How do YOU use site explorer?

[Mrupp44]

I normally use open site explorer to identify links that competitors of my clients have and sometimes this gives me what I call 'some low hanging fruit' to go after. (and of course links that are more challenging to get)

I don't know why this didn't occur to me sooner. If my client is a chiropractor why not look at the links for 50 or 100 of the top rankings chiropractic sites all over the US? This would HAVE to uncover a wealth of blogs to comment on that have good authority, great industry associations, publications, forums - a whole wealth of items.

It made me wonder how many people use site explorer like I have been (top 3-4 competitors that your client has) or identifying links pointing to LOTS of competitors? How do you use it?

Couldn't you almost base an entire link building campaign using OSE? Why would this be a bad idea if not?

Just some random thoughts. THE WEEKEND IS ALMOST HERE - Have a great day everybody!

[danrawk]

hi

Sure you could. We use it to export link reports to excel and then filter by  moz page rank. we'll do that for every site that comes up in google under terms we want to compete for. next, we'll add a column in excel for yes/no to qualify the links in terms of whether we can/should go after them. It's a great tool to wrap your head around what other sites are doing and where you are relatively and to get in that "link circle" so to speak.

[BeardoCo]

We use OSE exactly like you do, but also use it as an education tool for our clients.  Many people has so many misconceptions about SEO and if you take the time to explain the basis of what you are actually doing they will see the value.

[Houses]

You could build a link campaign entirely around OSE but I would also look at other options too that competitors haven't thought of.

[Futura]

If this is the case for me, then i would just take top 2 competitors only with all their links. And then start refining the each links manually whether this is okay to consider or simply ignore the one, finally you will get clean links opportunities areas where you need to build links and compete your competitors. I won with THIS. .yes, you can too!

[KeriMorgret]

One way I use it is for ideas of types of links I might be able to get for my husband's business (selling model RC warships). There are only a couple of competitors for the fiberglass ship hulls in the US, so I look at their backlink profile. Just this evening I was browsing through, and saw that my competitor had a link from a crew website for people who had served on a certain ship, for anyone interested in building a model of that ship.

We don't carry the same hull so we couldn't get a link on that page, but we do have about 35 hulls, so there are opportunities for several links from other sites.