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Thanks Philip.  I was hoping there would be some SEO value (other than traffic from affiliates site).  Is there any SEO value outside of traffic from the link?

It seems my affiliate link: http://www.hrmsplugins.com?partners=21 is not being considered as a "root domain" backlink when this link is used on their website.  Is there a reason for this?

Thank-you for your reply.

But, isn't the point of the metrics to provide the ability to evaluate your site and adjust accordingly.  Otherwise, these values have little meaning.  I understand the imperfection around making conclusions around Google algorithms, but if there is very little correlation with these metrics and how Google sees my site, then I can't use that data to conclude anything about the quality of my site in the eyes of the SERP.

In my example presented, If I have competitors ranking higher with lower domain authority and page authority than my site (respectfully with domain authority having greater weight),  what conclusions can I make around what activities or actions I should be taking to improve my site's ranking?  Why would I care about SeoMoz metrics if they aren't ultimately helping me achieve my desired result - rank higher and increase traffic.

Also remains is my question around conflicting data on domain authority change.  Any reason for difference in ranking section and competitive analysis section?

Bottom line, if my goal is compete with other sites, how do I determine from SeoMoz metrics, what I should do to stay competitive, given low correlation?

I'm not seeing a very good correlation between ranking and domain/page authority. Am I missing something here?  ie., 2nd raning at 1/0.  Also seeing competitor as "12" domain authority in "competitive domain analysis", but shows much higher here for same competitor?

<colgroup><col width="94"> <col width="171"> <col width="108"></colgroup>
| Page Authority | Page Linking Root Domains | Domain Authority |
| 70 | 40 | 83 |
| 1 | 0 | 41 |
| 51 | 3 | 97 |
| 34 | 5 | 36 |
| 41 | 3 | 52 |
| 23 | 1 | 59 |
| 59 | 49 | 100 |
| 48 | 2 | 100 |
| 52 | 6 | 77 |
| 27 | 2 | 14 |
| 1 | 0 | 57 |
| 15 | 1 | 36 |
| 28 | 2 | 36 |
| 28 | 2 | 36 |
| 24 | 1 | 57 |
| 28 | 2 | 36 |
| 21 | 1 | 36 |