WeBuildPages has created another nice tool, which analyzes backlinks by C-class. It takes about three minutes to run, but it gives a nice backlinks report, which includes, number of unique domain names, number of unique IP addresses, number of unique C classes, the ratio of unique domain names to number of backlinks, ratio of unique IP addresses to number of backlinks, and ratio of unique C classes to number of backlinks. Use the tool at www.webuildpages.com/cclass/index.php.
Just to clarify, an IP is divided into 4 octets. An example IP would be 192.100.101.254. The first set of numbers would be the A class (192), the second set would be the B class (100), the third set would be the C class (100) and of course, the last set would be the D class. Hosting companies are generally given a C-class set of IPs to allocate to its clients. So, your website might be on 192.100.101.253 and mine might be on 192.100.101.254. Notice how the first three sets of numbers are the same? That would mean your site and mine would both be hosted using the same C-class.
So, why is this important? The search engines assume that sites on the same C-class may be related or owned by the same person. So, if all of your backlinks come from the same C-class, then the search engines may assume that those backlinks are worth less than if they were from many different C-classes. Why? Because if most are from the same C-class, then the probability is high that the webmaster owns all the sites that are generating the backlinks. Hence, you are faking your popularity.
So, class C backlink analyzers help you to see what the search engines see...how many of your backlinks are coming from unique C-class domains. Just another little tool for the SEO arsenal.