Has anyone noticed that Linkdex has been looking a little bit different recently?
I’ve been using the new platform for a month or so now, so having had time to explore all the features of the new interface. It’s no secret that in the past there have been some flaws with the platform, great data but a lack of user-friendly features meant that it often felt easier to use a combination of other tools instead. But with these latest changes and relaunch of the platform earlier this year, it’s time to put new Linkdex to the test…
The Platform – What’s Changed?
Navigation
This was the most noticeable change for me to begin with. All the nav used to run across the top of the page but now there’s been a bit of a shift around so the side navigation menus have become a lot more important. When Linkdex said they were changing this, I didn’t think it would make a huge amount of difference to the functionality and would just feel like a purely cosmetic change.
But in reality, this has been a massive help. One of my previous complaints of Linkdex was how difficult it was to find certain features if you weren’t used to using the tool everyday, but this has made it much simpler.
This also means they’ve made the filters clearer too so you can check the data of the page you’re on quickly, without getting lost in the old maze of filters. It’s always visible at the top of the data pages, instead of having to click to check what’s been applied to the page you’re on.
Show Me
As part of making the filtering system better, there’s now the option to apply ‘Show Me’s’ to the data.
I hope the next step is to be able to save your own ‘Show Me’ options across your entire account. This would be really helpful for ensuring that everyone working on our clients is reporting on the exact same data and seeing opportunities for strategy in the same places, rather than having to issue instructions on how to mimic filters I’ve applied previously. This is a good step in the right direction in terms of the filtering functionality so I’ll be watching out for further developments.
Reporting & Dashboards
Up until now I was really impressed with the changes that Linkdex has made, but it seems a bit like they might have forgotten the reporting section (Or hoping it’s a phase 2). There have been some tweaks but nothing too drastic to change my opinion on this section of the tool, though I do think reporting is one of the hardest things for a platform to get right.
Now, I don’t use the reporting stuff in the platform that much anyway so this isn’t really a dealbreaker for me. Instead I much prefer to download the graphs separately and build my own custom reports using other data sources too, which is still possible so that works. The best change here is how the dashboards work. They no longer double as a version of the report which is difficult to construct, instead the graphs you select display side by side every time you login which means you get a great top level view of the performance of each project instantly. This is ideal for when I’m running quick checks across multiple projects to flick between dashboards and understand which clients have seen the biggest changes over the past month.
Away from the Platform…
The platform isn’t the only thing that’s been changing at Linkdex though by the looks of it.
Grown Up Website
Those who have been in the industry for a while might remember this:
A few iterations later and a shift in the brand messaging to be ‘The SEO Platform of choice for Professional Marketers’ and what you see now on a visit to the Linkdex site is a sleeker, grown-up experience.
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t comment on the design of a tool’s site or event factor it into the quality of the software, but for Linkdex there are special circumstances. As an agency, White.net prides itself on transparency with our clients, which means we often give access to the Linkdex projects to our clients so they can see the raw data for themselves. If you’re doing this with a client, you need the platform’s own site to be reflective of the quality of the data its collecting so it looks like a reliable source.
Industry Thought Leadership
Linkdex has always worked to promote knowledge-sharing across the industry through its SEO Insights pieces and events, but recently the efforts to promote these and attract great speakers has really increased. I spoke on one of their SEONow Webinars just a few months ago, alongside some excellent speakers and a tonne of engagement following the event. The Customer Experience Think Tank earlier this month also had some great presentations and a good mix of actionable talks and big-sky thinking that quickly made the SEONow events ones i’ll be looking to attend in future. Not to mention they’re sponsoring the bar at BrightonSEO too… This commitment to the industry is really positive to see. Doing good across SEO-world with these free events makes it seem a lot more like they care and understand what we’re all working towards as agencies using the platform.
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Linkdex isn’t perfect. But what tool is? My main takeaway from all these changes though is that they’re taking things seriously now. It feels like they’ve listened to the feedback over the past few years from people like myself and finally done something about it. I’m sure we’ll see many more changes over the upcoming year and hopefully even more positive improvements. Have you tried using the new platform? I’d love to hear more about what you think about it in the comments below.