[Build Backlinks Online] APIs for Data-Driven Marketers

Build Backlinks Online has posted a new item, 'APIs for Data-Driven Marketers'


Posted by Dr. Pete

Data is everywhere, and companies are virtually climbing over each other to
give it away. If youre a data-driven content marketer, data is opportunity, but
accessing that data can take some technical know-how. This is a guide to APIs,
one of the key methods for accessing 3rd-party data, and also a mini-directory
of some of the most useful APIs currently available to marketers.

What Is an API?


Lets start with the official definition API stands for Application Programming
Interface. Sorry, Im not the one who lets engineers name things. Put simply, an
API is a way to let you talk to a 3rd-party application, usually either to
retrieve data or update that application. Were going to focus primarily on the
first use (retrieving data), and it looks something like this:



The API itself isnt really a box floating in space, so much as a chunk of code
that acts as a gatekeeper. That code helps translate the third partys data into
something you can read, and it makes sure that only authorized users can access
the data (a process called authentication).

Why Should I Care?


There are hundreds of applications on the market that collect useful data, and
many of them are making that data available for free or very cheaply. You can
use that data to do original research, create unique content or even build your
own applications. If youd rather stick to beet farming, well then thats cool,
too.

Where Do I Start?


Heres the bad news APIs are far from standardized, and youre going to have to
understand data structures and write some code. This is not a how-to manual so
much as an overview of whats out there that can help you decide if the world of
APIs is right for you. There are some bright spots on the horizon tools and
sites that make programming APIs easier and Ill cover some of those at the end.

Following is a list of hand-selected APIs (Ill do my best not to play
favorites, and our competitors are on the list), broken down into a few industry
categories, and alphabetical within each category. For each API, Ill provide a
main link, a documentation link (documentation can be way too hard to find), a
brief description of whats available in that API, and whether or not theres a
free version. APIs are split into five sections:


APIs for SEO


APIs for PPC


APIs for Social


Miscellaneous APIs


API Support Tools



The last section covers sites and tools that can help you if you're new to
APIs, new to programming, or just are hunting for something that's not on this
list.




(1) APIs for SEO


This section contains APIs for organic SEO data, including keyword research and
link profiling.

Bing Search(Docs)

The Bing search API allows you to integrate Bing search results and search data
directly into your applications, including web search, images, news, videos,
related search, and spelling suggestions.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.


Majestic SEO(Docs)

The Majestic API includes a wide range of link metrics, including full
back-link lists, discovery dates for links, anchor text, redirection
information, and ACRank. Some features are limited to the paid version.

Free Version?YES, but limited functionality.


Raven Tools(Docs)


The Raven Tools API lets customers access and update account and campaign
information. It can also be used to access link data from your Raven campaigns.

Free Version?NO, paid accounts only.


SEOmoz Mozscape(Docs)

SEOmoz's API has access to proprietary metrics, including MozRank, Domain
Authority, and Page Authority, as well as link metrics such as linking root
domains and anchor text data.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.


WordStream Keyword Tool(Docs)

WordStream's Keyword Tool API lets you access WordStream's keyword volume
metrics, along with related keywords and structured keyword suggestions.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.




(2) APIs for PPC


The following APIs provide access to major ad platforms, including Google,
Bing, and Facebook.

Bing Ads API (Docs)

While primarily a campaign management platform, the Bing Ads API does have
access to useful data, including keword volume and keyword
suggestions/opportunities.

Free Version?YES,but authorization required.


Facebook Ads API (Docs)

The Facebook Ads API provides access to managing Facebook campaigns, as well
as statistics about Facebook keyword searches and audience segments.

Free Version?YES,but authorization required.


Google AdWords API (Docs)

Like Bing, the Google AdWords API is mainly for campaign management and
building AdWords apps, but it also the only portal to Google keyword volume
data. Getting authorized can be a long process.

Free Version?YES,but authorization required.


SEMRush API (Docs)

The SEMRush API has a number of tools for both organic and paid search
campaigns, but where it really shines is in competitive analysis, especially for
paid search.

Free Version?NO, starts at $15/month.





(3) APIs for Social


These APIs can access a wealth of information from major social networks and
social aggregators.

Facebook Graph(Docs)

Facebook's "Graph" API is the primariy interface to building Facebook-based
apps, updating Facebook accounts, and accessing Facebook social graph data.
There are other, secondary Facebook APIs.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.


FollowerWonk (Docs)

FollowerWonk's Social Authority API scores Twitter users on a 1-100 scale, for
simple influence scoring and comparisons (Note: FollowerWonk is a part of
SEOmoz).

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.


Gnip (Docs)

Gnip provides an enterprise-level API with "firehose" and filtered streams for
Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, and more. Pricing is custom and is aimed at
large-scale applications.

Free Version?YES, but trial only.


Google+ (Docs)

The official Google+ API allows you to manage accounts, build apps, and access
to data from user profiles, posts, and comments. It includes some limited search
capability.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.


Klout(Docs)

The Klout API provides access to Klout's aggregate social metrics, including
Klout score, influencers, influence graphs, and topics of influence.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.


PeerIndex(Docs)

PeerIndex is another social aggregator, and their API provides data on multiple
influence metrics, including activity, authority, and audience scores.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.


SharedCount (Docs)

The SharedCount API lets you access sharing stats on a number of platforms,
including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Reddit, LinkedIn, Digg, Delicious,
StumbleUpon, and Pinterest.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.


Topsy (Docs)

The Topsy Otter API is an alternative source for Twitter data, including a
number of useful search functions - search by keyword, by links mentioned, by
popluar stories on a domain, etc.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.


Twitter (Docs)

The official Twitter RESTful API includes many tools for account management and
data gathering, including individual tweet and user data, follower stats, and a
variety of search options.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.




(4) Miscellaneous APIs


Here are some other useful APIs, including Google products, analytics, and text
processing.

AlchemyAPI(Docs)

AlchemyAPI provides a Natural Language Processing engine to perform tasks such
as sentiment analysis, named entity extraction, author extraction, and topic
categorization.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.


Google Analytics API (Docs)

The Google Analytics API is a full-featured system to manage GA accounts and
profiles, customize tracking codes, and to access and export analytics data.

Free Version?YES,but authorization required.


Google Places API (Docs)

The Google Places API allows you to access the entire family of Google local
data, including Google Maps, Google+ Local, and Google Places search.

Free Version?YES,but authorization required.



PageSpeed Insights(Docs)

PageSpeed Insights is a Google Developer tool for website performance
analysis. The PageSpeed API allows access to PageSpeed scores and
recommendations.

Free Version?YES,but authorization required.




Repustate(Docs)

The Repustate API provides access to a number of advanced algorithms,
including sentiment analysis, social media monitioring, and predictive
analytics.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.





(5) API Support Tools


If you're new to APIs, this section can help get you started or find APIs
outside the scope of this post.

CodeAcademy API Track


CodeAcademy is a resource for learning programming concepts and languages. The
API track has specific online courses designed to help you learn API coding.

Free Version?YES.


Mashape (Docs)

Mashape is an API marketplace that allows you to access over 2,000 APIs from a
single account. Mashape also lets you distribute and monetize your own APIs.

Free Version?YES, depending on the API.


ProgrammableWeb


ProgrammableWeb is a directory of over 9,000 APIs on a wide variety of topics.
ProgrammableWeb has its own API, that allows you to access their search
database.

Free Version?YES.




SEER Interactive SEO Toolbox (Docs)

SEER's all-in-one interactive toolbox lets you access multple APIs via Excel,
including Google Analytics, SEOmoz, Majestic, Raven, Twitter, and Klout.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.


SEOGadget Excel API Extensions (Docs)

The SEOGadget API extension for Excel allows you to easily call link data from
Excel spreadsheets, including SEOmoz, Majestic, and additional SEOGadget data.

Free Version?YES, but rate-limited.


What Are Your Favorites?


While I don't intend this to be an exhaustive list of APIs, I'll try to keep
the post up to date with the most useful APIs for marketers (assuming that
people are interested). So, feel free to share your favorite data-collection
APIs in the comments.
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