How do you use mozMetrics

[caseyhen]

How does everyone use the mozMetrics (mozRank, mozTrust, Domain Authority, Page Authority) with their clients?  Do they ask you what these metrics mean and if so how do you explain it to them?

[AaronSchinke]

I have recently had a client ask about these metrics. After explaining that the numbers are just being used to compare them with competitors, I usually begin to explain the types of actionable items that influence authority and trust. I think most of us could do a better job explaining what it is that we do as well as why were doing it.

[VisualSense]

This weeks whiteboard friday is spot on the subject. Make sure to view it, it will definitely give you some ideas to think about.

[tomcraig86]

I use them to rank myself against a competitor, and also to judge link sources etc.

[LuminConsutling]

Hah...There you go!

[eyepaq]

I am new to SEO Moz and until now I've only shared the metrics with one client. They were very happy seeing reasonable DA and PA (after explaining what those are of course ).

However I intend to be transparent about the SEO MOZ tools I use, especially because showing that as a provider I am spending on tools is a good way to backup the fees I'm asking and underlining that I don't spend 90% of the time building stats and updates and 10% working and in fact the stats are almost build in an automate manner and I can focus on actual dedicated SEO work for the client.

[Dan-Petrovic]

Hi Casey, I thought it might be also interesting to know that we're not using anything "moz" when talking to our clients. The reason is that SEOMoz metrics are a part of proprietary system and not directly associated with search engines. We of course use tools for internal research and find them quite helpful.

We do reference Majestic though, probably because they provide very simple and solid figures in terms of link acquisition velocity and link quantities. Though we need to disclose that their crawling data is not equal to the one of Google.

[Getz.pro]

I have to walk them into the question. I deal with clients that know NOTHING about SEO and the first place I direct them to is SEOmoz beginners guide.

I have an initial presentation that outlines important factors so when they see them in future reports, they can see growth.

But I have never been asked directly.

[gfiorelli1]

I use mozMetrics in combination with the Linkscape visualization and comparison graphic, especially when it comes to audits.

Thanks to the graphic I am able to explain also what the metrics mean. If I know my client is more keen to search or own some SEO knowledge (for instance, if it is another web agency), I let myself being more deep in my explications of the metrics. If not, I tend to be more sintetic and use just PA/DA as metrics and use them as a better than PageRank green bar metrics to understand the force for a single page and an entire domain.

[NewBuilder]

It is normally best explained as something similar to Google Pagerank which most people are familiar with. The fact that they both show just a number makes it very abstract and you cannot relate it to anything. You are just looking at some random numbers. I try to summarize it (PA is the strength of your entire domain expressed in a single number; PA is the strength of single page expressed in a single number).  It is very usefull for comparing websites strength.

[ThomasHgenhaven]

It is very hard to us them as absolute numbers, but they are great to show clients in competitive analyses.

Knowing their website has DA 71 might not say a lot. But if their nemesis have DA 73 they are going to be willing to spend ressourcing on link building.

[petrakraft]

Most of our clients are not interested in theory and numbers. They just want to see better results, rankings, ROI ....

For a small number we explain the metrics with examples of authority websites and small personal websites - like that they understand it well.

[caseyhen]

Do you ever have to explain what PA or DA is to clients?  I'm trying to get a sense to how people outside the mozPlex explain it to their clients.

[goodnewscowboy]

I use them mostly for my own study ofclient sites and competitors sites Casey. My current stable of clients tend to still dwell on  SERP rankings and numbers of visitors, while the metric I'm trying to train them in is conversions.

But if I had to explain mozRank, mozTrust, Domain Authority,and  Page Authority, I would tell them that the numbers are an approximation of what the Google algorithm assigns to pages, sites, etc. and since Google isn't sharing, it's the best method od ascertaining Google's values.

[Getz.pro]

Hi Casey,

I use PA and DA to show authority and open a dialog as to what authority is and how to obtain higher authority through good link building. This give me the other side of the SEO coin; relevancy being the other.

Great place to better understand these for those who need a refresher:

http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/link-topics