SEOmoz Linkscape : New Backlink Checking Tool Reviewed

Last week SEOmoz announced the launch of their new backlink checking tool Linkscape and I felt I couldn’t help (briefly) reviewing it at our (already traditional) SEJ toolbox series. So…

What’s so unique about the tool?

1. It has its own index (currently 30 billion pages; updated every 25 days);
2. It introduces the array of new SEO metrics giving you the opportunity to take a closer look at your (competitor’s) link profile and even get an idea of possible search algorithm:
   1. Internal and external link counts (juice-passing links to the page);
   2. MozRank (mR) – 10-point measure of global query-independent link authority or popularity;
   3. External mozRank;
   4. Domain-Level mozRank (DmR);
   5. Domain Juice (DJ) – the sum of mozRanks for all URLs in a domain;
   6. External Domain Juice;
   7. MozTrust (mT) – see also my recent post on Trust vs Authority.

Great features:

• compare pages and domains side-by-side;
• plenty of sorting and filtering options for each report;
• export to CSV;
• save reviews for further reference;
• anchor text search within the backlink results;
• see 301s and 302s, shared/same IP blocks, pages with NoIndex meta tag; links from noscript; image links, etc

Reports:

• Basic / free report includes domain and URL backlink data overview based on the above metrics:

• Advanced report:
  • Dashboard contains the link data overview; 5 most powerful pages linking in (based on the metrics) and 5 most common anchor texts;
  • “Links to URL” / “Links to Domain” lists bakclinks in order of importance. Plus it gives important data for each linking page and domain (its mozRank, mozTrust and estimated link juice passed);
  • “URL anchor text” / “Domain anchor text” lists most frequent (important) external anchor texts. Of course, you can click on each one and get the list of linking pages that use it. Note: you can sort the list and see your most powerful anchor text (the one that passes “most mozRank”).

Rates:

• the basic report is free;
• SEOmoz PRO members ($79/month) are given 20 credits (1 credit = 1 advanced report); the credits will be renewed regularly, I guess.

You can have a look at both positive comments and critique at the Linkscape feedback post and Sphinn.

More on backlink checking:

• Majestic SEO: advanced backlink analysis tool;
• Using Yahoo! advanced operators for advanced backlink check;
• Explore your competitors’ backlinks beyond Yahoo Site Explorer.

(Please see SEJ tool review disclosure.)