What causes total external links to fluctuate so much?
-
On my dashboard, external links refers to links on other websites pointing to my own website, correct?
If so, I'm seeing some interesting data on my report this week. Apparently I have 129 external links. This is down by 380. What the heck happened here? I've been doing nothing differently, just chugging along, producing good content. What on earth would cause 380 links to my website just up and disappear?
I'm also tracking a competitor. This competitor currently has 3,262 external links. But this is up by 1,900 from the previous update. What the heck happened here? I know it's probably impossible to tell for sure, but what could have caused such a meteoric growth in my competitor? I can see if they already had 50,000 and they increased by 1.9k, but 1.9k is a significant fraction of their current external links.
-
It's pretty likely it's the index. This one was quite a bit smaller than the last, so a lot of URLs are missing. That affects link metrics like PA/DA, as well. Patrick's link to Moz Health and Rand's Q&A post will give you more information.
Do your due diligence, of course—it's possible that the issue _isn't _the update. But if nothing else has changed for you, that's the most likely explanation.
-
Hello,
I experienced the same exact thing this week. Results seem off, so I'm with Patrick on this one. I'm hopeful it's related to some of the issues that Moz is having.
-Alex
-
Hi there
According to Moz Health, there have been some update issues happening lately; that could be one of the reasons why your link numbers have changed.
Just keep an eye on this. Rand also has an update in the Q+A section as well.
Hope this helps - good luck!
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
-
Product review based on sales data - How much should we link out?
Hello, We're doing a product review series based on sales data. How much should we link out? Consumersearch is the number one position with full sources for "best X product" Consumersearch has flaws it looks like. The data reads correct but the products they are promoting are not the best based on our own customer service informal interviews. Was wondering if we should include all data in the field including competitors and display our sources, or if we should just list in-house data. Any other advice for this is appreciated too. Thanks.
Link Building | | BobGW0 -
What is the importance of root domains linking to your website in Google's rankings? I notice our competition has a much higher number on keywords I'm analyzing. Thank you!
I've noticed our competition has a much higher number of "root domains" linking to their page than we do. Is this simply a result of more websites linking to them? How long does it normally take to build up these numbers/rankings? (I'm assuming it's a concerted effort, which I'll be researching.) Thank you!
Link Building | | mjfinet0 -
Does the twitter link shortening service reduce link value (strength).
We have many SEO team members that use Twitters link shortening service, will this reduce the strength or value of the page to be indexed? I ask this cause the displayed URL isn't the actual page it is going to and would like to make appropriate changes to improve our company's SEO For example: http://t.co/zHu8vIcjPx is going to page http://4wheelonline.com/atv/QuadBoss.107503 Thank you for your assistance.
Link Building | | WebRiverGroup0 -
Root Domain Link for Affiliate's 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?
Link Building | | delphia0 -
Blog traffic / link ratio? (Esimated of how much traffic will result in a link)
Hi, Was wondering if people could please tell me some estimates of how much traffic is likely to gain links to a blog post? For example 1,000 hits = 1 link, Hence 10,000 hits = 10 links to a blog post? I understand there is no magic ratio I just want to know what people have achieved. I’m after averages not just a one off really successful blog post too. Please specify the topic you achieve this in e.g. SEO, photography, business, heath... etc.
Link Building | | charles10 -
LINK BUILDING - Does it really matter if the link is not relevant?
Hi guys, I have just done a lot of link buillding and I thought I am just going to link build and I am not going to go after RELVANT links. I have property/real esate website and I have been any kind of link builidng and I have noteced some good increases in rankings.. So my questions is; Does it really matter if the link is relvant to property or real estate if I have got ranking increases? Or will it later harm my site?? Thanks Gareth
Link Building | | GAZ091 -
Link values
I have an interesting question, it's more to see other peoples opinions than looking for an exact answer, as I know noone can give that. If you had a good link on harvard.edu.. how many very low quality links on low DA domains that are full of junk, would you need to match the harvard link... if all other factors were equal. I'm gonna go for 500.. I've had great results with a few high DA/trust links. I'm not looking for anyone to give me a definative answer, just curious as to the views of other SEOs 😄
Link Building | | PeterM220 -
What percentage of my links should be directory links
I feel a lot of my link building might be a bit heavy on the directory links side. Should I limit the percentage amount of links as a part of my overall link profile? If yes what percentage of links is ok to be directory links?
Link Building | | iSenseWebSolutions0