Huge Drop in External Links
-
Hello, My total external links dropped from 900 to zero on a site that I've had running for about 10 years. What could possibly cause this? Thanks, Joe
-
Exactly.
-
Hi Joe!
To reiterate what the other folks on this thread are saying, it's very, very likely that the drop to 1 is because we didn't end up indexing your site or the sites linking to it in the last index update (which isn't the same as a bug, for what it's worth, though if your data isn't there I realize the distinction is academic). This index was rather smaller than the previous one, with 161 billion URLs after the previous update's 193 billion. You can get all the details here.
I'm extra-inclined to believe this is the case because 1) the site's previous DA was 14, which is low enough to imply that linking domains are also of generally low DA and less likely to be crawled, and 2) DA/PA of 1 almost always means we simply don't have information on the URL.
We're always working to grow the index, and I'd say there's a very good chance the site will be back in the next one.
Rand has written about the affects of index changes on link metrics here. -
GR,
Absolutely, there are no guarantees. That's why i measure head to head with our direct competitors.
Bottom Line: somebody's going to get the opportunity, and they probably rank in the top 10, I believe monitoring and adjusting will give us the best chance at that opportunity.
TY,
KJr -
Kevin,
You should know that measuring the PA/DA is not guarantee for better positions. You shold alway check other factors besides PA/DA and links.
PA/DA movements may be due to a lot of reasons. Here the official explanation and a question answered by Rand Fishkin.
Mozscape Link index update - Moz Domain authority get down significantly. Internal MOZ Issue? Google Algoritm Update?Regarding the updates, you can check them out here: Mozscape API Update
Best of luck.
GR. -
Joe, Gaston & Donna,
I track 11 competitors w/ a spreadsheet after every DA release, 8 lost a major amount of links, one lost 1,712,850 while we dropped 77,480. Last year I disavowed monthly for 6 months, now just quarterly, so I know it was not on my end. I also noticed a much higher rise in DA w/ this release than any other this year, we went up 3 (which is great) while a major competitor improved 7.
Gaston, if this is a minor bug as you indicated, do you foresee another DA release sooner than scheduled, or possibly an announcement from Moz?
KJr
-
No, none of those Gaston. Thanks for the information!
-
Hi Donna,
I see it in MOZ / Competitive Link Metrics.
My link data is fairly consistent over the years and then a huge drop off in the past 2 weeks from 900 to zero!
Thanks,
Joe -
Of course its related to the same bug.
just to clarify, you didn't change or redirect the main domain? Https, www to non-www, re-brand or checked a different URL?
-
Wow! That's great news Gaston!
My Domain Authority went from 14 down to 1. Can you tell me if that is bug related as well?
-
Hi Joe,
Not sure how you detected this problem. Was it on Moz Open Site Explorer? If that's the case, then Gaston has provided an answer. Especially if those 900 links were coming from very few sources, it's credible that Moz may not have picked them up in the last build of its backlink index.
If you detected it using another tool, or even with Moz, I'd use a few other sources to confirm whether you have a problem or not. Take a look at Search Console, MajesticSEO, and/or aHrefs. They will show you how many links you have. The last two will show you patterns of acquisition and loss. Most sites gain and lose links over time. You'd want to look for an abrupt change in pattern.
If that doesn't answer your question, let us know and we can pursue other possibilities.
-
Hi Joe,
It's know that from update to update the Backlink count may vary that much. It doesnt mean that all your external links have desapeared.. It's just a minor bug at mozscape.
Don't worry.
Best Luck.
GR.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Does reciprocal linking carry any value?
No matter how much I research this one, there's no definite answer and there's a lot of contradictions. Basically we're looking to launch an article on 24 expert interior design tips for 2015. Each tip is submitted from a different interior designer we have chosen who have a reputable, trusted website. The main goal for this article is to generate various inbound links for our site from the designers and it will help to create engagement on social media. Although if we're giving out links to these designers for their contributions, the inbound links we receive in return will be little or no value as this is reciprocal linking? Some say this is okay as it's completely natural within the blog posts, others say to avoid it as it can be seen as an obsolete practice to deceive Google. Does anyone have any more information on this and how it should be carried out? Would a better process be to link to their social media accounts? Rather than reciprocal linking? Thanks
Technical SEO | | Jseddon920 -
How should we handle re-directory links? Should we remove these links?
We are currently cleaning up bad links that were purchased by a previous SEO agency. We have found links on anonym.to pages that redirect traffic to our site automatically. How should this be handled? Should we remove these links?
Technical SEO | | Lorne_Marr0 -
Does this count as a link?
Somebody listed me on their site with this link code A Link Between Worlds Walkthrough It does this weird redirect tracking thing to my site. Would that count as a link back to me?
Technical SEO | | Atomicx0 -
Forms and link juice
On product listing page on e-commerce site We use POST forms as 'Add To Cart' buttons. Because of that We have dozens (~40-80) forms on any product listing page, and two questions regarding them: Does these forms affect link juice of other links on the page? Are there cases when forms are somehow counted by Google as links? Regards, Lucek
Technical SEO | | lucek0 -
How do you take down a link
Salut from Sunny wetherby UK 🙂 Having just watched a whiteboard fri clip all about the "Penguin Update" i want to know how to take down a link. I feel a site ive been working on has been pecked by the penguin. I did build inbound links on a specific commercial term and shiver me timbers is dropped oof the SERPS from top 5 to ziltch, yiles!! So my questiuon is please:
Technical SEO | | Nightwing
if you find an inbound link using a target term how do you kill it? Thanks in advance :_)0 -
Why the rapid drop in Domain Authority?
I couple weeks ago I switched my website from Drupal to a Wordpress CMS: Martial Arts Austin My rankings have remained the same, but the Domain Authority has plummeted from like 29 to 21. I know this is small fry, but I don't want my business to drop in ranking. The URL's were kept exactly the same, with the internal links and copy also kept the same with few additions. Also, according to Open Site Explorer, the site's stronger pages have now averaged out with the weaker and unused pages so they all now share the same Page Authority - that doesn't seem right. Is there reason for concern? Did I screw something up, or am I making too much of this? Thanks
Technical SEO | | OhYeahSteve1 -
How much effect does number of outbound links have on link juice?
I am interested in your thoughts on the effect of number of outbound links (obls) on link juice passed? ie If a page linking to you has a high number of obls, how do you compute the effect of these obls and relative negative effect on linkjuice. In the event that there are three sites on which you have been offered the opportunity of a link Site A PA 30 DA50 Obls on page 10 Site B PA 40 DA50 Obls on page 15 Site C PA 50 DA50 Obls on page 20 How would you appraise each of these prospective page links (ignoring anchor text, relevancy, etc which will be constant) Is there a rule of thumb on how to compare the linkjuice passed from a site relative to its PA and the number of obls? Is it as simple as page with 10 obls passes 10x juice of page with 100 obls?
Technical SEO | | seanmccauley0 -
Any value in external links to image files?
Let's say you have www.example.com. On this website, you have www.example.com/example-image.jpg. When someone links externally to this image - like below... { is < {a href="www.example.com/example-image.jpg"} {img src="www.example.com/example-image.jpg"} {/a} The external site would be using the image hosted on your site, but the image is also linked back to the same image file on your site. Does this have any value even though the link is back to the image file and not the website? Also - how much value do you guys feel image links have in relation to tech links? In terms of passing link juice and adding to a natural link profile. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | qlkasdjfw1