Opensite explorer issues still there
-
Hi
I asked a question a few weeks ago regarding the linkings being shown in opensite explorer showing crazy stuff like psds and odd file formats as being the source of the links.
I was told it was being repaired , the results were almost useless and I stopped using , I have just logged back in to check again and see even more random odd results with sites that would have no reason to link to us.
Is this tool ever going to be repaired ?
Is there a ETA for the fix ?
How come you are launching new tools when the existing ones dont work ?
Kind Regards
-
Hey LL - totally hear you on both fronts. With Linkscape, Ryan's precisely right. We went crawling deeper on large sites, and, as I noted in the blog posts around this issue, encountered these binary files. We attempted a fix for the past index using a blacklist of file types. It only caught about 40% of them. We were hoping that would be closer to 90%.
We've got two new indices running. One that launches mid-November that will have more of these files removed but not all, and another in December when we think we'll have them all cleaned out.
In terms of Google's search query data in Keyword Difficulty, that does suck. Google turned off our API access and we've been going back and forth with them to try to turn it on. We, along with a few hundred other tools, got shut off all together and trying to get back in has been a long, painful process. However, the tool does not rely on this data to get accurate reports (difficulty doesn't care how many times something's searched, just how competitive the top results are, which is what we look at). Thus, the tool's still fully operational, and you can still grab the KW data from Google's AdWords tool or your own API access (not as convenient, I agree).
TL;DR - We're fixing the OSE binary files issue by December (maybe sooner) and working with Google to try to get the Adwords API data back in KW Diff (but no guarantees).
Hope that helps and a million thanks to Ryan for jumping in and helping out on this. He's not an official rep or a Moz employee, but seriously appreciate him going above and beyond.
-
I'm so sorry about the frustration you're having. It's not quite 5:00 in the morning Seattle time, so it may be a few more hours before you can get a more complete response. I couldn't sleep and happened to be checking email and saw these replies. What I can offer you right now is Rand's post about this latest update at http://www.seomoz.org/blog/november-2011-linkscape-update. He says the following about the binary file issue:
As I noted in the September index update, we have had some serious issues when crawling deeper on large domains and encountering binary files that contain code our crawler recognizes and treats as a link. To help stop this problem, we applied a black list to this index to stop a large number of the files folks had reported to us (our estimate is that ~40% of binary files are now removed). However, we know there's still more than a few of these in the database of links so we'll continue cranking away on solutions to remove them all. Our hope is to have them reduced in the next index (November) and nearly eliminated by the December index. If you're ever curious about the next/previous updates, you can always see data for them on our Linkscape calendar.
-
The next OSE update is scheduled for Nov 15th, but the crawl is already a week in. The issue will likely be resolved, but the question is whether you reported it in time to be fixed for the Nov 15th update, or whether it will be in the December update.
Good luck.
-
Let's be clear on a couple things here. YOU came to the COMMUNITY Q&A and asked a question. I am a member of the community. I pay for the SEOmoz tools and service just like you. I am donating my time in an effort to help a fellow community member (you) with a problem they are facing. I am doing so without receiving any benefit other then possibly your appreciation. Your swearing and anger are completely misdirected. Lashing out at the people who are trying to help you, and getting upset at "the messenger" who is sharing accurate information wont help you either.
SEOmoz policies are clear. If you are experiencing an issue with a tool, contact the help desk! help@seomoz.org. The Q&A is for general SEO questions, not for reporting bugs.
Your McDonald's analogy is horrible with no realistic comparison here. SEOmoz offers dozens of tools, blog, Q&A and more. You are mentioning a single bug which, while annoying, does not prevent you from compiling accurate data which is very informative and actionable. The tools are under constant development WHICH IS A GOOD THING! Trying to offer the latest and greatest has risks, and bugs are one of them.
Majestic SEO offers some nice tools. The overall feedback I have heard regarding comparisons between the two tools specific to backlinks is "OSE is better hands down". Opinions vary, and you are welcome to go try competing tools if you have the belief they are better or would otherwise solve your problems.
-
Tried option 1 holding breath
-
-
OK I just ran a check on site and the same crap I reported over 2 months ago i coming up
欢迎光临UPS www.ups.com/asia/cn/chsindex.html/route/board.php?bo_table=pds..
From the linking root domains page I get all these false results
| *.swsoft.com/ | 90 | 18,408 |
| *.ups.com/ | 90 | 39,423 |
| *.fcc.gov/ | 86 | 24,978 |
| *.spaceweather.com/| | |
| | || 80 | 8,182 |
| *.hostmonster.com/ | 75 | 44,325 |
| *.ndrc.gov.cn/ | 73 | 5,173 |
| *.bsplayer.org/ | 71 | 1,535 |
| *.rosettastone.com/ | 71 | 2,240 |
| *.iiasa.ac.at/ | 63 | 1,711 |
| *.echo-online.de/ | 61 | 3,020 |
| *.interwoven.com/ | 60 | 994 |
| *.hostingzoom.com/ | 47 | 398 |
| *.policyinnovations.org/ | 47 | 683 |
| *.gamania.co.jp/ | 46 | 771 |
| *.meijo-u.ac.jp/ | 45 | 733 |
| *.eon-mitte.com/ | 43 | 207 |
| *.circlecube.com/ | 42 | 175 |Add to this that the keyword research tool now gives no indication as to the search volume , google search data removed and this is now less of a service than was originally signed up for.
I wasnt aware that the service cost has gone down. If I go into a Mcdonalds and ask / pay for Big Mac and fries, I want big mac and fries not some crap lame excuse that the fry maker is down so I just get a big mac. I think sucking up and oh well blah blah blah blah excuses dont help myself or you anyone else. A definite fix date would be nice. If / when tools go down on our site we do NOT CHARGE CLIENTS for that month. I know of 2 other Moz users who have cancelled and gone to Majestic , I am wanting to stay with Moz but when I cannot trust the results I am seeing what choice do I have ?
PS It is a buyers RIGHT to be pissed off when said function /services dont work as promised, so please no more BULLSHIT arse licking replies.
-
In my experience you have two options:
1. Share specific examples of the issues you are facing by e-mailing help@seomoz.org. If you do such the issues will be resolved in 1-2 crawl cycles, depending on where the current crawl is at when the issue is reported.
2. Do nothing which means you are relying on others to submit an example of an issue and hoping the fix for their issue resolves yours. Option 1 is highly recommended.
At this point you can correct me and add option 3 which is to use another tool. That is always your right but many SEOs feel OSE is an invaluable tool which they cannot work without.
-
Hmm I having to contain myself here
-
Hi Ryan,
Thanks for jumping in here with a quick and helpful response.
We do expect to see an improvement (though not a complete solution) with the release of this month's index. We use our own tools, so we encounter these problems as well, and understand your frustration. We are working as fast as we can to get this issue resolved, and do thank you for your patience.
-
The OSE results are based upon the Linkscape crawl of the web. They are updated about once a month.
The last update was Sept 13th. The next update is Oct 18th. The update schedule can be seen here: http://apiwiki.seomoz.org/w/page/25141119/Linkscape%20Schedule
We all want the tool to work better. The tool worked great for a long time, but it only captures a limited portion of the internet. Requests were made to adjust the crawl to go deeper. When the changes were made, the issues you refer to appeared. The problem is when the issue was discovered, the next crawl was already in progress.
The bottom line is with a 4-5 week period between updates, it will take a lot longer to resolve any issues then any of us will be happy with. We all hate this problem but even with it, OSE is still an outstanding tool.
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
-
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 -
The videos we bought of the presentations on MozCon 2011 seem to be disappeared. Can I still watch them somewhere?
Last year we bought the videos of presentations on MozCon 2011. They seemed to be disappeared now. Is there a possibility to still watch them?
Moz Pro | | Hebels0 -
Open Site Explorer is showing "No Data" for my page titles under the "Top Pages" Tab
This is for my site: www.kibin.com/ Does this mean there is something wrong with how we're titling our pages? We're working on our on-page SEO, titles, meta descriptions this week and getting them up to snuff. I don't understand what is going on here or if it's something to be worried about. Thanks!
Moz Pro | | Kibin0 -
In Open Site Explorer is it possible to use wildcards?
If I have a section on my website called lists with articles in there can I use wildcards in Open Site Explorer to find how many backlinks all articles in that section have - and ideally which pages are most linked to? Something like www.example.com/lists/* to give number of backlinks to all articles in that website section and which are the most highly linked to. Would be a great feature to have! Cheers Siimon
Moz Pro | | SimonCh0 -
Issue Using MozScape wtih SEOGadet's Link Excel Extension
Howdy Everyone! Since i've seen the MozCon presentation by Richard Baxter at SEOGadget, i've been completely amazed by the links extension for Excel. I tried this morning to give it a try. Unfortunately, I cannot get it working, and was hoping that someone here could help me out. I know it's out of the usual "realm" of questions, but I figure it's worth a try 🙂 I successfully installed the addon and entered my Access id (as "member-xxxxxxxxxx" member is in my id) and the secret key. I then downloaded the "OSE" excel spreadsheet" just to make sure I get all the calls right (as I know the doc works) Once I do this, and enter anything in, I get the "an error occured: the remote server returend an error: 401 unauthorized. I then went into the config file (as the setup doc suggests) and disabled run time caching (or at least set "SEOMOZ_API_use_cache_YN":"N") and the SEOMOZ_API_timeout to 100000 from 60000. I have also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the addin, along with regenerating the MozScape API Key Anyway, i'm not an excel wiz, and would appreciate any help that I could get on this. I'm also about to experiment with SEO Tools For Excel if anywone wants to check that out. Thanks in advance Zach Russell
Moz Pro | | Zachary_Russell0 -
Seomoz shows issue with canconical
Hi When I use the on-page research tool seomoz tells me I have an issue with the rel canconical tag pointing to the wrong url, but I have it set so that on this particular page it points to itself (as per recommendation from seomoz) full url is http://www.growingyourownveg.com/how-to-grow/garlic.html in head section i have <base href="http://www.growingyourownveg.com/"> Have I got this wrong? Google and Bing appear to accept it OK Thanks
Moz Pro | | spes1230 -
Issue in number of pages crawled
i wanted to figure out how our friend Roger Bot works. On the first crawl of one of my large sites, the number of pages crawled stopped at 10000 (due to the restriction on the pro account). However after a few weeks, the number of pages crawled went down to about 5500. This number seemed to be a more accurate count of the pages on our site. Today, it seems that Roger Bot has completed another crawl and the number is up to 10000 again. I know there has been no downtime on our site, and the items that we fixed on our site did not reduce or increase the number of pages we had. Just making sure there are no known issues with Roger Bot before I look deeper into our site to see if there is an issue. Thanks!
Moz Pro | | cchhita0 -
Does the Moz Toolset offer anything like Raven's Backlink Explorer from fresh index
It seems like a useful feature where I can see what backlinks look like right now vs. the last monthly Moz dataset update. That is mostly because my site is new, but wondered if I was missing something. Thanks, Steven
Moz Pro | | sfmatthews0