Difference reporting

When enabled, difference reporting extends the data tables (MS Excel file) and the report interactive to provide selected comparisons with another, older report.

The comparison report must have exactly the same principal and competitor domains as the current report, but can cover different size of ecosystem. Typically, the comparison report will cover exactly the same ecosystem, but use data from an earlier date.

Ecosystem status

When preparing the current report, the operator selects a comparison report. Difference reporting looks at the combined list of all unique domains from the comparison and current reports, and then considers changes to the list of domains appearing in the reports. For each domain in the combined list, difference reporting assigns an ecosystem status:

NOTEWhen a report is created, the inner ecosystem is populated by obtaining the top n referring domains for all core domains (ranked by domain authority analogue). A domain that was a referrer for the principal and/or competitor domains in the comparison report that is missing from the current report is not necessarily a 'lost' referrer in the sense that the backlink(s) no longer exist at all. It may be that the referrer has been overtaken by others in terms of domain authority analogue, and dropped out of the top n list.

Referrer status

For each principal and competitor domain, difference reporting considers their list of referrers in the comparison and current reports, and assigns each referrer a status:

NOTEA referrer with the status 'lost (in eco)' is not necessarily a 'lost' referrer in the sense that the backlink(s) no longer exist at all. It may be that the referrer has been overtaken by others in terms of domain authority analogue, and dropped out of the top n list of referrers for the relevant principal or competitor domain.

Visualising difference reporting

Ecosystem status

In the report interactive, Explore further > Difference reporting > Ecosystem status applies the ecosystem status palette to all non-dimmed domains.

Also in the report interactive, Explore further > Special > 'new' ecosystem status will put white rings around domains with the 'new' ecosystem status (this does not override the currently selected palette).

Principal referrer status

In the report interactive, Explore further > Difference reporting > Principal referrer status applies the principal referrer status palette to all non-dimmed domains.

Viewing difference reporting

Ecosystem status

The all_domains_* worksheet in the data tables (MS Excel file) for a report contains a 'new' ecosystem status column. Filter this column for 'yes' to see only new domains.

Principal referrer status

The all_domains_* worksheet in the data tables (MS Excel file) for a report contains a Principal referrer status column. This provides the referrer status (relative to the principal domain) for all domains in the current report.

Difference table

The difference_table worksheet in the data tables (MS Excel file) for a report provides a complete list of all unique domains from the comparison and current reports. For each domain, the table provides:

In the columns for each core domain, the value '-' indicates the domain was not a referrer for that core domain in either the comparison or current report

Difference summary

The difference_summary worksheet in the data tables (MS Excel file) for a report provides the following information for each core domain:

Difference metrics

The difference_metrics worksheet in the data tables (MS Excel file) for a report provides the following graph metrics for the comparison and current graph:

A second table provides a counts and changes (with percentages) for each domain type.

Finally, a third table provides a counts and changes (with percentages) for each list type (e.g., the whitelist).