OSE returns strange domains and pages

[HDPHNS]

Hi guys, I've just started using Seomoz and so far it is awesome! However, there is one thing that I can't figure out.

When using Open Site Explorer to analyze inbounds links my competitors got, I've found that one of them has links coming from strange domains like fema.gov. It is unlikely that they have a link coming from such a site, but all these sites have a download as the top linking pages. Probably the top 20 linking root domains are like this.

So my question is; is this a bug in OSE, how do I find out if they really have a link coming from this site?

[kchandler]

The easiest way to see if they are legitimate links is to check them out yourself. Use OSE to link through to the page, view the source, and then do a find for the competitors URL. From there you will be able to tell if it was actually a link or just a fluke.

Out of curiosity, what is your competitors domain?

Regards - Kyle

[HDPHNS]

That's the strange thing, the links are not coming from pages but from downloads.

The fema.gov "page" returns a download about hurricane Katrina, some other return images or zip-files.

[kchandler]

So you are saying the zip & image files are being hosted by the competitor and fema.gov is displaying them via absolute links?

[HDPHNS]

No, there is no connection what so ever.

The top ranking root domain linking to my competitor is fema.gov and their top linking page is http://www.gismaps.fema.gov/2005graphics/storms/Katrina/downloads/rs_katrina_03Sep05_1800.hld?page=guest&p=10116

Must be some error, right?

[kchandler]

Can you supply me with your competitors URL you are evaluating so i can review the OSE results?

[KeriMorgret]

Hi Erik,

This is a dwindling bug in OSE. As OSE has had deeper crawls, it's come across downloadable files and wrongly counted them as links. We've tweaked things and mostly fixed this problem, but you will come across a few strays (or more than a few in this case). The number of wrong links like this is generally going down with each index update; check back in a day or so when this latest index update is posted and hopefully it will be reduced for you as well.

Keri

[HDPHNS]

Hi Keri,

thanks for your answer. Definitely a bug, because the strange results have disappeared since the last Linkscape update. It's a lot more usable now!

[HDPHNS]

Thanks, but I rather not since the competition is reading this as well