AskSEO

Backlink profileLesson 3 of 4

Top authority sites by Ahrefs rank

The first 149 domains from Ahrefs' global authority ranking, for identifying real backlink targets in the top-tier bracket instead of guessing which platforms qualify.

human reviewedAhmed Raza3 min

Building backlinks from top authority sites targets the top 50,000 sites in the world by authority. This is the actual top of that list: the first 149 domains by Ahrefs Rank, an overall authority score Ahrefs computes for every domain it has crawled.1

Note

Many entries here are not link-building targets in themselves, a google.com subdomain, a government TLD, or a cookie-consent vendor ranks this high because of the volume and diversity of sites linking to it, not because it accepts guest content. Read this as "what real top-tier authority looks like," and pick targets from it the way Building backlinks from top authority sites describes: profile pages, genuine community participation, app-store or project listings, rather than treating every row as a link opportunity.

Rank 1 to 50

DomainAhrefs rank
facebook.com1
instagram.com2
twitter.com3
youtube.com4
linkedin.com5
google.com6
wordpress.org7
whatsapp.com8
pinterest.com9
wa.me10
goo.gl11
miit.gov.cn12
apple.com13
plus.google.com14
policies.google.com15
gravatar.com16
qq.com17
youtu.be18
tiktok.com19
play.google.com20
microsoft.com21
t.me22
github.com23
maps.google.com24
en.wikipedia.org25
x.com26
europa.eu27
support.google.com28
docs.google.com29
vimeo.com30
amazon.com31
shopify.com32
adobe.com33
accounts.google.com34
bit.ly35
drive.google.com36
mozilla.org37
tools.google.com38
vk.com39
line.me40
reddit.com41
wix.com42
spotify.com43
secureserver.net44
baidu.com45
beian.gov.cn46
developers.google.com47
forms.gle48
paypal.com49
blogger.com50

Rank 51 to 100

DomainAhrefs rank
plesk.com51
yelp.com52
wp.com53
squarespace.com54
google.de55
calendly.com56
tumblr.com57
weibo.com58
addtoany.com59
flickr.com60
themeforest.net61
wordpress.com62
g.page63
statcounter.com64
nih.gov65
soundcloud.com66
medium.com67
myshopify.com68
w3.org69
miitbeian.gov.cn70
t.co71
googleblog.com72
discord.gg73
creativecommons.org74
amzn.to75
cookiedatabase.org76
parallels.com77
bp.blogspot.com78
lin.ee79
marketingplatform.google.com80
aboutads.info81
opera.com82
discord.com83
trustpilot.com84
iubenda.com85
zoom.us86
allaboutcookies.org87
xing.com88
behance.net89
elegantthemes.com90
adssettings.google.com91
list-manage.com92
googleusercontent.com93
generatepress.com94
yandex.ru95
translate.google.com96
e-recht24.de97
networkadvertising.org98
m.me99
forbes.com100

Rank 101 to 149

DomainAhrefs rank
bund.de101
google.co.jp102
hugedomains.com103
youronlinechoices.com104
godaddy.com105
zalo.me106
wa.link107
dropbox.com108
weebly.com109
nytimes.com110
filesusr.com111
wixsite.com112
subscribe.wordpress.com113
etsy.com114
telegram.me115
stripe.com116
miibeian.gov.cn117
nginx.org118
sites.google.com119
office.com120
eventbrite.com121
tripadvisor.com122
dribbble.com123
search.google.com124
openstreetmap.org125
cdc.gov126
apache.org127
hatena.ne.jp128
nginx.com129
dreamhost.com130
de.wikipedia.org131
imdb.com132
dmca.com133
taobao.com134
linktr.ee135
issuu.com136
eepurl.com137
aboutcookies.org138
squarespace-cdn.com139
www.gov.uk140
doi.org141
g.co142
sciencedirect.com143
amazonaws.com144
unsplash.com145
ico.org.uk146
envato.market147
tilda.cc148
pinterest.ca149

Realistic targets from this list

Of the platforms actually named as backlink targets in Building backlinks from top authority sites, several sit inside this top-149 bracket directly: YouTube (4), LinkedIn (5), Pinterest (9), TikTok (19), GitHub (23), Reddit (41), Medium (67), and Etsy (114), confirming that this course's target list is genuinely drawn from the real top of the authority ranking.1

Footnotes

  1. AHREF Thousand Plus sites.xlsx, Ahrefs domain-rank export, iSkills course material. ↩ ↩2

More in this chapter3

  1. LessonAnchor text types and backlink URL distributionThe five anchor-text types, the ratio to use across a backlink campaign, and how to split backlinks between a homepage and inner pages by site type.Read lesson
  2. LessonBuilding backlinks from top authority sitesA strategy for earning backlinks from the internet's highest-authority platforms (YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, GitHub, and similar) by participating genuinely rather than spamming.Read lesson
  3. LessonReading a backlink profile: a worked exampleA real backlink-profile export (referring URL, DR, domain traffic, linked domains, and external links), walked through as a worked example of the reverse-engineering method, taught by Dr Shahid.Read lesson

Building backlinks from top authority sites

A strategy for earning backlinks from the internet's highest-authority platforms (YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, GitHub, and similar) by participating genuinely rather than spamming.

Reading a backlink profile: a worked example

A real backlink-profile export (referring URL, DR, domain traffic, linked domains, and external links), walked through as a worked example of the reverse-engineering method, taught by Dr Shahid.