OSE returns strange domains and pages
-
Hi guys, I've just started using Seomoz and so far it is awesome! However, there is one thing that I can't figure out.
When using Open Site Explorer to analyze inbounds links my competitors got, I've found that one of them has links coming from strange domains like fema.gov. It is unlikely that they have a link coming from such a site, but all these sites have a download as the top linking pages. Probably the top 20 linking root domains are like this.
So my question is; is this a bug in OSE, how do I find out if they really have a link coming from this site?
-
Thanks, but I rather not since the competition is reading this as well
-
Hi Keri,
thanks for your answer. Definitely a bug, because the strange results have disappeared since the last Linkscape update. It's a lot more usable now!
-
Hi Erik,
This is a dwindling bug in OSE. As OSE has had deeper crawls, it's come across downloadable files and wrongly counted them as links. We've tweaked things and mostly fixed this problem, but you will come across a few strays (or more than a few in this case). The number of wrong links like this is generally going down with each index update; check back in a day or so when this latest index update is posted and hopefully it will be reduced for you as well.
Keri
-
Can you supply me with your competitors URL you are evaluating so i can review the OSE results?
-
No, there is no connection what so ever.
The top ranking root domain linking to my competitor is fema.gov and their top linking page is http://www.gismaps.fema.gov/2005graphics/storms/Katrina/downloads/rs_katrina_03Sep05_1800.hld?page=guest&p=10116
Must be some error, right?
-
So you are saying the zip & image files are being hosted by the competitor and fema.gov is displaying them via absolute links?
-
That's the strange thing, the links are not coming from pages but from downloads.
The fema.gov "page" returns a download about hurricane Katrina, some other return images or zip-files.
-
The easiest way to see if they are legitimate links is to check them out yourself. Use OSE to link through to the page, view the source, and then do a find for the competitors URL. From there you will be able to tell if it was actually a link or just a fluke.
Out of curiosity, what is your competitors domain?
Regards - Kyle
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
-
Linking Domain vs Domain authority : Do they related!!!? (Case study)
Hi everyone
Link Building | | serikozay
I just came across a website which I'm working on. As we know DA & PA directly related to each other. I'm building organic links through last year and the result is so odd !
As you see in Pic 1, number of linking domains is naturally increasing. But in Pic 2 DA gets negative impact through this process and decreases!
How are they related anyway? Can anyone helps?
site : didar.me 111.JPG
222.JPG0 -
Impact on backlinking with https://www.domain or https://domain
Hi, this questions have bugging me for a long time now; we check our website how is indexed on Google and we see that we have most of the backlinks for URL https://www.speedhub.eu , but 15% are linked to https://speedhub.eu , in the past we had our website for http requests redirected via 301 htaccess to https://speedhub.eu without giving it importance, now we have it with www included. Bottom line questions: Is it important if your links are with www or without www, do you lose "link juice" by splitting your backlinks via links with www or without www ? Does Google make a difference for domain positioning via this criteria ? Best regards,
Link Building | | SPEEDHUB_eu0 -
How to Rank Page 2 to Page 1
We have a blog post about the fitness equipment names https://www.fitness-china.com/gym-equipment-names-pictures-prices The content of our article is very helpful and comprehensive. However, the current search for fitness equipment names only appears in the first place on the second page of GOOGLE Natural Search Results. One page. How can we improve our ranking? What we hope is SEO white hat practice
Link Building | | ahislop5740 -
Puzzled by high ranking page (#2 in SERPs) with zero/low page or domain authority
So, I get the smoothie that is page authority and domain authority and the link metrics that Moz uses to predict how well a page will rank for a certain keyword. I can look at a specific search term where we are on say, page 2 or 3, with a page authority of 1 and domain authority of 26, I get why competitors rank above us. But then I look at a keyword that is much more competitive, where we rank #2, which is awesome, where the landing page is also showing a page authority of 1, and domain authority of 26. How can we rank higher than competitors with a page authority of 56 and domain authority of 65? Their onpage optimization for the keyword is no worse, and sometimes better that ours but we maintain this ranking. By the way the competition also have hundreds if not thousands more linking root domains than our page. Any ideas why one keyword is a rockstar and one is a dud, with the same poor PA and DA?
Link Building | | seo-lab1 -
Domain and page backlinks
Hello Everyone, I am new at SEO, and I am a bit confused with the following situation: I have domain, wordpress site on it, and I am building backlinks to it (testing). I do not have "home" page among pages in wordpress, if it means anything. When I build links, i use different anchor texts, but they all point to http://somethingsomething.net -Ahrefs shows that I have 830 backlinks from 45 domains, to my URL, which is http://somethingsomething.net (it is also my site's home page address) -MOZ;s Open site explorer, on the other hand, shows the following: 8 internal links and 0 external links for page specific metrics, and 878 total links 0 external for root domain metrics. -Google Webmaster tools shows 10 external links pointing to my site Please can someone explain to me what is happening here? Thanks a lot
Link Building | | ShivFriv770 -
Landing pages rank higher thank home page
Ive been tasked to work on several sites from a client that had some shady past seo work done for them. Weak content, tons of useless links all pointing to home page, etc. Ive gone through site and given a total re-write and worked on removing and dissavowing links. Majority of the sites home page ranked high on first page google. Now the sites are closer to 100 rank than first page, and the odd thing is that home page cant be found but pages like terms and conditions or disclaimer are ranking. These pages have hardly no content compared to home pages, and while they are still ranked 80 to 100 positions back they are ranking while the home page cant be found. We have tried changing anchor text to "click here", and "for more info" instead of keyword and nothing much changed yet. Competition still has pretty much keyword anchor text and worthless links and they still rank well. Am I wasting time with rewrites and link dissavows or should I continue and eventually get the sites home page to come back on the radar? We have added social media presence and a blog that we post to regularly and for 6 months of work have hardly seen a dent for improved rankings. Am I on the right page or spinning my wheels? Any advise is appreciated.
Link Building | | anthonytjm0 -
On-Page Grader: F, Backlink still work?
For some reason, i can't optimize the page, and on-page Grader is F, whether the backlink with anchor text still work? Any thing i can do in such situation?
Link Building | | skyten0 -
Domain extensions and link building
Hi, If you were trying to rank your website for a search term in Google UK, would it be more beneficial to build links from .co.uk websites then any other? I have read on Hubspot if your targeting UK rankings then link building from .co.uk domains will have a good impact on UK rankings? Thanks
Link Building | | activitysuper0