Extract the Domain From a List of URLs

This reduces each URL to its domain, discarding the path, query string and scheme. https://example.com/blog/post?a=1 becomes example.com.

Changing the unit of analysis

A list of URLs answers questions about pages. A list of domains answers questions about sites. Backlink analysis, competitor research and referral traffic review are nearly always domain-level questions.

Deduplicate afterwards

Four hundred backlink URLs usually come from far fewer distinct sites. The count of unique domains is the number that matters for link profile assessment.

Counting occurrences is useful too

How many times each domain appears tells you which sites link to you repeatedly versus once, which is a meaningful distinction in link evaluation.

Try it: Extract Domain from URLs on SeoWolf's Notepad.