{ "name": "Track the backlink profiles of your site and your competitors every month in Google Sheets", "nodes": [ { "parameters": { "content": "## Track the backlink profiles of your site and your competitors every month in Google Sheets\n\n### Who's it for\nSEO consultants, agencies and site owners who report link growth to a client or watch competitors, without an Ahrefs or Semrush seat.\n\n### How it works\n1. On the 1st of every month, the **Settings** node gives your domain and your competitors.\n2. The **Backlink Checker** Actor on Apify (`plainrows/backlink-checker`) runs in `summary` mode: one row per domain with domain rank, total and dofollow backlinks, referring domains, root domains, spam score and broken backlinks.\n3. A Code node adds the month and the top link countries, and flags your own domain.\n4. One row per domain is appended to the `Backlink profiles` tab: a month-by-month history you can chart.\n\n### Requirements\n- An Apify account and its API token (the free Apify plan limits each run to 2 domains: use a paid plan for more).\n- A Google Sheets account and a spreadsheet with a tab named `Backlink profiles`.\n- The Apify node is the verified community node `@apify/n8n-nodes-apify` (available on n8n Cloud; on self-hosted n8n install it from Settings > Community nodes).\n\n### How to customize\n- Change `yourDomain` and `competitors` (comma-separated, up to 1,000 domains or URLs) in **Settings**; a URL with a path tracks that page only.\n- Change the schedule (weekly works too) or send the rows to Airtable or a database instead of Sheets.\n\n**Cost:** in summary mode each domain is one lookup fee plus one row (see the Actor's Pricing tab), e.g. you and 4 competitors = 5 lookups and 5 rows a month. The Apify node caps its run with *Maximum Cost per Run*.", "height": 760, "width": 520 }, "id": "aa42921f-64b2-5135-be1a-61ed62d3dc12", "name": "Description", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote", "typeVersion": 1, "position": [ -660, -340 ] }, { "parameters": { "content": "### Setup\\n1. Spreadsheet with a tab named `Backlink profiles` (headers are written on the first run).\\n2. Connect Google Sheets in *Append profiles* and paste the spreadsheet URL.\\n3. Add your Apify credential to the Apify node.\\n4. In **Settings**, put `yourDomain` and `competitors` (comma-separated).\\n\\n**Cost:** one lookup fee and one row per domain (see the Actor's Pricing tab); the Apify node caps its run with *Maximum Cost per Run*.", "height": 320, "width": 420, "color": 7 }, "id": "faa1cf72-c1d4-502f-9698-bc0fd0fcdec8", "name": "Setup", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote", "typeVersion": 1, "position": [ 440, -340 ] }, { "parameters": { "rule": { "interval": [ { "field": "months", "triggerAtDayOfMonth": 1, "triggerAtHour": 8 } ] } }, "id": "a58ce6bc-8267-5d14-8e2c-721f2e0b9ec5", "name": "1st of every month", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.scheduleTrigger", "typeVersion": 1.2, "position": [ 0, 120 ] }, { "parameters": { "assignments": { "assignments": [ { "id": "3c70f191-5f38-56d5-ad1d-994ee2581ee2", "name": "yourDomain", "value": "example.com", "type": "string" }, { "id": "a1b5c33a-857a-5cd4-ad79-afdc52f6e7f6", "name": "competitors", "value": "competitor-one.com, competitor-two.com, competitor-three.com", "type": "string" } ] }, "options": {} }, "id": "3fbde07b-a92d-5a2c-9b85-135adc6b97de", "name": "Settings", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.set", "typeVersion": 3.4, "position": [ 220, 120 ] }, { "parameters": { "resource": "Actors", "operation": "Run actor and get dataset", "actorId": "plainrows~backlink-checker", "customBody": "={{ JSON.stringify({ targets: [$json.yourDomain, ...$json.competitors.split(',').map((d) => d.trim()).filter(Boolean)], mode: 'summary' }) }}", "maxTotalChargeUsd": 2 }, "id": "00c07221-89d2-5803-99b7-07b554965e77", "name": "Backlink summaries", "type": "@apify/n8n-nodes-apify.apify", "typeVersion": 1, "position": [ 440, 120 ], "credentials": { "apifyApi": { "id": "", "name": "Apify account" } } }, { "parameters": { "jsCode": "// One row per domain and month, flat columns for Sheets.\nconst s = $('Settings').first().json;\nconst norm = (d) => String(d || '').trim().toLowerCase().replace(/^https?:\\/\\//, '').replace(/^www\\./, '').replace(/\\/$/, '');\nconst own = norm(s.yourDomain);\nconst month = new Date().toISOString().slice(0, 7);\nconst top = (o) => Object.entries(o || {}).slice(0, 3).map(([k, v]) => `${k} ${v}`).join(', ');\nreturn $input.all().map(({ json: r }) => ({ json: {\n month, domain: r.target, yourSite: norm(r.target) === own, found: r.found !== false,\n domainRank: r.domainRank ?? null, backlinks: r.backlinks ?? 0, dofollowBacklinks: r.dofollowBacklinks ?? 0,\n referringDomains: r.referringDomains ?? 0, dofollowReferringDomains: r.dofollowReferringDomains ?? 0,\n rootDomains: r.referringMainDomains ?? 0, spamScore: r.spamScore ?? null, brokenBacklinks: r.brokenBacklinks ?? 0,\n topLinkCountries: top(r.topLinkCountries),\n} }));" }, "id": "f34242ab-707d-5d69-865c-d73cecf56105", "name": "Build rows", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.code", "typeVersion": 2, "position": [ 660, 120 ] }, { "parameters": { "operation": "append", "documentId": { "__rl": true, "value": "", "mode": "url" }, "sheetName": { "__rl": true, "value": "Backlink profiles", "mode": "name" }, "columns": { "mappingMode": "autoMapInputData", "value": {}, "matchingColumns": [], "schema": [] }, "options": {} }, "id": "5af6fdef-9389-5f0f-b67d-6e44fdc814ed", "name": "Append profiles", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets", "typeVersion": 4.5, "position": [ 880, 120 ], "credentials": { "googleSheetsOAuth2Api": { "id": "", "name": "Google Sheets account" } } } ], "connections": { "1st of every month": { "main": [ [ { "node": "Settings", "type": "main", "index": 0 } ] ] }, "Settings": { "main": [ [ { "node": "Backlink summaries", "type": "main", "index": 0 } ] ] }, "Backlink summaries": { "main": [ [ { "node": "Build rows", "type": "main", "index": 0 } ] ] }, "Build rows": { "main": [ [ { "node": "Append profiles", "type": "main", "index": 0 } ] ] } }, "pinData": {}, "settings": { "executionOrder": "v1" }, "meta": { "templateCredsSetupCompleted": false } }