Open Site Explorer - Link Export Not Showing Same Number of Links
-
Noob question. I'm using Open Site Explorer to hunt down some external links for a website. In the attached image (post-pressing the filter button), it says I have 889 external links, but after I've downloaded the CSV, I only get 695 links.
Why the difference in number? And if I'm doing something wrong, how do I make sure I'm getting the full amount of external links to my client's website?
Thanks!
-
Makes a little more sense. I'll get it eventually
Thanks Megan!
-
Hey Ellen!
In the OSE interface, we'll tell you how many links you have total, but we'll always only show you a maximum of 25 links per domain, whether it be in the interface or in the CSV export. Also, the link per domain max applies regardless of how many links you have. So, if you only have 1 linking domain, but 75 links from that same domain, we'll still only show the top 25.
The data in exporting to a CSV versus the interface in OSE is the same, but exporting to a CSV gives you all your link information on the same page and can make it easily sortable.
I hope this helps! I know this can be confusing, so if you have any other questions, please let me know!
-
Hi Megan,
Thank you for the response, but I still don't know if that answers my question.
Does this mean in my particular case that I can navigate through the full 889 reported links only in Open Site Explorer, but I cannot export that full 889 (well below the 100,000 links) to CSV? If I export to CSV then I only see 695?
Can you speak a little more about the difference between viewing external links in OSE vs. exporting links to CSV?
Thanks!
-
Hey there! This is Megan from SEOmoz. Great question! So, the drastic difference in the number of links is because we'll only show you the top 25 links per domain. Our API that we use for OSE currently has a total limit of up to 100,000 links for any domain, so we only show the top 25 because if, for example, someone has 500,000 links and most of them are from the same domain, then we wouldn't want to fill up all 100,000 links with the same domain information and leave out links from other important domains. Instead, we'll only show the top 25 based on page authority so we can show the links from other sites without the same domain taking up all 100,000 spaces. In other words, we want to show you your link diversity.
I hope this helps explain things! If you have any other questions, let me know.
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
-
Open Site Explorer detects links from a site that redirects to it? How is this possible?
I was checking external links to a site: scte-brasilien.de/ and was wondering why there are so many links pointing from another domain (reisen-nach-brasilien.com/) although it redirects to scte-brasilien.de/? So when checking the redirecting domain OSE knows its redirecting... The URL you've entered redirects to another URL. We're showing results for scte-brasilien.de/ since it is likely to have more accurate link metrics. See data forreisen-nach-brasilien.com/ instead? How is this possible? best regards
Moz Pro | | inlinear
Holger0 -
Open Site Explorer & SEOMoz Bar for Chrome Showing Different Numbers
When I run a report on OSE checking for linking root domains, the number is always different from the number of root domain links that the SEOMoz bar shows in Chrome. For example on OSE a site shows 88 root domain links, but in the SEOMoz bar, it shows 110 root domain links. I've tested this issue with several sites and there is always a discrepancy in the number of root domain links. Does anyone know which one is actually correct and why this might be happening? Thanks.
Moz Pro | | torontojon0 -
Data from Open Site Explorer to Excel
Hello, Im having a problem with the data I pull off from Open Site Explorer. Everytime I download a report in CSV, when I open it in Excel 2007, all the information is like this: http://i.imgur.com/rwMxO.png What can I do to extract the information exactly as it appears in the Open Site Explorer with all the fields in the right place? Tks guys, Regards, Pedro Pereira [](<a href=)" target="_blank">a> rwMxO.png
Moz Pro | | PedroM0 -
In my crawl diagnostics, there are links to duplicate content. How can I track down where these links originated in?
How can I find out how SEOMOz found these links to begin with? That would help fix the issue. Where's the source page where the link was first encountered listed at?
Moz Pro | | kirklandsl0 -
Open site Explorer CSV output mixed up
If I download a CSV output of the external links and the characteristics of them, the output is mixed up. When I put the data in Columns, some columns are disordered. Do more people experience these problems? Is there some preference I have to adapt? Thanks! SFCTf
Moz Pro | | MartijnHoving820 -
Open Site Explorer Missing URL's
I see a link to my site on a couple different url's, but they are not listed in OSE. The links have been active for a long time too. Does OSE not track all inbound links from all sites? Thanks, Stephen
Moz Pro | | stats440 -
Best way to count number of inbound links to a subfolder?
What's the best way to count and track the number of inbound links to a subfolder like http://www.domain.com/folder ? I've tried using open site explorer but I can't seem to get it to show just inbound links for things under a subfolder. i.e. links to domain.com/folder domain.com/folder/subfolder etc. Thanks!
Moz Pro | | twobitoperation0 -
Exporting .csv
I love all the data Roger gives me if I ask him politely. It's awesome to turn that data into a nice looking Excel file for analysis. There is however one situation that gets me into trouble. When I export CSV, open it in Excel and convert text to columns (seperated by comma) and e.g. a Page Title contains a comma (which often happens); my file seperation is messed up. Anyone got some tips to handle that? Thanks in advance mozzers
Moz Pro | | Partouter0