Search Console says 111 links. Moz says 3\. Do I have a site problem?

[jheath]

I understand that Moz doesn't show all links; but i would think that out of 111 links from 43 root domains, they'd at least show 20 or 30 root domains. I definitely have more than 3 credible sites linking back to me. So do I have an issue? I've been trying to get my site ranking for 9 months, and I've tried EVERYTHING. Still no significant movement. Please help me figure out what's going on.

I've been trying to get my site ranking for 9 months, and I've tried EVERYTHING. Still no significant movement. I'm wondering—maybe even hoping—that this will help me uncover a problem that could set the whole thing back on course. Please help me figure out what's going on.

[ChrisAshton]

Hi Jared,

Unfortunately this discrepancy is unlikely to be an indication of anything to do with your site. I have seen similar happen in the past and checked across the 3 major link profile tools and got wildly different numbers in each.

I'm a very big fan of Moz and their suite of tools but OSE is often the one to report the least number of domains by quite a margin so I wouldn't be surprised by what you're seeing.

[jheath]

Really appreciate you taking the time to answer, Chris. I would understand if other backlink checkers gave me a different answer, but SEMRush also says just 1. I know I have guest posts out there with links coming back. The links are _not _"nofollow" so I'm at a loss. Can you think of any reason why backlink checker tools all consistently agree that my backlinks don't exist? (Please excuse the tinge of desperation in my voice.)

[ChrisAshton]

Hi Jared,

No problem at all. If you're happy to share your URL here I can throw it into another one that we use and let you know what I see.

To do the right thing by the provider of that tool, I wouldn't be comfortable exporting all the data but I can at least let you know what sort of volume I see as far as referring domains.

Since you're seeing a decent number in Search Console, I doubt this is an issue. To my knowledge, there is nothing you can do on your site to block inbound inlinks from being counted, it has to be done on the other end.

[Highland]

Remember that Moz's index is not a complete index of the Internet. They freely note that https://moz.com/blog/mozscape-index-2015

You'll notice this index is a bit smaller than much of what we've released this year. That's intentional on our part, in order to get fresher, higher-quality stuff and cut out a lot of the junk you may have seen in older indices. DA and PA scores should be more accurate in this index (accurate meaning more representative of how a domain or page will perform in Google based on link equity factors), and that accuracy should continue to climb in the next few indices. We'll keep a close eye on it and, as always, report the metrics transparently on our index update release page.

Moz is aiming towards accurate representation, not completeness. I don't think that anyone but a complete spider like Google or Bing could tell you how many links you actually have.

[EricaMcGillivray]

Hi Jared,

The comments below are correct. Moz's index isn't a complete view of the web, but we try to crawl quality sites out there. Our index is always growing. But to be frank, no one -- not even Google -- crawls the entire web. There are just too many pages out there and computing power is expensive.

We focus on quality sites because we believe (and hope) our customers and community are focusing on high quality links that are still active, which are going to give them the best SEO results. (Also a huge part of the web is just spam nonsense.) Many SEOs -- and I include myself here -- will use multiple sources of link indexing for the broadest view of the web and their sites. I use Moz's OSE and Google Webmaster Tools (free and big, but includes lots of spam, which can be great if you're fighting a Penguin penalty). Others will use OSE, GWT, and OSE competitors like Majestic and Ahrefs, especially if link building is huge for them and they want to account for every penny. Every index is a bit different.

[jheath]

Thanks so much, Chris. I'm working www.drugjustice.com.

[jheath]

Definitely. And I understand the tool not showing spammy sites. I just thought that it'd have more of my quality links up. Perhaps with time it will.

[jheath]

Thanks, Erica. I appreciate your time and attention!

[DavidMolnar]

You already received a lot of helpful suggestions. Have you ever tried http://www.backlinkwatch.com/ ? I use that sometimes to get an extra opinion. I use Semrush as well and always see a difference from that and webmaster tools and etc..

[ChrisAshton]

Hi Jared,

I'm seeing 56 referring domains and 288 backlinks pointing to that domain in the tool that we use.

[jheath]

That's great! What's the tool? I'd like to see about getting a subscription.

[ChrisAshton]

The tool is ahrefs

[SproutDigital]

This is a great discussion and I appreciate the dialogue and awesome answers here.

I'm performing a backlink profile and developing a 301 redirect strategy for a website that has a forthcoming relaunch. I've found success using multiple platforms, including the magnificent MOZ.

And I agree with Erica, not every platform, including Google, crawls the entire web. I use multiple platforms. For example, in Google Search Console the website I'm working on shows 10,000+ backlinks. Most of them are the main domain (e.g. website.com).

But, a backlink profile ran in ahrefs.com shows around 5,000+ backlinks. What I've discovered in ahrefs is that the website has thousands of backlinks linking to other pages on the website (website.com/page-one, website.com/page-two, etc). This is really helping with my 301 redirect strategy and will help retain link equity when the new website launches.

So, yes! Use multiple platforms to discover your website's backlinking profile and choose your battles from there.

I recommend:

• MOZ, of course
• ahrefs.com
• SEMrush.com
• Majestic.com
• Google Search Console

Happy backlinking to you all and good luck Jared!