GWMT / Search Analytics VS OpenSiteExplorer
-
Just had the experience of using OSE data to show what we call "linkrot" to a client -- only to find that GWMT / Search Analytics shows no such thing.
Fortunately the client is an old friend and no face was lost, but it was dicey there for a bit as I have come to rely on and reference OSE again and again and again,
OSE showed Domain Authority dropping by about 1/3 in the last 12 months, presumably due to old links getting broken, linking sites changing their architecture etc.
And of course, ranking is tanking, as you would expect.
But Google shows many more (and much more spammy looking!) backlinks.
Has anyone had any experience benchmarking the 2 data sets of backlinks against each other? Dr Pete?
Does one update more frequently than another?Do you trust one more than another?? If so, why??
Thanks!
-
I know it's not always the answer people want to here, but Matt's right - this is basically where we're at. OSE tends to focus on higher-authority links and quality over quantity. Unfortunately, while this works well for tracking the strengths in your link profile, it doesn't always do as well at tracking the weaknesses. We're very much interested in expanding the quantity as well, but it's a balancing act and, in the interest of full transparency, there are many engineering challenges.
People have compared our index to Majestic and Ahrefs on the blogosphere. Since I can't claim to be unbiased, I'd welcome you to read those posts and make your own judgments. In fairness to Majestic and Ahrefs, all three of us are somewhat transparent about sources and at least our general methodologies. Unfortunately, Google is not very transparent about how they sample links or choose which data to show. So, direct comparison with any of the major SEO tools to Google Search Console proves to be a lot trickier. We're also not clear on Google's update cycle for that data.
-
I agree with Eric. No one source is going to give you a full picture of your link profile. Generally, OSE is best for measuring the overall strength of a full link profile, as many low-authority sites aren't indexed.
Also, keep in mind that there are a _lot _ of reasons that DA can go down, many of which have nothing at all to do with your specific link profile. That's why we recommend using it to benchmark against competitors rather than as an absolute score. Rand goes into more detail about that here:
DA/PA Fluctuations: How to Interpret, Apply, & Understand These ML-Based Scores
-
Whenever you deal with links, even though I really like OSE, typically we have to compile all of the link data from multiple sources. We typically use OSE, Majestic, ahrefs, Google Search Console, as well as others and compile all of the links into one spreadsheet and then look at them there. Different sites have different crawlers and no one source is the most accurate.
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
-
Unsolved Search Visibility
Hi,
Moz Pro | | Avery123
Recently one of my clients had search visibility of over 3%. Within one month that number dropped all the way to 0. We also had many keywords ranking in the top ten that are now not ranked at all. Does anyone know why this may have happened?0 -
DA as a measure of link-building success/failure?
Hi all 😃 What would be a good way to track weather a website is doing good or bad in regards to link-building in google's eyes? Is the Domain Authority the best credential? If a website is penalized for link-building schemes, would it reflect on the Domain Authority shown in Moz Analytics? What other Moz score would reflect this scenario? Best regards & Thank you for your help. Carlos
Moz Pro | | 90miLLA0 -
Bing Search volume 0 is this good or bad?
So this might be a stupid question, but that whole no such thing as a stupid questions applies here. I am trying to narrow down keywords for title tags and on page optimization. I am focusing on my local, instate SEO only. So no nationwide searches, just local. When I add in my state, so Colorado then keyword It shows 0 matches. When I add Keyword then Colorado a few matches But there is a difficulty rating of 30% or so. Would this mean that it would be good to go after this? or bad because no one searches for my term? Then when I add my keyword, and no state, 6000 matches. But would this mean everyone and there brother is going after it? So unless you are a big brand, stay away? Thank you for your help. I am just trying to make sure I am using it right. Chris
Moz Pro | | asbchris0 -
Moz Crawl Test: WordPress sites with and without /feed and /trackback entires?
I have multiple WP websites and on some of the websites, on my Moz Crawl test, I see an entry for every blog post but also entries for /feed and /trackback for that single blog post. For example, www...com/someArticle www....com/someArticle/feed www...com/someArticle/trackback 1. Can anyone explain why the Crawl test is picking up the /feed and /trackback items? Is it simply because they are 301 redirects to the original post (www...com/someArticle)? 2. What setting(s) in WordPress are making this information appear? Or is it just that the site(s) that have the /feed and /trackback are displaying "normal" behavior for a WP site with a lot of trackbacks and feed entires? 3. Should /fee and /trackback, as well as /author be blocked in robots.txt? Thanks in advance for your advice and input!
Moz Pro | | Titan5520 -
What are the factors that have an impact on the google search results?
When I compare the ranking of my keywords with the Moz Rankings and my own search results I get different results even I use the google chrome incognito browser (not logged in, no cookies, no cache) and it's definitely the same country-setting (google.de) where the search is run. I double checked it with several browsers and computers, and I still get a different result as the Moz Ranking Tracker. The keyword is "schafkopf" and the site is www.sauspiel.de. The relevant country is Germany (www.google.de). Does anyone know the reason why the results differ? Could it be the search query was made from different countries/IPs? Any ideas, hints?
Moz Pro | | sauspiel0 -
Local Vs Organic Search Keyword Ranking
This isn't a question. It's a simple suggestion that I'm hoping will inspire a change at Seomoz. I love what this site does. What it helps us do as community. What it helps us achieve collectively. This suggestion is based on that love... I think we all can agree that the rankings between local reviews and organic reviews are very different beasts entirely. They should then be treated this way within the Seomoz data with separate reports. The vast majority of reputable small businesses don't care about national rankings, but would rather get to the top of the local charts with their 5-star reviews. Can you imagine the power of a report that is dedicated to helping you shape your client's results to achieve this? I like seeing the results of local in the keyword report, but we need a report dedicated to local search to make a difference in our rankings. With all of the recent chatter on local search, I'm surprised this isn't already available.
Moz Pro | | TheCTC0 -
Why can I only add three search engines to a campaign?
I need to track global keywords rankings for a web based product. Only being able to add three search engines to a campaign is limiting. I need to track at least 5 regional versions of Google, and curently have to duplicate my campaign to do this. would prefer to keep it under one campaign.
Moz Pro | | Vend0