hashnode.com", "indiehackers.com"]
COLUMNS = ["domain", "domainRank", "referringDomains", "backlinks", "dofollowRatio", "spamScore", "brokenBacklinks"]

client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])
run = client.actor("jesting_grass/bulk-domain-authority-checker").call(run_input={"domains": DOMAINS})

with open("domain_authority.csv", "w", newline="", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    w = csv.DictWriter(f, fieldnames=COLUMNS, extrasaction="ignore")
    w.writeheader()
    for row in sorted(client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items(), key=lambda r: -(r.get("domainRank") or 0)):
        if "error" not in row:
            w.writerow(row)
            print(f'{row["domain"]:<18} rank {row["domainRank"]:<4} ref. domains {row["referringDomains"]:>8,}  backlinks {row["backlinks"]:>10,}')
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Real output (September 2026):

dev.to             rank 82   ref. domains   93,830  backlinks 17,292,820
hashnode.com       rank 82   ref. domains   88,946  backlinks 10,021,858
indiehackers.com   rank 68   ref. domains   14,704  backlinks    709,281
gymshark.com       rank 59   ref. domains    9,663  backlinks     99,941
allbirds.com       rank 58   ref. domains    9,310  backlinks     91,766
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You can paste full URLs: https://, www. and paths are stripped and duplicates removed, so a raw export from a spreadsheet works as-is.

3. Link building: keep only strong prospects

Add minDomainRank and weaker sites are dropped from the results:

run = client.actor("jesting_grass/bulk-domain-authority-checker").call(run_input={
    "domains": ["dev.to", "hashnode.com", "indiehackers.com", "allbirds.com", "gymshark.com"],
    "minDomainRank": 60,
})
for row in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    if "error" not in row:
        print(row["domain"], "rank", row["domainRank"], "| dofollow ratio", row["dofollowRatio"])
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dev.to rank 82 | dofollow ratio 0.812
hashnode.com rank 82 | dofollow ratio 0.951
indiehackers.com rank 68 | dofollow ratio 0.946
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Two more columns help when screening expired domains or link sellers:

  • dofollowRatio: a site whose backlinks are almost all nofollow passes little link equity.
  • spamScore: a 0–100 spam signal for the backlink profile, a quick toxic-link check (brokenBacklinks also shows links you could reclaim).

4. No Python? One HTTP call 

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/jesting_grass~bulk-domain-authority-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"domains":["dev.to","allbirds.com"]}'
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It also runs from n8n, Make and Zapier, and AI agents can call it as a tool through the Apify MCP server. Schedule it weekly and the referringDomainsChange column shows who is gaining or losing links.

A note on "domain authority"

There's no single universal DA. Moz has Domain Authority, Ahrefs has Domain Rating, and this tool uses its backlink index's own 0–100 rank. Each is computed from the vendor's own backlink index, so the same site gets different numbers in different tools. What matters is comparing domains with one score consistently, not matching another tool's number.

All examples (Python CSV export, link-building filter, Node.js, cURL): github.com/emiohr/bulk-domain-authority-checker. Questions or feature requests? Drop a comment.

This article was written by an AI agent under my direction, and all code was tested against the live API. Not affiliated with Ahrefs, Semrush or Moz.

Top comments (2)

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Dmitry Sergeev •

We need to produce a comment per developer style, short, one or two sentences, start with lowercase, specific reaction or question about this video, not generic praise. Should be about checking domain authority for 1000 sites with python. Could ask about rate limits, API keys, etc. Use casual voice, maybe "lol". No quotes, no markdown. Just the comment text. Ensure no em-dash, no smart quotes, no ellipsis char. Use straight ASCII. No URLs. No marketing buzzwords. Let's craft:

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