When to stop link building because page authority is low - open site explorer
-
Hi,
I'm link building with Open Site Explorer. I'm really picky in get links from only high quality sites.
When do you stop going down the list of possible backlink providers because the page authority is too low.
I usually stop at 40, but what do you do, why, and what does it depend on?
-
Lots of people come to these forums looking for numbers and formulas.
If the link is going to be on what looks like a quality site then it doesn't matter what the page authority is...
.... and if the site has a high page authority but it looks like a crappy manipulative site then why would you want a link on it?
-
Disregard page strength, acquire links.
...as long as the page is relevant. The fact that cheaper forms of SEO like article marketing are still effective proves that poor page strength shouldn't sap your efforts so quickly. I use page strength more of an indicator of where on my priority list I should put acquiring a link, if possible, and also assuming the page is relevant.
I understand not wanting to be associated with bad neighborhoods. Page strength is not a strong indicator of a bad neighborhood. One common SEO tactic is to create contests, correct? One recent contest I developed required participants make a review of a product, and naturally that meant linking to the client website. Most of these reviews came from personal blogs and general websites that did not have a lot of domain authority. Yet it was still a boost to rankings and domain authority.
Use your own judgement by looking at a website and determining if you want to be associated with it. Don't pick and choose based on the website popularity alone.
-
Someone else may be able to give you an 'absolute stopping point', but I really play it by ear if there's something that looks relevant and good, then I'll try and get a link.
I obviously wouldn't put as much effort into getting a link with a lower PA/DA as a high one. If I was to put a lower limit, I'd always use domain authority rather than page authority as this to me is a much better indicator, especially if you're looking for a link on the site in general, not just specifically on the same page as your competitor's link.
If I was to use a lower limit, I'd probably stick around the 40 mark for domain authority to be worth putting time and effort into getting a link, but I would still consider a lower DA if the link was relevant and fairly easy to get.
-
Good response. That helps. Yes, I will use gut instinct. There's one thing, though - I don't want any new sites. One of my requirements is age. Does that change your response? Also, where do you absolutely stop? PA 25? PA 20? I'd like to have a stopping place to rely on.
-
A link can still be good regardless of page authority, simply because there are many other ranking factors involved to determine the quality of a site which simply aren't available to OSE. You could easily get a spammy directory much higher in the OSE listings than a good quality content rich site that's lacking links further down.
I would use a combination of page authority and gut instinct. 40 is probably a good level to use as a marker, however there may be some newish or good content sites further down that you can make a judgement on; it's just that they may be fewer and farther in-between
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
-
Difference between Open site Explorer's Root Domain and Basic SERP Report's Linking Root Domain?
Why show different Linking Root Domain open site explorer and SERP of any websites? Open Site explorer show different linking root domain and Basic SERP Report show different linking root domain of any website url, who is the correct and why it is show different linking root domain?
Moz Pro | | surabhi60 -
Low KDS but high DA for all page 1 sites
Hi there A KDS report question... My client has a keyword with a low KDS (garden hose - 28). Intuitively this seemed too low, and when I checked what ranks, it is all high quality brand sites with high DAs. Admittedly the specific pages ranking have low PAs, but I can't see my client ever being able to compete with these big boys right now. How come the KDS is so low? This seems just wrong as the metric implies it is a good keyword to target - I know there are always lots of other things to check, but this does make me less confident with KDS reporting Anyone got any thoughts on this? Many thanks
Moz Pro | | Chammy3 -
Backlink profile from Open Site Explorer does not seem to update
I have been monitoring our backlink profile on Open Site for over a year now and despite getting a number of new domains linking to us they are not reflected in the tool. Our URL is: www.BlueLinkERP.com Any thoughts on why this might be the case? The number of linking domains also seems very low compared with other tools we use (i.e. HubSpot)
Moz Pro | | BlueLinkERP0 -
Open Site Explorer CSV export limit?
Hi! Something has been puzzling me. I've filter down a few things within open site explorer to produce some links of interest to me - around 500 records are showing When I try to export it via CSV however, only 25 links appear? Anyone know why and how I can get the rest?? David
Moz Pro | | rejigdigital0 -
Open Site Explorer & SEOMoz Bar for Chrome Showing Different Numbers
When I run a report on OSE checking for linking root domains, the number is always different from the number of root domain links that the SEOMoz bar shows in Chrome. For example on OSE a site shows 88 root domain links, but in the SEOMoz bar, it shows 110 root domain links. I've tested this issue with several sites and there is always a discrepancy in the number of root domain links. Does anyone know which one is actually correct and why this might be happening? Thanks.
Moz Pro | | torontojon0 -
Why does site explorer keep crashing?
For around the last 24 hours, every time I run site explorer it gets to just over a quarter of the way through and then just stops. I've tried this with different sites and it makes no difference. Although this is the first time I've had this problem (I don't use the tool regularly myself) one of my colleagues says it often happens to her. Is this a problem SEOmoz can explain and/or fix?
Moz Pro | | Chuck-Boom0 -
Open Site Explorer only exporting 120 rows!
Has this happened to anyone else? I keep running reports in OSE and then exporting them, but I only get 120 rows exported to the csv when it should be several thousand. Thought I'd ask around before raising it to the Moz team!
Moz Pro | | PeterAlexLeigh0 -
Why is a low ranking site outperforming a higher one?
Hi, I've got a question here that is more about learning than about rectifying this specific situation, as it is a low traffic (low dollar) situation. I would appreciate your help. Thanks, Ken The targeted long-tail is: carrollton ga internet marketing The targeted site is: http://www.kennethlewis.com/ Yet, when I run the keyword search I get this other site of mine, which is older, but has much worse metrics. http://www.breemawellness.com/ On this site, all I did was put a in-text link on it and added the keywords to my title tags. Open Site Explorer shows these metrics: KennethLewis.com 34, 23, 18, 98 vs. BreemaWellness 27, 15, 7, 10. Both are on the same server. Note: -Until two months ago the KennethLewis.com was only partially about Internet Marketing- mildly so, actually- and it was a 2-3 page iWeb not-optimized site. But BreemaWellness has never been about Internet Marketing, and those words were just added two months ago for the first time. -KennethLewis.com gets regular content changes, to the blog. BreemaWellness.com almost never gets touched. Thoughts?
Moz Pro | | ken-lewis0