Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Different number of backlinks (Search console - Majestic)
-
Hi there,
I saw a notable difference between the number of backlinks from ref domains to my website in search console and majestic.
I basically have two questions: why such a difference? And which tool gives me the most accurate number between these two?
Thank you!
-
Google's primary objective is to give users the best experience, off course they do so by crawling the entire web for the most relevant results based on their search queries.
Google's Search Console is a free service that provides you with links Google the came across / found in the before mentioned proces.
With this in mind, be aware that Google does not crawl the web to give you as a webmaster the most recent en relevant backlink reports.
many links in Google's Search Console can therefore be old, non-existing links (even in most recent link reports)
Another shortcoming of Search Console in my opinion, is that is show where links are/were FROM, but not where they link TO.I personally think paid services such as MOZ, Majestic en Ahrefs do better jobs at this, because their primary objective is to give webmasters / SEM's the best experience, not searchers.
-
There will likely always be a significant variance between backlink tools. They have to first discover the links, and later determine if the links are still there. It's a pretty big job to do, for the entire internet.
Google Search Console will show you a sampling of links. You'll seldom ever get anywhere near the whole story from them. Unless, the site is new. I've still seen months long delays in reporting totally legit backlinks.
Majestic is pretty good. I've always found their metrics to be something of a gobble-dee-guk, which is only useful for comparisons between sites - within Majestic.
aHrefs is another backlink tool. And they do a fine job. But still, they have to update their database after crawls. The same as anyone else.
Open Site Explorer has always kind of lagged, but it's another source you should consider for backlink data.
So, no one tool has all of the information. I don't think that will happen for at least 10 years, if not more.
The reasons various tools lack certain information varies. Some tools, like ahrefs, are actually on the 'bad bots list'. And some webmasters use that to block their official bot from crawling their site. Thus no links would be discovered through their official bot, where sites block their bot.
Backlink research is as post-modern as it gets. (read: literature) You're seldom privileged with all the information. The sources you think should be authoritative aren't.
The answer has been, and will be for a while, seek out an array of backlink data information. No one thing is going to do it for you.
-
It'll vary because of the crawlers, each company will have a different amount of sites in their database, and they will also have a different process to get their data live in their console. Honestly I would take each with a grain of salt and just try and use them as a rough guide.
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
-
Backlinks from The Sun, New Yor Post, etc...
Hello there, Some of my competitors have backlinks from very well-known newspaper websites like New York Post or The Sun. And it is really obvious that their backlinks are paid ones. On these news websites, they don't talk about ghost writing stuff or "partnership" for backlinks. They only write about banner advertising. So I was wondering how they can get a backlink from them.
Link Building | | Veptune
Do some writers sell those backlinks somewhere else, under the table? Are they in contact with SEO agencies who paid them and if this is the case, does their "manager" know it? or does the company directly have partnerships with SEO agencies? Basically, how to get a backlink from the NY Post or The Sun ? Thanks0 -
How to handle pre-existing backlinks on new site.
Hi - We built a new site on a URL that had previously been used. We are noticing a lot of spammy backlinks pointing to our current site and ending up on a 404 page. Any recommendations on how to handle this?
Link Building | | JJKM551 -
Backlinks from newpapers that requires subscription
Don't know if this has been answered in another post, but what happens to backlinks that requires users to subscribe and/or pay to view the content with the backlink on it?
Link Building | | helgeolaussen
Some newspaper sites has subscription requirement to view certain content.
Does the backlink drop in value? Or is there any negative effect from this?0 -
Trading Backlinks a good idea?
New to the "backlinking" party. Wondering if its 'good practice' to trade links with other websites within a like-industry. We've been receiving a lot of emails from other websites asking us to trade links. Is this a good link building practice anymore? Thanks!
Link Building | | asa-php0 -
Adding backlinks in old articles?
I am trying to get a few more links to get a few of my pages to rank and I am thinking about adding some more backlinks on my own site on some of the old blog articles as well as some of my other related blogs. My question is - is it still beneficial to link from these articles that are say 1 year old or more, or would it be far more valuable to write new articles on the blog containing those same links?
Link Building | | bloggingyourpassion0 -
Why do we need proxy to so Backlinks?
Does Google knows the IP addresses that the backlinks are created from? if i create 200 backlinks for my site without proxies will google ban my site because it will look like i a the one who create all the backlinks? May i ask how many proxies do you guys need to create around 200 backlinks per day? If i already use the proxies today Can i use the same set of proxies to create backlinks tomorrow? THanks
Link Building | | locoto00071 -
How does Google treat multiple backlinks on the same page?
Hello mozCrew Just a quick yay or nay. We have an embeddable code on our site for customers who want to post our link on their website listed here: http://www.accupos.com/etc/embed-code-restaurants.php But in our link, there are actually 2 separate links, one branding link that says the name of our company, AccuPOS, and another link which targets a specific target keyword "Restaurant POS Software". My question is, does Google only give credit for the branding link, since it is listed FIRST? Or will we get double credit? Is this a good or bad practice, and what would you recommend? Thank you! Derek Moore
Link Building | | DerekM880 -
Should I Just Copy A Competitor's Backlinks?
Forgive the newbie question, but now that I have found SeoMoz and OpenSiteExplorer, should I just piggy back on my competitors backlinks? What would be the downside? By way of explanation, I've never had the need to explore SEO before. Our site, Widgets.com has always ranked highly for all Widgets keywords because we have the keyword in our domain and our site has been around since 1998. But out of the blue this summer, a site, let's call them WidgetsCircus.com suddenly began outranking us on widgets keywords, and pretty much every keyword we can imagine in our little widget universe. Now that I have run OpenSiteExplorer, I can see how they've done it. They've pretty much spent the last year commenting on blog posts all over the place, editing wiki pages, etc., and built thousands of links for all these widget keywords. So, I'm wondering: why shouldn't I just go down the list of links and do exactly what they've done? Where they commented on a blog, why don't I just comment right along side them. Obviously, this has worked for them! Wouldn't it work for us too? Or is that too simple?
Link Building | | brianmcc0