Using seomoz.

[newstd100]

Hi, I'm scouring the web for new links, and am taking a closer look at OSE; I'm trying to gauge whether the PA & DA rating(s) in the results page for a domain search takes into account any penalty signals the site may be showing, and whether there is a 'real' way to identify how much value links from the source will give you (if for example, there's already x10 other links away from that page or x100 links away from that domain). Basically - what else needs to be taken into account when using this app to identify link sources, etc. Thanks, David

[Branagan]

Hey,

There's a great Whiteboard Friday which I think covers those questions and more:

Which Link Metrics Should I Use? Part 1

Which Link Metrics Should I Use? Part 2

Check it out!

[KaneJamison]

Hey there. To answer your first 2 questions:

Do "the PA & DA rating(s) in the results page for a domain search takes into account any penalty signals the site may be showing"?

Kind of... Page Authority (and DA) are calculated using a number of factors, one of which is MozTrust. MozTrust can be used as a rough indicator of the trustworthiness of a site (as measured by the "distance" in links from trustworthy websites like universities and government websites). I wouldn't describe this as a "penalty signal" however.

"whether there is a 'real' way to identify how much value links from the source will give you (if for example, there's already x10 other links away from that page or x100 links away from that domain)"

I personally don't find much value in calculating this. I don't care too much if there's 20 links on a page or 500. If it's a high quality site that's relevent to my website, and there aren't links to spammy sites on the page, I still want that link. Furthermore, there is value from the link that goes beyond raw Pagerank. You're still increasing your total Linking Root Domains (a very important link building factor) and other misc metrics that Google may take into account separately from Pagerank passed by the link.

"Basically - what else needs to be taken into account when using this app to identify link sources, etc."

Assuming you're currently looking through your competitors' backlink profiles in OSE and trying to replicate those links, the only links I would skip are links that appear to be from spammy websites. This is a subjective measure based upon a number of visual indicators, and a handful of objective indicators (like whether that site is indexed in Google for example). Here's a decent post that goes over some of the red flags you should look for when deciding whether or not you want a link from a site: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-evaluate-guest-post-opportunities

The video links that Branagan left are also good resources to learn more about OSE's link metrics.