How to Use Open Site Explorer

[annasus]

I've used Open Site Explorer here at SEOmoz for the first time and I'm confused by the results.

I'm wondering how dated the results are? And, what are they based on?

For example, I'm certain my facebook shares and like are higher...same with the twitter links. It seems kind of old?!

One of my competitors who gets about 2x more traffic than me DOES have great backlinks. I know that. BUT, it's odd that her facebook and twitter results are what they are compared to mine - they're WAY higher in site explorer  AND her links seem on par with her facebook page whereas mine don't. Whereas mine seem WAy Way lower than what they are in reality.

She barely tweets and facebooks any more. Maybe once per month. She started out gangbusters, but doesn't do it much any more.

That's kinda why I'm wondering if it's based on older stuff and not updated often? Anyone know?

[GregFindley.co.uk]

Hi Susanna,

I assume this data is updated at the same time as the Linkscape data, in which case it's around every 4 weeks: http://apiwiki.seomoz.org/w/page/25141119/Linkscape-Schedule

There's one due tomorrow, so good timing! It's probably worth following SEOMoz on Twitter/Facebook too as I believe they update once the linkscape update has been run.

[annasus]

YA, but where does SEOmoz get the data for that App from? Just because SEOmoz updates it every week doesn't mean it'll be up to date?! Right?!

[GregFindley.co.uk]

I would imagine from the relevant API's, and I'm guessing it would make sense for them to update those data counts with their linkscape data, otherwise report loading time would be slowed to call up the API each time.

Although this is just guess work as I can't find any info on this in the wiki or about sections for the tools.

(Edit: Also worth noting the Google+ data is currently in Beta)

[caseyhen]

Hi Susanna,

The Social Data is pulled daily from the APIs provided by Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.  The numbers might seen low for a few different reasons:

First, the Facebook share count is only for those accounts that are public which reduces the number of shares we can truly see.

Second, Twitter only counts the native Twitter share and not when people do a tweet with an RT in front.  Hence the lower numbers you might see.

If you are seeing any other issues, please let us know by sending us an email at help@seomoz.org.