ChatGPT answers, unedited

If your goal is specifically link velocity over time—new vs. lost links with clear historical visualization, I’d shortlist these:

1. Ahrefs — best for detailed velocity analysis

Ahrefs' Site Explorer → Backlinks/Referring domains lets you examine new and lost links over time, while its Calendar report visualizes daily changes. You can select a date range and see daily new/lost backlink activity. Ahrefs Help Center Ahrefs Help Center

It also has historical backlink data and an interactive view of referring domains/pages over time. Ahrefs Ahrefs

Why I'd pick it: You can go from a velocity chart → the exact links gained/lost → referring domain → anchor/target URL without changing tools.

ahrefs.com

2. Semrush — very good for the high-level chart

Semrush's Backlink Analytics overview explicitly charts new, lost, and total referring domains, and also provides new-vs-lost backlink trends. Semrush

Its Backlink Audit Lost and Found report is particularly straightforward: it charts new, lost, and broken referring domains daily over the last 90 days, with the ability to toggle categories on/off. Semrush

Semrush also exposes monthly historical backlink/referring-domain trends through its API if you want to build your own longer-term dashboard. Semrush Developer

semrush.com

My recommendation

If you're asking “Can I clearly see whether we're accelerating link acquisition, and whether losses are offsetting gains?”, I'd use Ahrefs first.

Track these four series:

• New backlinks / month
• Lost backlinks / month
• Net link velocity = New − Lost
• New vs. lost referring domains

The last one is particularly important: 100 new backlinks from one existing domain isn't equivalent to acquiring 100 new referring domains. Ahrefs explicitly distinguishes backlinks from referring domains in its reporting. Ahrefs Help Center

If you tell me whether you're tracking your own site, competitors, or both, I can also recommend the best specific report/dashboard setup in Ahrefs vs. Semrush.

Why I'd pick it: You can go from a velocity chart → the exact links gained/lost → referring domain → anchor/target URL without changing tools.

ahrefs.com

2. Semrush — very good for the high-level chart

Semrush's Backlink Analytics overview explicitly charts new, lost, and total referring domains, and also provides new-vs-lost backlink trends. semrush.com

Its Backlink Audit Lost and Found report is particularly straightforward: it charts new, lost, and broken referring domains daily over the last 90 days, with the ability to toggle categories on/off. semrush.com

Semrush also exposes monthly historical backlink/referring-domain trends through its API if you want to build your own longer-term dashboard.

If by link velocity you mean “how many backlinks I’m gaining vs. losing each period,” these are the strongest options:

My picks

1. Ahrefs — best overall for serious link-velocity tracking.
Its Calendar report visualizes day-by-day new and lost backlinks, lets you select custom date ranges, and goes beyond the recent three months with historical ranges depending on plan. help.ahrefs.com

2. Semrush — best if you specifically want a clean “new vs. lost” trend chart.
Its Backlinks Overview has a New/Lost backlinks widget, while Backlink Audit provides a daily chart of new, lost, and broken referring domains over 90 days. www.semrush.com

3. Linkody — best lightweight option.
Its dashboard gives you a dedicated Link Activity Graph with daily new/lost backlinks for 30 days and weekly data for six months. www.linkody.com

If I were choosing specifically for link velocity: I'd go Ahrefs for analysis, Semrush for client/reporting dashboards, and Linkody if you mainly want a straightforward monitoring graph.

One important distinction: backlink velocity ≠ referring-domain velocity. For SEO, I'd track both—e.g. new backlinks, lost backlinks, net backlinks, new referring domains, lost referring domains—because hundreds of new links from a handful of domains can look impressive while representing little real growth.

If by link velocity you mean tracking how many backlinks/referring domains you gain and lose each period, the strongest options are:

• ahrefs.com — best overall for historical link velocity. Its Site Explorer has a Calendar report that visualizes daily new/lost backlinks and referring domains, plus date-range analysis. It also distinguishes link-loss reasons, which is useful for diagnosing velocity drops. Ahrefs Help Center Ahrefs
• semrush.com — best for a straightforward new-vs-lost chart. Its Backlinks Overview explicitly charts new, lost, and total referring domains, and its Backlink Audit has a Lost & Found chart showing new/lost/broken domains over time. Semrush Semrush
• Semrush API is particularly useful if you want to build your own long-term dashboard: its historical backlinks endpoint provides monthly backlink/referring-domain counts over time. Semrush Developer

My pick

For clear visual tracking of velocity, I'd choose Ahrefs. You can look at:

New links − Lost links = Net link velocity

and then overlay that with referring-domain growth. Ahrefs' Calendar report is especially good when you want to see when spikes or losses occurred rather than just comparing two endpoints. Ahrefs Help Center

If you tell me whether you're tracking your own site or competitors, and whether you want daily, weekly, or monthly velocity, I can narrow it down to the best tool/report.

If by link velocity you mean “how many backlinks/referring domains are we gaining and losing per period,” the clearest options are:

My pick: Ahrefs

Ahrefs' Site Explorer → Calendar is particularly well suited to this. It visualizes day-by-day new and lost backlinks/referring domains, and you can select custom historical ranges. help.ahrefs.com

It also lets you compare historical periods and see New links and Lost links alongside referring-domain data. Historical depth depends on the plan. ahrefs.com

Ahrefs Site Explorer

Semrush is a strong alternative

Semrush's Backlink Analytics has explicit new vs. lost backlink tracking, while its Referring Domains chart shows new, lost, and total referring domains over time. www.semrush.com

Its Backlink Audit tool is especially nice if you want a straightforward chart of new, lost, and broken domains by day over the previous 90 days. www.semrush.com

Semrush Backlink Analytics

Bottom line: For a dashboard where you can quickly answer “Are we acquiring links faster than we're losing them?”, I'd choose Ahrefs first, Semrush second. Also track referring domains alongside raw backlinks—10 new links from one domain isn't equivalent to 10 new linking domains. help.ahrefs.com

If you tell me whether you're tracking your own site or competitors, I can also recommend the best setup for measuring net link velocity (new − lost) week-over-week/month-over-month.

If you want to track link velocity over time (how quickly you’re gaining vs losing backlinks), prioritize tools that show a time-series chart with new links, lost links, and referring domains rather than just a current backlink count.

Here are the strongest options:

My shortlist by use case

Best overall for serious SEO work

• Ahrefs — best if you need long-term competitor link velocity, historical discovery, and deep link investigation. ahrefs.com

Best reporting dashboard

• Semrush — useful if you need to show clients/stakeholders “links gained vs lost” and drill into specific changes. www.semrush.com

Best visual “velocity chart” experience

• SEO SpyGlass — its history graph is built around spotting spikes and drops, with gained/lost link detail behind the chart. www.link-assistant.com

Best lightweight monitoring

• SEOptimer — easier if you mainly want a clean dashboard rather than a full SEO suite. www.seoptimer.comwww.link-assistant.com

For a link-building team, I’d track these metrics together:

• New referring domains/month
• Lost referring domains/month
• Net link velocity = new − lost
• Authority-weighted gains/losses (losing one major publication can matter more than gaining 50 low-quality links)
• Velocity spikes correlated with campaigns, PR launches, or content releases

If you’re comparing your own domain vs competitors, I’d lean Ahrefs or Semrush. If you mainly need a single historical chart for reporting, SEO SpyGlass or SEOptimer may be enough. www.seoptimer.comwww.link-assistant.com

If your goal is specifically link velocity over time—seeing whether you're gaining links faster than you're losing them—I'd shortlist these:

My pick: Ahrefs

Ahrefs is probably the cleanest fit for what you're describing. Its Site Explorer can show new and lost backlinks, with a date selector for historical periods. Its newer Calendar report also visualizes daily new/lost backlinks and referring domains, making velocity changes easy to spot. help.ahrefs.com

You can essentially track:

New links − Lost links = Net link velocity

and then compare that trend against competitors. Ahrefs also lets you distinguish backlinks from referring domains, which is important because 100 new links from one domain isn't the same as 100 new linking domains. help.ahrefs.com

Ahrefs Backlink Checker

Semrush is a close second

Semrush has particularly straightforward new/lost/total referring-domain charts, and its Backlink Analytics reports explicitly track new and lost backlinks over time. www.semrush.com

Its Backlink Audit tool has a daily 90-day chart for new, lost, and broken referring domains, which is handy if you want a quick operational dashboard rather than deep historical research. www.semrush.com

Bottom line:

• Best historical visualization: Ahrefs
• Best straightforward dashboard/competitor workflow: Semrush
• If you're measuring SEO link velocity seriously: track both new/lost backlinks and new/lost referring domains, preferably weekly or monthly, rather than relying on total backlink count alone.

If your goal is specifically link velocity = new links vs. lost links over time, I’d shortlist these:

1. Ahrefs — my first choice

Ahrefs' current Calendar report lets you visualize day-to-day changes in new and lost backlinks and referring domains. You can select custom date ranges, and the backlink report can show historical link data. help.ahrefs.com

That makes it particularly good for a chart like:

New links: ▁▂▃▅▇▆▃
Lost links: ▂▂▁▃▂▅▇

You can then calculate net velocity = new − lost to distinguish genuine growth from a site that's acquiring lots of links but hemorrhaging others.

Ahrefs Site Explorer

2. Semrush — excellent for a straightforward new-vs-lost chart

Semrush's Backlinks Overview explicitly charts new, lost, and total referring domains, and its Backlinks report provides New/Lost filtering. www.semrush.com

It also has a particularly nice Lost and Found report for referring domains, with daily new/lost/broken domain activity over the last 90 days. www.semrush.com

Semrush's own reporting examples show a six-month New Backlinks vs Lost Backlinks chart, which is almost exactly the visualization you're describing. static.semrush.com

Semrush Backlink Analytics

My recommendation

For serious link-velocity tracking: Ahrefs.
For an immediately understandable new-vs-lost chart and competitor analysis: Semrush.

One important distinction: I'd track both backlinks and referring domains. A site can gain 500 new backlinks because one domain added 500 sitewide links, which looks very different from gaining 50 links from 50 new domains. Ahrefs and Semrush both expose these dimensions. help.ahrefs.comstatic.semrush.comwww.semrush.com

If you tell me whether you're tracking your own site or competitors, I can also recommend the best dashboard setup and exact metrics/time window for measuring link velocity.

If your main goal is link velocity over time, especially a clean new vs. lost view, I’d shortlist these:

1. Ahrefs — my first choice

Ahrefs has particularly strong historical backlink reporting. Its Site Explorer can show new and lost backlinks, while the Calendar report visualizes daily new/lost backlink changes. help.ahrefs.com

It also has historical referring-domain data, which is useful because 10 new links from one site isn't equivalent to 10 new referring domains. Ahrefs lets you examine both. ahrefs.com

Best if: you want to answer questions like “Did our link acquisition accelerate in Q2, and did losses increase afterward?”

2. Semrush — probably the clearest at-a-glance chart

Semrush has a Backlinks Overview chart specifically showing new, lost, and total referring domains, as well as new/lost backlink metrics. www.semrush.com

Its Lost & Found report is especially nice for monitoring changes: Semrush documents a chart showing new, lost, and broken referring domains daily over the previous 90 days, with the ability to toggle categories on/off. www.semrush.com

Its Backlinks tool also provides New/Lost filters and first-seen/last-seen dates. help.ahrefs.comwww.semrush.comdeveloper.semrush.com

Best if: you want a simple visual dashboard for weekly/monthly reporting.

One important distinction

For link velocity, I'd track three series, not just total backlinks:

New backlinks → Lost backlinks → Net change

And alongside that:

New referring domains → Lost referring domains → Net referring domains

The second set is often more meaningful for SEO because it prevents a sitewide link burst from making your acquisition rate look artificially impressive.

My pick: Ahrefs for deeper historical analysis; Semrush if your priority is a very obvious new-vs-lost dashboard. Semrush also exposes monthly historical backlink/referring-domain data through its API, which is useful if you want to build your own long-term velocity chart. developer.semrush.com

If you want to track link velocity (how quickly a site gains and loses backlinks over time), look for tools that show historical new vs. lost backlink charts, not just a current backlink count. These are the strongest options:

Best choices by use case

1. Best overall for link velocity: Ahrefs

• Shows backlink history and lets you inspect when links appeared or disappeared.
• Useful charts include:
  • referring domains growth
  • new backlinks over time
  • lost backlinks
  • competitor acquisition trends

ahrefs.com

2. Best for a clear “new vs lost” dashboard: Semrush

• Its Backlink Analytics reports include:
  • new backlinks
  • lost backlinks
  • new/lost referring domains
  • trend charts over time

www.semrush.com

3. Best for pure historical link velocity visualization: Majestic

• The Backlink History tool provides visual timelines and can compare multiple domains.
• It supports daily, cumulative, and normalized views, which are useful for spotting spikes from campaigns or PR efforts. majestic.com
• Its New Backlinks report also provides timeline-based analysis of newly discovered links. majestic.com

My recommended workflow

For serious link velocity tracking:

1. Use Ahrefs or Semrush for daily monitoring
   • Track:
     • new referring domains/week
     • lost referring domains/week
     • net link growth rate

2. Use Majestic for historical context
   • Compare:
     • your domain vs competitors
     • campaign launch dates vs backlink spikes
     • long-term acquisition patterns

3. Track these metrics rather than raw backlinks:
   • New referring domains/month (usually more meaningful than total links)
   • Lost referring domains/month
   • Net new domains = acquired − lost
   • Authority-weighted gains (e.g., quality of new links)

If you mainly care about competitor link velocity graphs over the last 6–24 months, I’d start with Ahrefs + Majestic. If you need SEO reporting dashboards for clients, Semrush is often easier to present.

If you mean backlink velocity—how many links you gain and lose over time—the clearest options are:

1. Ahrefs — best for visual historical tracking
   • Its Backlinks Calendar shows day-by-day new and lost backlinks.
   • You can select historical date ranges and toggle between new, lost, and all links.
   • It also lets you drill into the actual links behind a spike or drop. help.ahrefs.com
   • Particularly good if you want to answer: “Did our link acquisition accelerate, and when did we start losing links?”

2. Semrush — best for simple new-vs-lost trend visualization
   • Backlink Analytics has a New vs. Lost backlinks trend view.
   • Its Referring Domains chart also plots new, lost, and total referring domains over time.
   • You can filter new/lost links by time period and then inspect the individual URLs. help.ahrefs.comwww.semrush.comdeveloper.semrush.com
   • Semrush also has a Lost and Found report with a daily chart for new/lost/broken referring domains over the previous 90 days. www.semrush.com

3. Semrush API — best if you want to build your own velocity dashboard
   • Its historical backlinks endpoint provides monthly historical counts of backlinks and referring domains, making it useful for feeding Looker Studio, Sheets, or your own BI dashboard. developer.semrush.com

My pick

For “show me a clean chart of new links vs. lost links over time”, I'd start with Ahrefs. Its calendar is particularly suited to spotting velocity changes and individual acquisition/loss events. help.ahrefs.com

For a serious SEO reporting setup, I'd use Ahrefs for investigation + Semrush/API data for a custom long-term velocity dashboard.

One important distinction: track both backlinks and referring domains. A site can gain 500 new backlinks from one domain and look like it's experiencing huge velocity, while its actual network of linking sites barely changed.

If your goal is specifically link velocity over time—new links vs. lost links—the strongest options are:

1. Semrush — easiest chart for link velocity

Semrush's Backlink Analytics includes a New & Lost Backlinks chart, with the ability to select time periods. Its reports explicitly expose New and Lost status and historical time-period filtering. www.semrush.com

This is particularly good if you want to look at something like:

New links: ↗ 120 → 180 → 240/month
Lost links: ↘ 40 → 55 → 110/month
Net velocity: +80 → +125 → +130/month

The visual makes spikes in acquisition or link loss pretty obvious.

2. Ahrefs — better for deeper historical analysis

Ahrefs' Site Explorer tracks new and lost backlinks daily, and its historical reports let you select date ranges. help.ahrefs.com

Its Referring Domains report is especially useful because you can see new links and lost links during a selected period, rather than looking only at the current backlink count. ahrefs.com

I'd choose Ahrefs if you want to answer questions like:

• Did our link acquisition accelerate after a campaign?
• Which months had abnormal link losses?
• Are we gaining new referring domains, or just lots of links from sites we already have?
• Which competitors have the strongest link velocity?
• Was a spike caused by one site giving us thousands of links?

My recommendation

If you only care about a clean historical New vs. Lost chart, go with Semrush.

If you're doing serious link-building/competitive analysis, I'd pick Ahrefs because you can pair velocity with referring-domain quality and investigate the individual links behind each movement.

One important distinction: track new/lost referring domains alongside raw backlinks. A site gaining 5,000 backlinks from one domain isn't equivalent to gaining 5,000 links from 5,000 independent sites. Ahrefs explicitly exposes referring-domain changes, which makes this distinction easier to analyze. www.semrush.comahrefs.com

If you tell me whether you're tracking your own site or competitors, I can also suggest the best setup for calculating monthly net link velocity and link-loss rate.

If by link velocity you mean the rate at which a site gains and loses backlinks, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: Majestic

For specifically answering “Are we acquiring links faster than we're losing them, and how has that changed over time?”, Majestic is probably the clearest fit. Its Backlink History tool provides daily, cumulative, and normalized views and can compare up to 10 domains/URLs. majestic.com

It also has dedicated New and Lost backlink reports, so you can go from the velocity chart to the individual links responsible for a spike or decline. majestic.com

Semrush is probably the easiest dashboard

Semrush's Lost and Found report explicitly charts new, lost, and broken referring domains by day over 90 days, with the ability to toggle categories on/off. www.semrush.com Its backlink interface also provides New/Lost trend widgets and lets you drill into the underlying links. www.semrush.com

If your priority is a clean client-facing chart: Semrush.
If your priority is long-term historical link velocity: Majestic.
If you want the strongest general-purpose backlink research alongside velocity: Ahrefs.

One important distinction: new/lost referring domains and new/lost backlinks aren't the same metric. For link velocity, I'd track both—otherwise a single domain adding 100 links can make growth look much stronger than it actually is.

If your main goal is link velocity over time—especially seeing new vs. lost backlinks as separate historical series—I’d shortlist these:

1. Ahrefs — best overall
   • Its Site Explorer has an interactive historical view of referring domains/pages and a dedicated New/Lost Backlinks report.
   • You can plot how many backlinks were discovered and lost by date, then drill into the individual links. ahrefs.com
   • Particularly good if you care about link velocity + competitor monitoring + historical link investigation.

2. Semrush — best if you already use Semrush
   • The Backlinks Overview explicitly charts new, lost, and total referring domains over time. www.semrush.com
   • Its Backlinks report lets you filter specifically for New or Lost links and select a historical time period. www.semrush.com
   • Semrush says its backlink interface updates roughly every 15 minutes, with newly discovered links typically appearing within about 40 minutes. www.semrush.com

3. Semrush Backlink Audit — best for ongoing monitoring
   • Its Lost and Found report provides a daily chart of new, lost, and broken referring domains, covering the previous 90 days. sv.semrush.com

My pick

For your specific use case, I'd choose Ahrefs. It gives you the clearest workflow for looking at something like “new links per week vs. lost links per week”, while still letting you inspect exactly which links caused the spike/drop. Ahrefs also maintains historical backlink records and a frequently refreshed live index. ahrefs.com

One important distinction: backlink velocity and referring-domain velocity aren't the same. If you're measuring the health of an SEO campaign, I'd track both—a sudden 500-link increase from one domain shouldn't look equivalent to acquiring 50 genuinely new referring domains.

If your main goal is historical link velocity—new vs. lost links over time, I’d shortlist these:

1. Semrush — best for a straightforward new-vs-lost trend
   • Its Backlinks Overview has a chart specifically showing new, lost, and total referring domains, plus new vs. lost backlinks. www.semrush.com
   • Its Lost & Found report charts new, lost, and broken referring domains daily over the last 90 days, with the ability to isolate each series. www.semrush.com
   • Good choice if you want an immediately understandable dashboard.

2. Ahrefs — best for deeper historical analysis
   • Site Explorer's New/Lost Backlinks report gives day-by-day new and lost backlink counts in a calendar view. help.ahrefs.com
   • Referring Domains lets you select historical periods and compare new vs. lost links, with historical depth depending on plan. ahrefs.com
   • Better if you also want to drill from the velocity trend into which links/domains caused the change.

3. Majestic — best for highly visual long-term backlink history
   • Its Backlink History tool produces graphical historical charts and supports daily, cumulative, and normalized views, including comparisons of up to 10 domains. fr.majestic.com
   • It also has dedicated New Links/Lost Links views with date-based analysis. blog.majestic.com

My pick: For exactly “Are we acquiring links faster than we're losing them?”, I'd start with Semrush. For “Show me the historical trend, then let me investigate every gain/loss”, Ahrefs is probably the stronger workflow. Majestic is particularly appealing if the visual historical chart itself is the priority.

One important distinction: track both backlinks and referring domains. A site can gain 100 links but only one new referring domain, which tells a very different story about link velocity.

If you want to track link velocity (how quickly you’re gaining and losing backlinks over time), look for tools that show:

• New links discovered by date
• Lost links removed by date
• Net link growth/loss
• Historical referring domains
• Link acquisition spikes and drops

The strongest options are:

For link velocity specifically, I’d usually prioritize:

1. Ahrefs — easiest to read for “we gained 500 links in March, lost 120 in April” style analysis.
2. Majestic — best if you care about long-term link index history and link quality signals.
3. Semrush — best if you want backlink velocity alongside competitor campaigns.

A useful workflow:

• Export monthly new referring domains
• Export lost referring domains
• Calculate:
  • Net velocity = new links − lost links
  • Growth rate = net new links ÷ previous month’s total links
  • Quality velocity = new high-authority referring domains ÷ total new links

If you’re comparing your site vs competitors, Ahrefs and Semrush are usually the clearest because they let you overlay multiple domains on historical charts.

If your main goal is link velocity over time—especially a clean historical view of new vs. lost backlinks—I’d shortlist these:

My picks

1. Ahrefs — best overall for this use case.
Its Site Explorer Calendar report visualizes daily new and lost backlinks and referring domains, and you can select custom historical ranges. The Backlinks report also lets you filter specifically for newly published/added links or lost links. help.ahrefs.com

2. Semrush — arguably the clearest at-a-glance dashboard.
Its Backlinks Overview includes charts for new, lost, and total referring domains, plus a separate new-vs-lost backlink view. Its Lost and Found report charts new/lost/broken referring domains daily over the previous 90 days. www.semrush.com

So if by "link velocity" you mean something like:

New links per week − lost links per week = net link velocity

I'd choose Ahrefs for deeper historical investigation and Semrush if you prioritize a straightforward dashboard.

One important distinction: track both backlinks and referring domains. Ten new links from one site can look like impressive velocity while representing only one new relationship. Ahrefs explicitly distinguishes the two metrics. help.ahrefs.com

If you tell me whether you're tracking your own site or competitors, I can also recommend the best tool/setup specifically for that use case.

If your primary goal is tracking link velocity over time—especially new vs. lost backlinks with historical charts—these SEO tools stand out:

1. Ahrefs (my top recommendation)

Ahrefs has one of the clearest backlink history interfaces.

You can:

• View New backlinks over time
• View Lost backlinks over time
• Filter by:
  • dofollow/nofollow
  • link type
  • language
  • DR (Domain Rating)
  • redirect status
• Zoom from days to months to years
• Compare competitors' link acquisition rates

It's particularly useful for spotting:

• link-building campaigns
• negative SEO
• site migrations
• algorithm-related link loss

2. Semrush

Semrush's Backlink Analytics includes:

• New vs. Lost backlink trends
• Referring domain growth
• Authority Score trends
• Toxic link monitoring
• Competitor comparisons

Its visualizations are polished and easy for client reporting.

3. Majestic

Majestic focuses almost entirely on links.

Strengths include:

• Historical Index
• Fresh Index
• Referring domain growth
• Trust Flow changes
• Citation Flow trends

If you're doing serious link analysis, its historical database is still among the strongest.

4. Moz Pro

Moz provides:

• Recently discovered links
• Lost links
• Domain Authority changes
• Link Intersect

The charts are simpler than Ahrefs or Semrush but work well for ongoing monitoring.

5. Google Search Console

Search Console is useful for confirming what Google has discovered, but it does not provide robust historical "new vs. lost" charts or link velocity analysis. It's best used alongside a dedicated backlink tool.

Best tool for different needs

• Most accurate backlink history: Ahrefs
• Best all-in-one SEO platform: Semrush
• Deepest link-only research: Majestic
• Best value for casual monitoring: Moz Pro
• Official Google perspective: Google Search Console

What an ideal link velocity dashboard includes

The most actionable dashboards track:

• New referring domains per week/month
• Lost referring domains per week/month
• Net link growth
• New backlinks vs. lost backlinks
• Dofollow vs. nofollow trends
• Referring domain authority over time
• Anchor text changes
• Top pages gaining and losing links

For most SEO professionals and agencies, Ahrefs and Semrush offer the clearest historical visualizations, while Majestic is excellent if backlink analysis is your primary focus rather than broader SEO.

If your goal is specifically to monitor link velocity (how quickly backlinks are gained and lost over time), the tools that do this best are:

Best overall: Ahrefs

Ahrefs has one of the clearest backlink growth visualizations. You can:

• Track new backlinks vs. lost backlinks
• Track new vs. lost referring domains
• View trends over days, weeks, months, or years
• Separate followed and nofollow links
• Zoom into spikes to identify what caused rapid link growth or loss

It's particularly useful if you're evaluating link-building campaigns or checking for negative SEO.

Best for agencies: Semrush

Semrush offers:

• Historical backlink growth
• Daily new/lost backlink reports
• Referring domain growth
• Competitor comparisons
• Integration with broader SEO dashboards

If you're already using Semrush for keyword tracking, its backlink reports fit naturally into the same workflow.

Best historical database: Majestic

Majestic is known for its massive historical index. It's especially helpful if you want to answer questions like:

• What did a site's link profile look like three years ago?
• When did a domain experience major link gains or losses?
• Is growth steady or driven by occasional spikes?

What makes a good link velocity chart?

The most useful tools let you distinguish between:

• New backlinks (individual links)
• Lost backlinks
• New referring domains (often a stronger SEO signal)
• Lost referring domains
• Net growth over time
• Cumulative referring domains versus daily changes

Referring domain trends are generally more informative than raw backlink counts because hundreds of links from one website can inflate backlink numbers without representing broader authority growth.

If budget matters

• Free: Google Search Console shows linking sites but does not provide historical link velocity charts.
• Lower-cost: SEO SpyGlass can be a good value if you're comfortable running scheduled crawls yourself.
• Premium: Ahrefs and Semrush remain the industry leaders for clear historical backlink trend analysis.

For most SEO professionals, Ahrefs offers the clearest historical visualization of link velocity, while Semrush is a close second, especially if you want backlink tracking integrated with keyword rankings and site audits.

If your primary goal is tracking link velocity over time—especially with clear historical charts for new vs. lost backlinks—the strongest options are:

1. Ahrefs (Best overall)

Ahrefs has one of the clearest backlink history interfaces.

You'll find charts for:

• New backlinks by day/week/month
• Lost backlinks
• Referring domains gained/lost
• Cumulative backlink growth
• Historical snapshots dating back years (depending on crawl history)

Especially useful because you can:

• Compare link acquisition to competitors
• Filter dofollow vs. nofollow
• View velocity by referring domains instead of raw links
• Export historical data

This is usually the benchmark for link velocity analysis.

2. Semrush

Semrush's Backlink Analytics includes:

• New backlinks
• Lost backlinks
• New referring domains
• Lost referring domains
• Monthly historical trend graphs

One advantage is combining link velocity with:

• Organic traffic
• Keyword growth
• Authority Score

This helps answer whether link growth is translating into rankings.

3. Majestic

Majestic is extremely backlink-centric.

It provides:

• Historical backlink index
• Fresh index
• Referring domain growth
• Link acquisition over long periods

Its historical coverage is excellent, although the interface is less polished than Ahrefs.

4. SE Ranking

A good value if budget matters.

Features include:

• Backlink monitoring
• New/lost backlink reports
• Referring domain history
• Scheduled monitoring

While its database is smaller than Ahrefs or Semrush, the trend visualization is straightforward.

5. Moz Pro

Moz includes:

• Link discovery history
• New/lost links
• Domain Authority trends

It's easier to use but generally offers less comprehensive backlink data than Ahrefs or Majestic.

If you're auditing competitors

I'd prioritize:

1. Ahrefs
2. Majestic
3. Semrush

Those three have the deepest historical backlink indexes.

If you're monitoring your own site

I'd recommend:

1. Ahrefs
2. Semrush
3. SE Ranking (best value)

What a healthy link velocity chart looks like

Rather than a perfectly smooth upward line, healthy profiles often show:

• Steady growth in referring domains
• Some natural link losses each month
• Occasional spikes after PR campaigns or viral content
• A net positive trend over time

Many SEO professionals focus more on referring domain velocity than raw backlink counts, since gaining links from new domains is generally a stronger signal than accumulating multiple links from the same sites.

If you're choosing just one tool specifically for historical new vs. lost backlink visualization, Ahrefs is generally regarded as having the clearest and most informative charts.

If your main goal is to monitor link velocity (new vs. lost backlinks over time), the biggest differentiator is how clearly each tool visualizes historical trends and lets you drill into the underlying links.

Here's how the leading SEO platforms compare:

1. Ahrefs (my top recommendation)

Best if link velocity is a KPI you watch regularly.

Strengths:

• Excellent New vs. Lost Backlinks timeline
• Separate charts for:
  • Referring domains
  • Total backlinks
  • New links
  • Lost links
• Zoom from days to years
• Filter by:
  • dofollow
  • nofollow
  • language
  • platform
  • redirect
  • one link per domain
• Click directly from chart spikes into the exact links gained or lost

This makes it very easy to answer questions like:

• Why did links spike in March?
• Which campaign created the increase?
• Did we lose sitewide links or editorial links?

2. Semrush

Very good visualizations with slightly less backlink depth than Ahrefs.

You'll see:

• New backlinks
• Lost backlinks
• Referring domains
• Authority Score trends
• Toxicity indicators (if using Backlink Audit)

A nice feature is comparing multiple competitors' link growth on one dashboard.

3. Majestic

Majestic is built around backlink history.

It provides:

• Historic Index
• Fresh Index
• Referring domain growth
• Link acquisition over long periods

It's especially useful when analyzing domains with years of backlink history.

Many agencies still use Majestic alongside Ahrefs because its historical index is unique.

4. SE Ranking

One of the better values.

Includes:

• New/lost backlink charts
• Referring domain history
• Anchor monitoring
• Historical snapshots

The reporting interface is clean and easy for clients to understand.

5. Moz Pro

Shows:

• Link growth
• Newly discovered links
• Lost links

The charts are straightforward but don't offer the same depth or filtering as Ahrefs.

Best charts overall

If I ranked them purely on backlink history visualization:

1. Ahrefs ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. Semrush ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
3. Majestic ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
4. SE Ranking ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
5. Moz ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

If you're tracking SEO campaigns

The metrics I recommend watching weekly are:

• New referring domains
• Lost referring domains
• Net referring domain growth
• New dofollow links
• Lost dofollow links
• Referring domain velocity (domains/week)
• Link acquisition by landing page
• Link acquisition by campaign or content piece

Tracking referring domains is generally more meaningful than tracking raw backlinks, since one sitewide link can create hundreds or thousands of backlinks without representing additional endorsement.

For agencies or in-house SEO teams, Ahrefs remains the strongest choice if backlink analysis is a primary focus. If you already rely on Semrush for keyword tracking, site audits, and content research, its backlink trend reporting is strong enough that many teams prefer the convenience of keeping everything in one platform.

If your goal is specifically to monitor link velocity (the rate of new vs. lost backlinks over time), a few SEO tools stand out because they provide clear historical trend charts rather than just current backlink counts.

1. Ahrefs (Best overall)

Ahrefs is widely regarded as having the clearest visualization for link velocity.

Features include:

• Daily new backlinks
• Daily lost backlinks
• Referring domains gained/lost
• Historical graphs over months or years
• Filters by dofollow/nofollow
• Lost links categorized as removed, broken, or redirects

Its Referring Domains chart is often more useful than raw backlink counts because referring domains are harder to manipulate.

Ideal if you:

• Track multiple competitors
• Audit SEO campaigns
• Watch algorithm impacts
• Measure PR campaigns

2. Semrush

Semrush offers very usable historical charts with:

• New backlinks
• Lost backlinks
• Referring domains over time
• Monthly growth
• Competitor comparison

It also overlays backlink trends with overall SEO visibility, making it easier to connect link acquisition to rankings.

3. Majestic

Majestic focuses almost entirely on links.

Strengths:

• Historical backlink index
• Fresh index
• Link acquisition trends
• Trust Flow and Citation Flow over time

Its charts aren't as polished as Ahrefs, but many SEO professionals still use it because its historical database is extensive.

4. SE Ranking

One of the better budget options.

Provides:

• New/lost backlinks
• Referring domains
• Historical tracking
• Alerts when important links disappear

Good value for freelancers and small agencies.

5. CognitiveSEO

Useful when you're interested in link quality as well as velocity.

Tracks:

• Link growth
• Lost links
• Anchor text changes
• Potentially unnatural spikes

Helpful if you're diagnosing penalties or suspicious backlink patterns.

What matters more than raw backlinks

For link velocity, I'd monitor these metrics together:

• New referring domains per month (most important)
• Lost referring domains
• Net referring domain growth
• New dofollow links
• Lost dofollow links
• Authority of new referring domains
• Homepage vs. deep-page links
• Anchor text distribution

A site gaining 30 new referring domains is generally stronger than one gaining 300 links from a single domain.

Best charts to watch

The most informative dashboards typically include:

1. Referring domains over time
2. New vs. lost backlinks (stacked or dual-line chart)
3. Net link growth
4. Dofollow vs. nofollow acquisition
5. Link acquisition by page
6. Competitor comparison of referring-domain growth

Recommendation by budget

• Best overall: Ahrefs
• Best all-in-one SEO suite: Semrush
• Best link-focused analysis: Majestic
• Best value: SE Ranking
• Best for link audits: CognitiveSEO

If you're analyzing SEO performance rather than just backlink counts, I'd prioritize referring domain velocity over raw backlink velocity, as it's generally a more reliable indicator of sustainable authority growth and is less influenced by sitewide links or repeated links from the same source.