How accurate is Open Site Explorer?
-
I noticed for one of my sites, a large number of links do not show up in Open Site Explorer, including some of my stronger links. That being the case, how much weight can I put on using these tools to compare sites?
I'm not trying to bash here, I really like the tools but if my PA is 29 and my competition is 34, how much weight can I put on these numbers? Or if it says my site has 50 links from 25 domains and my competition has 60 links from 30 domains, these numbers obviously aren't very accurate? So how much weight can I put on these comparisons? Are there better tools?
-
I agree with Ryan completely. I would only add that the ultimate metric is your ranking for keywords, and as you are the only one who knows what is happening to your site and link profile, you need to track and measure everything to see what effect your changes have.
Link scape is a great tool, and certainly one of the best on the planet. But it, like any of the tools need to be assessed with an understanding of the task they undertake, their methodology in doing so, and a clear understanding that it, and all tools , are guides, mere hints if you will, as to what is happening in the hallowed halls of Google search.
-
OSE is dependent upon the Linkscape index. The Linkscape database is refreshed about once per month and contains the top 25% of web pages. For SEO, that's mostly what matters. The index was last updated July 25th.
It can take 60+ days for you to have visibility to a link in OSE. It depends upon when the link was created and when Linkscape began crawling the internet.
It's a great tool to use if you understand it's limitations.
-
That's what I figured. I'm just surprised that it seems as if the majority of my sites stronger links aren't showing up. Actually, after I asked this question I began setting up an account with Majestic SEO.
What do you find seomoz most helpful for then, if you don't mind me asking?
-
I can't speak to how thorough OSE is. I know they don't find every link, but in my experience, they seemed to find most of the strong links. I can suggest Majestic SEO for a very thorough, but not free, backlink profile.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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
-
Why isnt my site in top 10 SERPs?
Our website, https://www.tradewindfinance.com, hasnt improved ranking for keyword " international trade finance companies." we average around the 10th page of Google SERPs. Our DA, PA, and links are higher thank the top 10 competitors. What are we doing wrong or what can I do to increase rank?
Moz Pro | | solution.advisor0 -
A keyword my site ranks on has recently dropped from no 2 to 51+ after weeks ranking high.
Any ideas? The full SERP analysis still puts it at no 2 so I'm quite confused
Moz Pro | | _leanneford0 -
403 error for a member site
Perhaps a stupid question but SEOmoz registers 403 errors for pages behind a membersite (ie. they are restricted on purpose). Should I noindex these pages or just let SEOmoz register these "errors"?
Moz Pro | | Crunchii0 -
Opens Site Explorer sees two pages that are one
www.mysite.com/ and www.mysite.com/default.asp are both showing up in open site explorer. How do I make sure that these are not being interpreted as two pages when they are the same page? (Both in search engines and OSE.)
Moz Pro | | EugeneF0 -
SEOmoz link report VS. open site explorer
Hi, I run a campaign on one of my new clients in the links report - i see 1970 - external links and i can press " see more in open site explorer) when i press the button, open site explorer is opened but with a message that there is no link data on this website any advice? Are you familiar with another tool that can help me investigate links to website? Thank you SEOwise
Moz Pro | | iivgi0 -
How reliable are the external link metrics found in the Open Site Explorer research tool?
I have noticed huge discrepancies with the external link metrics of one of the websites that I have been tracking since the launch of the website. Shortly after launch I captured a screenshot of the external link metrics to the website to track the progress. As I look at the same Open Site Explorer metrics now (2 months later) it has increased by 900% which is very inconsistent with the amount of link building done for the client. Thanks!
Moz Pro | | michaeleagar0 -
Why aren't DMOZ links showing up in Open Site Explorer?
I have a page that is listed in DMOZ.org, but when I run an OSE Link Analysis, that link doesn't show up. I'm currently doing the free trial for SEOMoz Pro and I'm concerned that other links might not be showing up as well. Has anyone had any similar experiences and/or do you know why DMOZ links specifically might not appear in the results?
Moz Pro | | JoyceScott0 -
What's name of SEOmoz and Open Site Explorer robots?!
I would like to exclude in robots.txt SEOmoz and Open Site Explorer bots to don't let them index my sites… what's their names?
Moz Pro | | cezarylech0