floccus.org

Floccus is a free, open-source tool that syncs bookmarks and tabs privately across browsers and devices. You can download it from floccus.org, follow the "Get started" link there, and optionally watch the intro video first. If you want to give back, the project accepts bug reports and feature ideas as issues, code as pull requests, and translations for languages that aren't yet available.

Download and First Steps

The site offers apps for browsers, iOS, and Android. From the homepage you can:

• Watch the intro to see what syncing looks like before installing.
• Download the app for your platform.
• Get started to reach the setup guidance.

Floccus syncs through a storage backend you choose — a Nextcloud, Linkwarden, Karakeep, Git, or WebDAV server for self-hosting, or Google Drive or Dropbox. The project describes itself as free and open-source software with no ads and no data collection.

One limitation to plan around: Safari is not supported due to technical limitations. On mobile, the Floccus app syncs to a folder inside the app, not to mobile browsers, and support across mobile browsers is described as sparse.

Pick a Storage Service That Fits Your Setup

The feature matrix on the site compares services by storage type, supported bookmark formats, end-to-end encryption (E2EE), order preservation, and mobile availability. A condensed view:

OneDrive is listed as planned. If privacy is your priority, the self-hosted options (Nextcloud, WebDAV, Git) keep data on infrastructure you control; the parenthesized E2EE marks indicate partial or conditional support, so check the matrix details before relying on it.

Contribute: Issues, Code, and Translations

The project is maintained by volunteers, led by creator Marcel Klehr. The site lists three concrete ways to help:

1. File an issue if you have a problem or a new idea.
2. Open a pull request if you want to write code for a new feature.
3. Help translate if your language isn't available yet.

You can also support the project financially via the "Give something back" link on the support section.

Quick Answers to Common Questions

• Is it free? The site states it is free and open-source software. No pricing details are listed, so treat any paid tier as unconfirmed.
• Does it sync tabs? Yes — the site points to dedicated guides for tab syncing.
• Where is my data stored? Wherever you point it: your own server or a cloud drive you already use. The project says it collects no data.
• Does it work on Safari? No, currently unsupported for technical reasons.

Start at floccus.org, pick a backend that matches your privacy preference, then use the issue tracker or translation tools when you're ready to contribute.

If you're new to Ahrefs and want to run your first SEO audit, the fastest path is: open Site Explorer, enter your target URL, review the Overview for a health snapshot, then dig into Organic Keywords, Top Pages, and Site Audit to find specific problems. From there, build a short prioritized to-do list instead of trying to fix everything at once.

This tutorial walks through that workflow using a realistic starting scenario, explains what the numbers mean, and shows how to turn findings into actions.

Before You Start: Pick a Narrow Scope

A common beginner mistake is auditing an entire large website on day one. The reports become overwhelming, and you can't tell which issues matter.

Instead, choose one of these starting points:

• A single important page (your homepage or a key product/service page)
• A small site (under ~50 pages, e.g., a personal blog or small business site)
• One section of a bigger site (e.g., /blog/)

For this tutorial, assume you're auditing a small business site with about 30 pages. The same steps scale up later.

You'll need an Ahrefs account to follow along. Ahrefs offers paid plans, and pricing and feature limits change over time, so check the current Pricing page for what's included in each tier before committing.

Step 1: Enter Your Target in Site Explorer

Site Explorer is Ahrefs' core tool for analyzing any website or URL.

1. Open Site Explorer from the top navigation.
2. In the search box, paste your domain (e.g., example.com).
3. Choose the Exact URL or Domain mode depending on scope. For a full-site view, use Domain or Prefix; for a single page, use Exact URL.
4. Press Enter.

You'll land on the Overview report. Don't try to absorb everything — focus on four numbers first.

Reading the Overview Snapshot

Important caveat: Ahrefs' traffic and keyword numbers are estimates based on its own data. They won't match Google Search Console or your analytics exactly. Treat them as directional, not absolute.

Step 2: See What You Already Rank For

Go to Organic Keywords in the left sidebar. This shows queries where your site appears in search results.

Sort by Traffic (descending) to see which pages bring the most estimated visitors. Then look for:

• Keywords ranking in positions 4–15 — these are often the easiest wins. A small content or on-page improvement can push them onto page one.
• Keywords with high volume but low position — potential opportunities if the topic is relevant.
• Irrelevant keywords — if you rank for something off-topic, it may signal thin or mismatched content.

Write down 5–10 of the position 4–15 keywords. These become your first optimization targets.

Step 3: Find Your Best and Weakest Pages

Open Top Pages. This ranks your URLs by estimated organic traffic.

Look for two things:

1. Your top performers — understand what topics and formats work. Can you create more content like this?
2. Pages with traffic but poor rankings — these may need on-page fixes (title, headings, internal links).

If a page gets zero traffic and targets a topic you care about, it's a candidate for a rewrite or consolidation.

Step 4: Run a Technical Site Audit

Now move to Site Audit. This crawls your site and flags technical and on-page issues.

1. Click Site Audit → New project.
2. Enter your domain and set crawl settings (default is usually fine for a small site).
3. Start the crawl and wait for it to finish.

Once complete, you'll see a Health Score and a list of issues grouped by category.

Which Issues to Fix First

Not all issues are equal. Prioritize in this order:

Ignore low-impact warnings (like minor meta description length) until the big items are handled.

Step 5: Turn Findings Into a To-Do List

You now have raw data. Convert it into a short, actionable list. Example:

1. Fix 3 broken links found in Site Audit.
2. Rewrite title tags on 5 pages with duplicate titles.
3. Improve 4 pages ranking in positions 6–12 by adding missing subtopics and internal links.
4. Remove or update 2 thin pages with no traffic.

Keep the list to 5–10 items max for your first audit. Finishing a short list beats starting a long one.

Common Beginner Mistakes

• Chasing every red flag. Site Audit flags many minor issues. Fix what affects rankings and users first.
• Trusting estimates as exact numbers. Ahrefs data is modeled, not measured from your analytics.
• Auditing a huge site too early. Start small to learn the interface.
• Ignoring search intent. A page can be technically perfect but still fail if it doesn't match what searchers want.
• Forgetting to re-crawl. After fixes, run Site Audit again to confirm improvements.

Where to Go Next

Once your first audit is done:

• Compare with competitors using Site Explorer's Competing Domains and Content Gap reports.
• Track keyword rankings over time with Rank Tracker.
• Explore backlink opportunities in the Backlinks and Link Intersect reports.
• Set up recurring Site Audit crawls so new issues surface automatically.

Your first audit isn't about perfection — it's about building a repeatable habit: enter a target, read the key reports, pick the highest-impact fixes, and act. Do that once a month and your site's health compounds.

Floccus does not store your bookmarks on its own servers. Your data lives in the storage service you choose—Nextcloud, Linkwarden, KaraKeep, Git, WebDAV, Google Drive, or Dropbox—and Floccus acts only as the sync client between your browsers and that backend. The project states it has no ads and no data collection, and it is free and open source software. Some backends support end-to-end encryption (E2EE). These conditions apply to the browser extensions and the mobile app as described on floccus.org; the site does not publish a separate privacy policy page in the provided material, so treat the "no data collection" claim as the project's own statement rather than an audited guarantee.

Where your bookmarks actually live

The storage location depends entirely on the service you connect. Floccus syncs bookmarks (and tabs) through one of these backends:

The practical consequence: if you self-host Nextcloud, Linkwarden, or KaraKeep, or point Floccus at your own WebDAV share or Git repository, the bookmark file never touches a third-party cloud. If you choose Google Drive or Dropbox, your bookmarks sit in that provider's storage under your account, and the privacy properties of that provider apply.

What "no data collection" means in practice

Floccus describes itself as syncing "and getting out of your way; no ads, no data collection, no nonsense." In plain terms, the sync client is not a analytics product: there is no advertising layer and no described telemetry pipeline sending your bookmark contents to the Floccus project. Because the software is open source, you can inspect the code yourself rather than relying on the statement—this is the main verifiable privacy claim the project makes.

One caveat worth knowing: the mobile app "currently only syncs to a folder in the mobile app, not to mobile browsers," and Floccus support across mobile browsers is described as sparse. So on mobile, your synced data is held inside the app's own folder until you move it, which is a storage-location detail rather than a privacy guarantee.

End-to-end encryption: which setups get it

E2EE is the feature that matters most if you use a third-party cloud. The feature matrix marks E2EE as available for Nextcloud, WebDAV (in parentheses), Google Drive (in parentheses), and Dropbox (in parentheses), while Linkwarden, KaraKeep, and Git are marked as not offering it. The parenthetical marks suggest a qualified or partial implementation rather than a full guarantee, so if E2EE is your deciding factor, confirm the current behavior for your specific backend before committing.

A concrete example of when this matters: suppose you keep bookmarks in a shared Dropbox account. Without E2EE, anyone with access to that Dropbox account can read the synced xbel/html file directly. With E2EE enabled, the file stored in Dropbox is encrypted, and the key stays with your Floccus clients—so account access alone does not expose bookmark contents. The same logic applies to a WebDAV share on a rented server.

Self-hosting as the strongest privacy option

If your priority is data autonomy, the self-hosted backends are the clearest path: Nextcloud Bookmarks, Linkwarden, KaraKeep, a WebDAV share you control, or a Git repository over HTTPS. In these setups you decide where the data is stored, which is exactly the control the project emphasizes—one user quoted on the site puts it as "respects privacy: you decide where your data are stored."

The trade-off is operational: you run and maintain the server, and you accept that E2EE availability varies by backend (Nextcloud yes, Linkwarden and KaraKeep no, WebDAV qualified). For a personal Nextcloud instance on hardware you control, E2EE plus self-hosting gives you both encryption and custody.

How to check your own setup

1. Identify which backend you configured in Floccus (the service name appears in your sync profile).
2. Look up that backend in the feature matrix above to see whether E2EE is supported, partial, or absent.
3. If E2EE is available, enable it in the sync profile before the first sync so existing bookmarks are encrypted from the start.
4. Verify by inspecting the stored file in your backend—an encrypted payload should not be readable as plain bookmark titles and URLs.
5. If you need full custody, migrate to a self-hosted backend (Nextcloud, WebDAV, or Git) rather than a consumer cloud.

Common sticking points: E2EE marked with parentheses may behave differently across versions, so check the release notes for your version; the mobile app's folder-based sync means mobile bookmarks are not automatically shared with mobile browsers; and Safari is not supported due to technical limitations, so Safari users cannot rely on Floccus for that browser at all.

Floccus can sync bookmarks through seven storage backends: the Nextcloud Bookmarks app, Linkwarden, Karakeep, a WebDAV share, Git over HTTPS, Google Drive, and Dropbox. OneDrive is listed as planned but not yet available. The right choice depends on whether you want self-hosting, version history, or the least setup work — and on which bookmark formats and features you need, since the backends differ in format support, end-to-end encryption, and order preservation.

Supported backends at a glance

A few notes on reading this table:

• E2EE means end-to-end encryption. The checkmark in parentheses for WebDAV, Google Drive, and Dropbox indicates the feature is available but conditional — for the file-based backends it depends on the storage format and setup rather than being automatic.
• Keeps order is marked ✅ for every backend, so bookmark ordering is not a differentiator.
• OneDrive appears in the feature matrix as "planned." It is not a usable option yet, so don't plan a setup around it.

How the backends differ in practice

Self-hosted options: Nextcloud, Linkwarden, Karakeep

These three are apps you run on your own server, and they give you the most control over where your data lives. Nextcloud Bookmarks is the most feature-complete in the matrix: it supports HTTP/HTTPS bookmarks, FTP/FTPS bookmarks, JavaScript bookmarks, and data bookmarks, and it is the only backend with full end-to-end encryption support. Linkwarden supports HTTP/HTTPS, FTP/FTPS, and JavaScript bookmarks. Karakeep supports only HTTP/HTTPS bookmarks among the link types listed.

If you already run Nextcloud, the Bookmarks app is the natural fit. If you use Linkwarden or Karakeep as your read-later or archiving tool, Floccus lets your browser bookmarks flow into the same place.

File-based options: WebDAV, Git, Google Drive, Dropbox

These store your bookmarks as xbel or html files. They are the easiest to adopt if you don't want to run a bookmark server:

• WebDAV works with any WebDAV share and supports the widest range of bookmark types in this group, including FTP/FTPS and JavaScript bookmarks.
• Git over HTTPS gives you version history for free — every sync is a commit you can inspect or roll back. It does not support data bookmarks.
• Google Drive and Dropbox require no server at all and support the same link types as WebDAV, but they are proprietary cloud storage, so "self-hosting" doesn't apply.

What Floccus does not cover

Two limitations matter before you commit:

• Safari is not supported due to technical limitations, according to the site. If Safari is part of your device mix, those browsers won't participate in sync.
• Mobile support is limited. The mobile app currently syncs to a folder inside the app, not to mobile browsers, and the site describes Floccus support across mobile browsers as "sparse." So the "sync across all your devices" promise holds best on desktop browsers.

Choosing a backend

• You want maximum privacy and already self-host: Nextcloud Bookmarks app — it's the only backend with full E2EE and the broadest bookmark-type support.
• You want version history and rollback: Git over HTTPS.
• You want zero infrastructure: Google Drive or Dropbox.
• You use a read-later tool: Linkwarden or Karakeep, accepting their narrower link-type support.
• You need OneDrive: wait — it's only planned.

Floccus itself is free and open source, with no ads and no data collection, and it syncs "and gets out of your way" — the storage decision is entirely yours.

Yes, Floccus supports both mobile devices and tab syncing, but with an important limitation on mobile. Floccus offers apps for iOS and Android that sync your bookmarks and tabs, and it also provides tab-syncing guides. However, on mobile the app currently syncs only to a folder inside the Floccus mobile app — not to mobile browsers — and Floccus support across available mobile browsers is described as sparse. Safari is not supported at all due to technical limitations.

Mobile support: what you actually get

Floccus provides apps for browsers, iOS, and Android. The mobile app is the part that matters for phones and tablets, and its scope is narrower than the desktop browser extensions.

The practical consequence: if your goal is to have the same bookmarks appear inside Chrome or Firefox on your phone, the mobile app does not do that today. What it does give you is a synced copy of your bookmarks and tabs inside the Floccus app itself, which you can consult on the go.

Why the mobile limitation exists

Floccus works by syncing bookmark data through a storage backend you choose. On desktop, browser extensions can read and write the browser's own bookmark store. On mobile, the app keeps its synced data in its own folder rather than writing into each mobile browser's bookmark system — which is why the sync stops at the app boundary. The site states this directly and also notes that Safari is excluded for technical reasons.

Tab syncing

Tab syncing is a supported feature, not an afterthought. The site points readers to dedicated guides for it, and the feature matrix lists tab-related capabilities alongside bookmark sync. If tab syncing is your main reason for looking at Floccus, check the guides before committing, since what syncs depends on the storage service you pick (see below).

Storage backends and what they affect

Floccus does not store your data itself. It syncs through a service you choose, which is also how it keeps privacy in your hands: no ads, no data collection, and free and open source software. The feature matrix shows which services support which capabilities, including end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and order preservation.

Two takeaways from this table:

• If E2EE matters to you, Nextcloud is the only listed service with a clear ✅. WebDAV, Google Drive, and Dropbox show a parenthesized (✅), which suggests conditional support rather than a firm yes — treat those as "check the details" rather than guaranteed.
• If you want self-hosting, Nextcloud, Linkwarden, Karakeep, WebDAV, and Git over HTTPS all fit; Google Drive and Dropbox are the low-effort hosted options. OneDrive is listed as planned, so don't count on it yet.

Choosing based on your situation

• You want bookmarks inside your phone's browser. Floccus does not currently deliver this. Look elsewhere, or accept the app-folder workflow.
• You want a private, self-hosted sync across desktop browsers, plus a mobile reference copy. Floccus fits well — pick Nextcloud if E2EE is a priority, or WebDAV/Git if you already run that infrastructure.
• You mainly want tab syncing. Supported, with guides available; confirm your chosen backend's tab behavior in the feature matrix first.
• You use Safari. Not supported. This applies on desktop and mobile alike.

Getting started

The site offers a download link, a "Get started" entry point, and an intro video. The project is volunteer-run — led by creator Marcel Klehr — and accepts issues, pull requests, and translation help if you want to contribute.