“Do I need a link analysis tool like Majestic?”
That was the subject of an email that I got from someone who had just signed up for the Get up to Speed with Majestic video course. It’s a question I get asked from time to time and my immediate reaction is usually to say “of course you do!”
But this time I wondered if my answer was really as self-evident as that answer would suggest. That got me thinking and I decided to give the question some proper consideration.
I came up with an initial list of 10 reasons and I thought my list might be helpful in two ways:
- first for people who were considering buying a subscription
- and second for people who had already purchased a subscription, and were wondering if they were getting as much as they could from the tools.
So here’s my personal selection of reasons why you really need to have a link analysis tool (I’m sure others will have some additional ideas so please add them in the comments below.)
1. Finding link prospects
Finding good link prospects is probably the first task most people think of when using Majestic. You find who are linking to your competitors and then approach them for a link too.
Yes, the tools are terrific for doing those sorts of campaigns. But if competitive link analysis is all you’re going to do, you’ll always going to be following your competitors.
So sure, grab your competitor’s links and chase after them. But be creative and proactive in getting ahead of them.
2. Measuring yourself against your competitors
How do you stack up against your competitors at the moment?
How many referring domains link to them?
How quickly are they acquiring new links?
And where are their new links coming from?
This sort of information is essential if you want to beat your competitors.
3. Majestic gives me a list of easy link prospects
The Clique Hunter tool finds sites that link to two or more of your competitors.
This is a valuable first step in any campaign. And the results will give you some great insight into where people are getting links from.
For example, in this research I’ve recently done on the Scotch whiskey market, I see that clique Hunter gives me over 500 results of sites that are linking to all 10 of the competitors I entered.
This suggests to me that there are a lot of directories or lists in this market. These sites here will be easy to approach and will probably want to include any new businesses or websites in their listings. This is a useful, if perhaps, a bit of an unexciting place to start a link building campaign.
4. Majestic shows me the most authoritative “must have” links in any industry
“Must have” links are the opposite of easy links. They are going to be authoritative and therefor sure to be difficult to approach. They are made up of industry publications, news sites, top bloggers and influencers.
Not only will they have a high number of matches, they will themselves have a relatively high Trust Flow. To find them, you have to dig into the results and assess them one by one.
If you want to get links from these sites, you’ll have to put in a lot of effort. But with Majestic’s insight you can be sure that that effort will be worthwhile.
5. Majestic lets me see why the links were given
Majestic allows you to understand – or at least make an educated guess – why the link was given. And if you understand that, then you’ve got a great basis for making a successful pitch for a link yourself.
The lesson here is that it is people, not websites that give you a link. and you can understand or infer why they did so by looking at the source URL and the target URL in tandem.
6. Majestic shows me the variety of links
Websites get links not only from websites within their own industry, but from many different sectors – some of which might be surprising. The topic tab gives you a fantastic insight into such diverse sectors.
Take this example from Dreams.co.uk, shown in the topics tab. You can see that the website gets links from a wide range of different topics including recreation/travel:
You might ask why a bed and mattress company gets links under the recreation/travel topic. Follow the source URL and the target URL and the answer is revealed:
We immediately see that the journalist in the Huffington Post was writing about the fear of appearing naked. And Dreams.co.uk had written an article on common nightmares in their brilliant blog, The Sleep Matters Club.
Investigating such links and deducing how they got there is one of my favourite pastimes – and one from which I get a lot of creative inspiration.
7. Majestic gives you some great visuals
One of the problems we all face is explaining the complexity of the work that we do. Often clients or colleagues just don’t know what we are talking about!
The development and marketing teams at Majestic have produced some great graphics that are visually easy to understand and can easily be included in presentations or reports.
This is great for communicating what you do and what you have achieved.
8. Majestic allows you to look at your own link profile
If you already have a reasonable number of referring domains, then a free subscription to Majestic allows you to explore your own site. This is a real education and will allow you to see the valuable information that Majestic can provide.
If you’re still not sure Majestic is for you, sign up for a free account, and see the insights you can get.
9. Majestic allows you to explore the online marketplace in your industry
For any industry, there is an online marketplace made up of competitors, bloggers, journalists, news sites and many others. The links between these various entities define a powerful and extensive marketplace.
Majestic allows you to map out this marketplace. And in a way, link building becomes the process of establishing yourself in that marketplace.
10. Majestic allows you to evaluate any site as you’re browsing
When I come across a site that looks like a promising prospects, I can get an instant picture of the value of the site by using the Majestic plug-in. You can download the plug-in for free.
When it’s installed, click on the majestic icon in your browser toolbar and you’ll see some really useful information appear:
So from this picture, I get an instant picture of BicycleSafe.com and I can see that it would indeed be a valuable site from which to get a link.
Final words
While I’ve worked with software companies for over 20 years, I come primarily from a marketing and public relations perspective – so my choices might be different from someone who was deeply into technical SEO.
But that doesn’t matter, no matter what your professional position, you’ll find much to inspire you in Majestic results.
So what reasons have I missed out?
Please use the comments below to share your reasons for using the Majestic database.
