What is your favorite back link checker?

[Josh]

Hello,
I know there are literally a ton of back link checkers. Which is your
favorite and why?

[Corey]

Good question. I'm working on some keyword research and competition
research today. Therefore, I may change my answer by the end of the
day. But so far, I have just used the Yahoo Site Explorer. Try
typing site:domain.com into Yahoo and you should see most all links.

What have you tried?

[glaikit]

Hi Guys,

So far I use WebCEO and Google Webmaster Tools and Analytics. I
suppose I should also take time to use the Yahoo Explorer too - it
does include a lot of info. I believe in using more than one tool.

If you do link:www.yoursite.com in browser, you won't get full
backlink results for Google. BUT if you use Webmaster Tools you WILL
get the full list.

[Corey]

Oh yes, good point. I was thinking it you were using the link checker
for competition research. If you are using it to check your OWN
links, Google webmaster is by far the best and most accurate.

Thanks Fiona.

[glaikit]

Hi Corey,

Actually I do use WebCEO for checking backlinks on competitors. But if
there's another tool for it I'd love to know - does Yahoo Site
Explorer do this? (Well, I guess I can check myself - I've got a bunch
of sites set up in there.)

But, any desktop apps that will do this? I'm exploring some of the
WebCEO competition checking tools I haven't used before and will re-
post if I find anything good.

Also, a client asked me this the other day - how can you tell which
"KEYWORDS" are driving the most traffic to your competitor's site?
Gee, I kinda had to mumble over that one...

Fiona

[Josh]

Hi,
In the past I have used numerous tools to check back links on
competitors and my own site. Yahoo Site Explorer was quick and I used
it effectively. However, recently I have been unable to get it to
work as I think it is designed to do. When you type
link:www.domain.com you get the Site Explorer to come up. Then when
you click "Except from this domain" why don't I get any results? It
used to eliminate all internal links and just show external links.

Josh

[Corey]

Josh, I see what you are talking about. Yes, it seems that feature of
YSE is broken right now. I did some searching on WebMasterWorld and
could not find any info about it. I would recommend you drop a note
in that forum and see if anyone knows what's going on.

I'll look into some other tools you can use in the meantime. I have a
few I can try.

[Ty]

I use pretty much all of the above, and then I throw these into the
mix:

http://www.linkdiagnosis.com/
http://www.backlinkwatch.com/

Also! Believe it or not, I always check web logs, in particular
"WebStats." These are raw files that give you very granular data info
on backlinks.

[glaikit]

Hi Ty,

(Sounds like a mixed drink name)

Hello Ty,
Anyone ever tried the software from www.link-assistant.com ? I am
currently using WebCEO for various competition checks but want to
expand my repertoire for best ways to research competitors.

Fiona

On Oct 14, 9:06 am, Ty <tydown...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I use pretty much all of the above, and then I throw these into the
> mix:
>

> http://www.linkdiagnosis.com/http://www.backlinkwatch.com/

>
> Also!  Believe it or not, I always check web logs, in particular
> "WebStats."  These are raw files that give you very granular data info
> on backlinks.
>
> On Oct 13, 10:48 am, Corey <CoreyCr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Josh, I see what you are talking about.  Yes, it seems that feature of
> > YSE is broken right now.  I did some searching on WebMasterWorld and
> > could not find any info about it.  I would recommend you drop a note
> > in that forum and see if anyone knows what's going on.
>
> > I'll look into some other tools you can use in the meantime.  I have a

> > few I can try.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Ty]

Hello Fiona!

yes, I have drink name...!

I have not heard of link-assitant, but it looks pretty solid.
Honestly I need to be more aggressive with looking at who links to
competitors. Lately I have been focusing on "Link Bait" and trying to
get organic links to my clients sites. It seems the best quality
links today are from people who naturally link to you, so I have been
trying to create informative, "Wow" factor type additions. Do you or
anyone else have good fresh "Link Bait" tactics?

On Oct 14, 6:08 pm, glaikit <fdud...@weaversites.com> wrote:
> Hi Ty,
>
> (Sounds like a mixed drink name)
>
> Hello Ty,

> Anyone ever tried the software fromwww.link-assistant.com? I am

[glaikit]

Hey Ty (city in Thailand),

For link bait I've been trying to come with information,
interactivity, and funny stuff (depending on the business.) I can't
risk giving out too much detail but, I like the idea of funny videos,
and blogs that offer either very valuable info OR something short,
sweet & funny - either on a blog where people can participate & submit
stuff, or in a video.

Meanwhile I'm doing some SERIOUS digging into how a competitor is
beating me out on a particular client, and am learning a lot. So far
much of what I've figured out was the good old fashionied way - do
manual SE checks and try to figure out what's driving the results.
Apparently, site structure and features can have a lot to do with it.
For example, dynamically-generated pages derived from a search based
on state, city, or zip code - HINT HINT. This appears to be doing a
whopping good job for my competitor and I can't beat that without
taking my site up to the next 6 levels :-)

Maybe we should move this to a new topic on Competition Research....

Fiona

On Oct 15, 2:02 pm, Ty <tydown...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello Fiona!
>
> yes, I have drink name...!
>
> I have not heard of link-assitant, but it looks pretty solid.
> Honestly I need to be more aggressive with looking at who links to
> competitors.  Lately I have been focusing on "Link Bait" and trying to
> get organic links to my clients sites.  It seems the best quality
> links today are from people who naturally link to you, so I have been
> trying to create informative, "Wow" factor type additions.  Do you or
> anyone else have good fresh "Link Bait" tactics?
>
> On Oct 14, 6:08 pm, glaikit <fdud...@weaversites.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Hi Ty,
>
> > (Sounds like a mixed drink name)
>
> > Hello Ty,

> > Anyone ever tried the software fromwww.link-assistant.com?I am

> > currently using WebCEO for various competition checks but want to
> > expand my repertoire for best ways to research competitors.
>
> > Fiona
>
> > On Oct 14, 9:06 am, Ty <tydown...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > I use pretty much all of the above, and then I throw these into the
> > > mix:
>
> > >http://www.linkdiagnosis.com/http://www.backlinkwatch.com/
>
> > > Also!  Believe it or not, I always check web logs, in particular
> > > "WebStats."  These are raw files that give you very granular data info
> > > on backlinks.
>
> > > On Oct 13, 10:48 am, Corey <CoreyCr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > Josh, I see what you are talking about.  Yes, it seems that feature of
> > > > YSE is broken right now.  I did some searching on WebMasterWorld and
> > > > could not find any info about it.  I would recommend you drop a note
> > > > in that forum and see if anyone knows what's going on.
>
> > > > I'll look into some other tools you can use in the meantime.  I have a
> > > > few I can try.- Hide quoted text -
>

> > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Josh]

I found the backlinkwatch.com to work well for my particular needs. I
like the link-assistant results but found it difficult to convert all
the links to a spreadsheet. Thanks a bunch for your feedback
everyone.


Regards,
Josh