Historical Data

Historical Data module in SEO SpyGlass allows you to tap into the historical index for your site and competitors to:

• Research the backlinks and linking domains, gained or lost over a certain period of time in the past
• Spot and analyze any drastic spikes or drawdowns
• Dig into competitors' tactics

and many more!

To start researching, jump to Historical Data in the lefthand sidebar.

Enter the domain/URL

Type in the domain or specific webpage URL you'd like to research.

Choose the corresponding search mode - it can be set to domain and subdomains, domain only or exact URL.

Adjust the search settings (optional)

• Specify the link type you are particularly interested in
• Switch between the links from text / from images
• Choose between researching the links from a particular domain or all

Hit the Search button and allow a few moments for the app to harvest the data.

Review backlink profile development

Once the search is complete, you'll get to the Backlinks sub-module. At the top, you'll see the History graph reflecting the changes to the backlink profile of the domain/webpage researched.

• Upon hovering over any spike or fall, view the stats for the date with the exact number of backlinks gained and lost
• In a dropdown on the right, choose the visualized period (from 1m to 1y)
• Scroll the graph back and forth using the arrows on the sides

Research any date range

Focus on any date / date range within the last year to make thoughtful adjustments to your SEO strategy based on the results.

Right on the graph, click twice on any brick to select that specific date, or click > drag > click to select the period.

The workspace below will then list the links gained or lost on a certain date / within the selected period only.

Alternatively, use the Calendar right in the workspace - type in the dates manually, choose a predefined period or select a custom range (same way, click > drag > click).

Track New links

Switch to New links to explore the links that were gained (first found) within the chosen period.

• Evaluate the outcome of any specific campaign you've run on those dates
• See the backlinks brought by any piece of content published
• Analyze which activities tend to naturally bring you backlinks
• Spot correlations between ranking upturns and backlink profile spikes
• Dig into all of the above for your competitors' sites and uncover their strategies or valuable link sources!

At a glance, evaluate the authority of the linking pages/domains, revise the link types and anchor details. See which links are a valuable addition to your profile and which ones seem out of place.

Investigate Lost backlinks

Go to Lost backlinks to see which ones were lost for whatever reason within the chosen period. Use the predefined workspace filter to switch between the removal reasons:

• Link Removed: the page is in place, yet the link to your site has been removed from it
• Page Not Found: the backlink page itself has been deleted by the site owner (returns the 404 code)
• Redirect: the original backlink page now redirects to another page, thus its content is no longer accessible
• Not Canonical: the link is found on a page that is non-canonical (has the other URL specified as the canonical version of the page)
• Noindex: the backlink page is restricted from indexation
• Crawl Error: the backlink page was not accessible due to some fetching issue other than 404
• Page Dropped: the backlink page has been manually excluded from our Link Index and further crawls due to high spam score, consistent inaccessibility or other violation

Revising the lost links in tandem with the reasons is a great aid in:

• Tracking down and contacting site owners with a request to reinstate a removed link or move it to another existing page
• Keeping an eye on arrangments - if the backlink status changes to noindex, non-canonical or redirect
• Spotting the links lost by your competitors which can potentially be picked up by you

Customize your workspace and filter the results

The workspace is customizable to let you revise the factors you are interested in. Upon going to the workspace editing menu, you can add or hide any columns.

Additionally, you can set up custom filters to sort out the data based on any factor (for instance, filter out the newly-gained backlinks coming from low-authority pages) or a combination of factors.

Export the results

After you have adjusted the period, revised the data and filtered out the records worth a closer look - export the results from your project for any further manipulations.

• Any edition: select the records in your workspace > right-click on selection > Copy to Clipboard, then paste the records into any text file
• Enterprise edition: use the Quick CSV Export button to save all currently visible records in as a CSV file

Track changes in the number of linking domains

Switch to the Linking Domains sub-module to revise the new and lost linking domains.

Check with the History graph to spot any drastic changes at any point. Scroll the graph or switch between the visualized periods the same way as in the Backlinks sub-module.

Choose any date or date range to see the detailed stats in the workspace below. On-hover, unfold the list of links for any domain in the table.

Spot the sources of loss

Below you can see how you can investigate a dropdown (select the date), then spot the domain you've lost the most backlinks from (sort the records by the # of Backlinks column), and see the specific links lost.

To investigate the reasons, hit the View All button - the app will analyze the given domain closely and will show the causes of losing each link.

Generate Summary report

Under Backlink Profile > Summary, you can find an interactive report showing profile development over time.

You can hover over any of the charts and move along to see how the changes correlate.

Below the graphs, you can see the stats for the New / Lost Backlinks and Domains for the last 30-day period, with a few link examples (either the top ones by InLink Rank or the most recent ones).

In the Enterprise edition, you can export the Summary report with the Quick PDF Export button at the top right corner.

Run a new search

To run brand new research with the other search settings or for another domain/page, simply adjust the settings anew and hit Search.