LinkMiner Review: A New Kid on the SEO Block

SEOs use a variety of strategies to help grow websites within search engine rankings. One of those strategies is centered around backlinks. Backlinks play an important role in creating relevant authority and trust amongst search results. Locating and tracking such backlinks is of utmost importance, as it can help gauge organic search performance. While major search engines do not offer official tools to track such links, many 3rd party tools have emerged within the backlink analysis market.

Majestic and Ahrefs are the tools that take the top ranks, as they both offer robust backlink tracking capabilities. From the two, Majestic has really been the key player within the toolset of most SEOs. With metrics such as the trust, topical, and citation flow scores, Majestic is full of rich features that offers accurate backlink information.

Although Majestic is leading the crowd of backlink tools, Mangools, has launched its very own backlink tool as well.  Known for its industry leading KWFinder keyword research tool, the company recently unleashed its own backlink scraper called LinkMiner. As a New Kid on the SEO Block, LinkMiner is a tool that has recently caught our attention. Not only does it provide accurate backlink information, the tool also features relevant metrics that are straight from Majestic’s playbook. What makes the tool even more appealing is the fact that if an individual or organization is already subscribed to the Mangools suite of tools, LinkMiner is just another additional tool that is added at no additional cost. With KWFinder already within the typical SEO toolkit, LinkMiner is definitely another tool that should be checked out. This post will go over some of the major features, pros and cons, as well as serve as an overall LinkMiner review. So let’s dive right in!

Dashboard/Layout

After logging into the LinkMiner dashboard, you are immediately greeted with a search bar, ready to assess the backlinks of any site that is thrown at it. The front layout is very similar to the other tools offered by Mangools, such as KWFinder and SERPChecker. A nice light blue color scheme dominates the tool’s overall look and feel, and offers a very clutterless interface. Moving on, while looks may be one aspect of a tool’s appeal, the overall ease of use and data presentation is what really sets a tool apart amongst the others. After entering your website into the URL field and hitting the enter button, LinkMiner will quickly display a multitude of relevant data. Most importantly, the tool efficiently lists out all backlinks for that specific site. Added to the list of links, LinkMiner also presents citation and trust flow scores. One thing to note about these scores is that they are in fact extracted from the Majestic database. (more on this below)

Moreover, functional features like filtering, lists, as well as exporting to CSV, allow for easy data extraction and manipulation. This is especially useful for those SEOs that would like to present the data to current or potential clientele. Overall, we really like the style and layout of LinkMiner’s dashboard. It provides the most relevant information, and provides no clutter as compared to other backlink analysis tools. While this LinkMiner Review is taking a look at a relatively new tool, we expect the team at Mangools to continue to evolve LinkMiner and make it even more feature rich as time passes by.

Data (Presentation, Accuracy)

While having a great looking tool is somewhat relevant, data accuracy and presentation plays the most important factor when deciding on which backlink analysis tool to invest in. Tools like Majestic and Ahrefs offer a deep dive into multiple metrics, such as topical trust flow, backlink history, as well as anchor text analysis. Along with accurate backlink data, they also offer great presentation capabilities, including custom graphs and charts. While having a great looking tool is somewhat relevant, data accuracy and presentation plays the most important factor when deciding on which backlink analysis tool to invest in. Tools like Majestic and Ahrefs offer a deep dive into multiple metrics, such as topical trust flow, backlink history, as well as anchor text analysis. Along with accurate backlink data, they also offer great presentation capabilities, including custom graphs and charts.

When comparing such tools, LinkMiner is in fact very plain and straightforward. What this means is that the tool only offers data on backlinks and basic flow scores. This is where LinkMiner lacks in its ability to shine amongst its competitors. While this may not be a bad thing, especially for those SEO beginners out there, LinkMiner has the potential to be better in providing a higher volume of data. Moreover, while lacking in different metrics and presentation abilities, LinkMiner does offer very accurate information on the following scores and metrics:

• Citation Flow (From Majestic)
• Trust Flow (From Majestic)
• Referring IPs
• Referring Domains
• Total Backlinks
• Source URL Data
  • Citation Flow (From Majestic)
  • Trust Flow (From Majestic)
  • External Links
  • Facebook Shares
  • Alexa Rank
  • Link Strength

In order to show this accuracy, we compared LinkMiner to Majestic, the leading backlink analysis tool on the market. Below is a screenshot comparing the trust and citation flow scores, along with the number of backlinks that each tool was able to find.

LinkMiner

Majestic

Overall, we really enjoyed the simplicity that LinkMiner offers. While lacking some metrics and data manipulation capabilities, the tool is still on par with other tools in terms of backlink analysis. Again, with the bundled cost associated with Mangools’ other tools, LinkMiner is still a solid choice amongst its competitors.

Cost

Another important factor when considering a backlink analysis tool is the month to month cost associated with it. As a key argument within this LinkMiner review, the cost of the tool is in fact on the lower side as compared to its direct competitors. When taking the features into consideration, as well as Mangools’ bundled products, LinkMiner is in fact the best bang for your buck. Below are screenshots of each tools pricing models. Like most SaaS companies, a month to month fee applies. The most expensive of the bunch is Ahrefs. While not geared entirely on backlink analysis, at $99 for the base package, it is on the pricier side as compared to the other tools.

Majestic, currently the leader in backlink analysis, is slightly cheaper than Ahrefs. With a month to month rate of $79.99, the tool offers a robust set of features that outshines all other competitors. Finally, as mentioned before, LinkMiner, along with its sister tools, is on the cheaper end of the tools mentioned so far. At $49 month to month, not only do you get full access to LinkMiner, you also get access to the entire Mangools’ suite. Most notably, Mangools’ is known for their industry leading keyword research tool called KWFinder. Mangools is also host to SERPChecker and SERPWatcher. Both of which offer competitor analysis within Google’s search engine result pages.

Overall, we found that LinkMiner is definitely the best value for simple backlink analysis. However, with just a few dollars more, Majestic would be the way to go if you are look very accurate and more specific data, such as trust flow topic scores.  

Majestic

LinkMiner (Mangools)

Ahrefs

Conclusion

With LinkMiner recently launching within the market, it definitely faces stiff competition amongst the well known and respected backlink analysis tools out there. With Majestic leading the race for many years now, LinkMiner brings more options for SEOs who are looking to invest in a new tool. While this LinkMiner review only covers the current features of the tool (As of May 2018), we expect the team at Mangools to continue to make improvements and add even more features. The cost of using LinkMiner is also very attractive, as the suite of Mangools is priced competitively and offers a variety of tools that can also be used. Overall, we recommend LinkMiner for anyone just starting out in SEO, or, if you or your company already uses the highly popular KWFinder, then you are already just a few clicks away from using a robust and useful backlink analysis tool! To learn more about the tools mentioned within this review, check out my recent round up post that explores and answers the following question: who links to my site?

Want the kind of SEO help only a specialist can give you? Then…