If you research links for SEO, you need to identify relevant referring sites before deciding which pages to investigate. Backlinks DB provides single-site, multi-site and link-gap research over collected site links. Start with a host or domain to inspect referring sites, or compare several targets to find shared link sources.
Match the report to the question
- Backlinks DB: Site examines links associated with one target.
- Backlinks DB: Multi-Site groups referring sites by how many entered targets they link to.
- Backlinks DB: Link Gap removes sites with observed links to the owned targets you exclude.
Choose host or domain level consistently. A specific subdomain and the whole registrable domain can have different referring-site lists. Comparing different levels can produce differences caused by the setup.
Use overlap to decide what to research
The overlap count is the most informative column, because a site linking to several of your targets is telling you something a single link does not.
A trade association linking to several providers usually has a membership directory. A magazine linking to them has probably published a comparison. A supplier list means someone qualified all of them against a condition.
Open the site and identify which relationship explains the links. That condition is what you need to meet, and it is frequently not an outreach task: a membership directory is a business decision with a fee, and knowing that early saves a wasted email.
Read "observed" literally
The database records observed links within its collection. An observed link was seen in the collected data.
The collection is updated from monthly source releases, each incorporating several collection periods. Records expose link-section filters for Article, Navigation and Comments and link-type filters for Followed, Nofollow, Sponsored and UGC.
It does not establish that the link remains on a live page today, and its absence does not establish that no link exists. Open the referring page before acting, particularly before telling a publisher they have not linked to you.
What a link count does not tell you
It does not establish that a publisher will accept another business, or that any engine counts the link. The filters tell you how a link is marked; they do not tell you what it is worth.
Referring domains and backlinks are also different counts. Fifty links from one site and fifty links from fifty sites produce the same backlink number and describe very different situations, so read the referring-site count where the distinction matters.
When to use the page-level report instead
Use Brand Link Gap when you need page-level records from the News or Prospect Index. This database compares sites; that report returns the specific page, which you can read and judge.
Both are useful for different stages: this one to understand which sites your market links to, that one to find the page you might appear on.
During prospect research, record the target sites and comparison level. You can then check referring pages with the scope of the report in view.
See the link gap comparison, what the data shows and cannot show, or how competitor selection changes a report.