Link velocity
Link velocity is the rate at which your domain gains and loses referring domains over time. The Overview tells you where your profile stands today; velocity tells you how fast it’s moving and whether that movement looks natural. A steady drip of new domains is the signature of a healthy, organically growing site. A sudden spike — a flood of new links in days, or a cliff-edge loss — is the signature of something to investigate: a negative-SEO attack, a paid link campaign landing all at once, or a site migration silently dropping links. This panel plots that movement and flags the spikes for you.
The data comes from VisibilityIQ’s backlink index — nothing to connect, no API key. Refreshing draws on your project’s included monthly data budget.
What you’ll need
Section titled “What you’ll need”- A synced backlink profile (see Backlinks overview). Velocity is computed from the new-vs-lost history in your profile.
- Enough monthly data budget to run a sync.
How to use
Section titled “How to use”- Go to Project → Backlinks → Link Velocity.
- Read the timeseries: new referring domains gained per period plotted against domains lost per period.
- Check the spike flags — periods where gains or losses jumped well outside your normal range are marked for attention.
- Click Run sync to refresh the history with the latest data.
How to read the results
Section titled “How to read the results”The chart has two movements to watch together: the new line (domains you gained) and the lost line (domains that stopped linking to you). What matters is the shape over time, not any single period.
| Pattern | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Steady, modest net growth | Healthy. Links accrue gradually as your content earns mentions. This is the baseline you want. |
| Sudden spike in new domains | A link campaign or PR hit landing — or, if you didn’t cause it, a spammy link injection worth checking in Toxic links. |
| Sudden spike in lost domains | Links dropping fast. Common causes: a site migration that broke inbound URLs, a competitor’s content being pruned, or pages that linked to you going offline. |
| Sustained loss with no gains | Erosion. Your profile is shrinking faster than it’s replenishing — a signal to renew outreach and check for migration damage. |
A flagged spike is a prompt to ask “did I cause this?” If you ran a campaign or migrated the site, the spike explains itself. If you didn’t, treat an unexplained gain spike as a possible link-injection attack and an unexplained loss spike as possible migration or takedown damage, and investigate the specific domains involved.
Refreshing the data
Section titled “Refreshing the data”Click Run sync to pull the latest new-vs-lost history. Run it after a migration, after a campaign, or whenever a spike flag appears and you want the freshest picture. If recurring auto-sync is enabled in Project → Settings, the history refreshes on the project’s schedule and each run draws from your included data budget.
Next steps
Section titled “Next steps”- Backlinks overview — the full profile behind the velocity numbers.
- Toxic links — investigate the domains behind a suspicious gain spike.
- Link gap — turn healthy velocity into a plan by targeting domains your competitors already have.