Backlink Analysis Tools
One of the most important processes in SEO analysis of your websites is analyzing your backlinks, which have a significant impact on Google ranking factors. Through these analyses, you can learn how your competitors achieve success and develop new strategies, as well as evaluate your existing backlink profile.
In this article, I will discuss the user-focused advantages and disadvantages of some backlink tools we have used in corporate SEO projects. Let us start by introducing Open Site Explorer.
Open Site Explorer
Compared to other backlink tools, Open Site Explorer provides higher-quality and more detailed data. Its detailed backlink analyses include information about whether links are nofollow, anchor text values, and Page Authority and Domain Authority metrics developed by SEOmoz using the basic principles of the PageRank algorithm.
As you know, Google has not provided clear PageRank values in recent years, and these metrics are not direct criteria for purchasing or evaluating links. For this reason, these metrics are particularly important. We can also find similar metrics in Majestic SEO, which we will discuss in the next section.
You can access this data, along with more detailed information such as the number of shares on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, through the PRO membership, which costs $99 per month.
We frequently use Open Site Explorer, particularly for analyzing social metrics in SEO. This PRO membership also gives you access to all other SEOmoz tools.
Of course, Open Site Explorer is not exclusively a paid service. Unfortunately, free users can perform only three backlink analyses per day and cannot access all the available details. PRO users, on the other hand, can access all data without limitations.
When performing your analyses, set your filters to "followed + 301", "only external", and "pages on this root domain" to track all external backlinks pointing to your entire website. Otherwise, links generated through internal linking may cause confusion.
Majestic SEO
Majestic SEO is another online service that works in a similar way. Although its free version offers very limited functionality, the premium version includes many features. Its Historical Data and Fresh Data features are particularly noteworthy, providing valuable insights through historical analyses.
As you know, the balance of backlinks a website receives is just as important as the total number of backlinks. Majestic SEO does not simply provide current data. It also compares the number of your backlinks in the past with the number you have today, helping you establish a balanced backlink strategy.
Recent research, particularly studies conducted abroad, indicates that Majestic SEO analyzes more up-to-date data compared to SEOmoz. For this reason, its Citation Flow and Trust Flow algorithms also work more accurately. Based on the Hilltop algorithm, maintaining up-to-date data is essential for improving these types of metrics.
We generally use this tool to analyze competitors that have experienced sudden growth during our clients SEO campaigns. Analyzing websites that have rapidly increased their rankings within specific date ranges using a Reverse SEO approach can help you develop a strategy that achieves similar success for your own website.
Cognitive SEO
Let us continue with Cognitive SEO. Rather than describing itself as a backlink checker, Cognitive SEO defines itself as a backlink management tool.
I believe there are many positive and useful things to say about this backlink tool. Once you start using it, you will notice that its user-friendly interface makes it easy to work with. With the extensive data it provides, you can analyze your backlinks thoroughly and quickly.
What interests me most is the interface provided by the system and the comprehensive information it offers. By adding your own websites as well as those of your competitors, it can provide valuable Reverse SEO data.
After entering your own information and your competitors information into the system, you need to wait for a certain amount of time for the analysis to be completed, depending on your backlink count. During this process, many details are checked, from whether links are still active to their technical parameters.
It also becomes a useful option because it provides backlink data from sources such as Majestic SEO, SEOmoz.org, Ahrefs, and Blekko.
Afterward, it presents the results in a simple interface where you can view everything in a single window. This interface provides detailed information about the current status of each link, the title and anchor text of the page linking to your website, the link type, and even the element through which the link was obtained.
It also checks details such as mozRank and mozTrust from SEOmoz in real time and displays them on the screen.
Finally, one of the features that impressed me most is that links are checked instantly rather than being collected in a database for later analysis. While many link analysis programs perform bulk crawls, store links in a database, and then present the results, this tool analyzes links in real time and provides immediate data.
Cognitive SEO is a paid service. However, you can try it with a 14-day free trial. Afterward, you can continue your SEO backlink analyses through its paid service.
SEO SpyGlass
Unlike the other tools, SEO SpyGlass has a long history and is not a web-based service but a software application. It is part of the SEO PowerSuite package.
At present, it does not provide particularly reliable results. However, it attempts to create an up-to-date database by collecting data from numerous web services.
Unfortunately, because it does not use its own data, it cannot provide very comprehensive results for these backlinks.
Nevertheless, one of the factors that makes this tool attractive is its one-time payment option. However, it is worth remembering that despite the company offering a one-time payment system, it may request additional payments after a certain period under the name of "algorithm updates".
Blekko
Blekko is not actually a backlink analysis tool but a search engine. Launched with the slogan "Spam Free Search", the search engine aimed to provide spam-free results. However, perhaps because it could not deliver sufficiently accurate results, it attempted to use its existing crawling capabilities to create an SEO infrastructure.
Although it is a search engine, the company has restricted certain information to a separate section called "SEO Data". To access this information, you need to register with the system for free.
Nevertheless, it is worth emphasizing that it is difficult to consider it acceptable for a tool originally developed as a search engine to have fewer indexed pages than many backlink analysis tools and to require user input for search-related queries.
Exalead
Like Blekko, Exalead is also a search engine. Its algorithm allows you to perform link searches as well.
Although it is difficult to say that it provides highly accurate and extensive backlink lists for websites in Türkiye, it is a reliable service for international projects, offering up-to-date and useful results.
To list backlinks, simply search for "link.com" without quotation marks. Although it may not be a preferred service due to its limited data, I consider it a good alternative among free tools.
It is a visually appealing tool because it provides snapshots and short descriptions of websites linking to yours at the same time. In addition, it displays the titles and URLs of the websites from which your backlinks originate.
The fact that this service is free makes Exalead a potentially preferable option compared to Majestic SEO and Open Site Explorer.
Furthermore, comparisons made with Yahoo Site Explorer before it was discontinued showed that Exalead backlink analyses were very close to the results provided by Yahoo. This comparison may be a useful evaluation criterion for SEO specialists.
Link Research Tools
Link Research Tools is one of the best tools I can recommend for backlink analysis.
Launched with the slogan "THE ONLY SEO TOOL YOU NEED", the software provides fast and straightforward results. It helps SEO specialists and backlink analysts avoid unnecessary information by directing them toward a database containing only the data they need.
One of the most important factors that makes this database so valuable is that it collects data from 53 different sources. These sources include SEOmoz Open Site Explorer and Majestic SEO data.
This allows you to perform any analysis you need through a single system instead of purchasing multiple backlink analysis tools from different providers.
One of its most important features is the ability to check whether all links are active. You can also evaluate acquired links using 22 different criteria.
However, due to its high pricing policy, it is fair to say that this tool mainly targets agencies. Its packages range from €169 to €900 per month, making it difficult for individual users to afford.
Ahrefs
One of the most important features of Ahrefs is its detailed reporting, presented through graphs that are particularly appealing to SEO agencies.
However, an interesting feature is that internal links are also included in backlink analyses. I believe this is because internal links are technically also referred to as backlinks. I think this feature makes it considerably more difficult for users to distinguish backlinks from other websites from internal links.
In addition, Ahrefs is a paid backlink analysis tool. When performing free searches, it displays only 100 results.
Furthermore, the shortened display of URLs constantly forces users to check exactly which page a backlink originates from, resulting in a significant waste of time.
My purpose in introducing Ahrefs is simply to show that this alternative exists. Apart from that, I would like to point out that it is not a backlink tool I can confidently recommend for your SEO activities.
Conclusion
In this article, I introduced eight backlink analysis tools that we frequently use in our corporate projects.
For more detailed information and comprehensive analyses, I strongly recommend reading the article "Majestic SEO – Open Site Explorer Shootout!" written by Stone Temple.
I believe the data you obtain from these tools, which you will frequently need in your work, will be highly valuable.
