The Link: Command

[eimroda]

I am just confused on the usage of the Link: command/query. As we know, it does not list all of the links pointing to our website. The complete list can be found in the Google Webmaster Tools. If this is the case, what is then the purpose of the Link: command as it does not give the real/complete result?

 

[djbaxter]

In its original incarnation, the link: query did indeed show all known kinks pointing to a specific page. Google crippled it - intentionally.

Herein lies probably the prime example of Google hypocrisy: The original basis for Google ranking was popularity, measured by PageRank which in turn is a metric based on the quality and quantity of links pointing to a specific page. It's still one of the "more than 200" factors used in Google ranking.

But basing search results on link popularity spawned an entire industry of link exchange arrangements and paid links. Google doesn't like this, in spite of the fact that without Google it wouldn't exist, because in their eyes it skews "organic" votes for a site.

Several years ago, as a first attempt to block the new PageRank industry, Google deliberately crippled the link: query to make it more difficult for webmasters to identify which links Google was "verifying" and which were "discounted", both for the webmaster's own sites and for competitor sites.

They "followed" this (pun intended) with the whole nofollow debacle, which now has many webmasters afraid to link out at all less Google penalize them.

So think of the link: query as similar to an appendix: The original utility has disappeared through evolution but we still have the organ hanging around with little purpose.

 

[barilj]

Minstrel,

You have explained this very well.

Here is my little input to this:

As far as I know, Google (and the other search engines) will never let you know how many backlinks you have to your site. They will only present you with a small subset - and this is the case even within webmaster tools.

The bottom line, then is to keep on getting backlinks and don't worry about the numbers too much.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[angelinalove]

I agree with you barilj that Google does not show all links to your site from link command. One can get the total backlinks of the website from using yahoo site explorer.

 

[barilj]

Hi Angelina,

You are right about Yahoo Site Explorer - It is a much better tool for analyzing your backlinks. One must realize, though, that Yahoo will also resrict the number of links which they show, but it is a much better representation than you will get from Google Webmaster Tools.

There seems to be a general policy with all search engines to restrict the amount of backlinks that are revealed. I believe they are worried that if they show all of the links, then webmasters will be able to reverse engineer their back link crediting algorithms.

 

[bigcat1967]

You are right about Yahoo Site Explorer - It is a much better tool for analyzing your backlinks.

I use this as well. Google's Webmasters I used to, but I realized they didn't show all the links as well as doing the google command in Google's search box.

It is true what the others have said. No SE will show you all the backlinks. However, I hope that the show the truly important ones. For an example, when I do a link:[domain name] - backlinks from youtube and web 2.0 props show up before backlinks from forums.

 

[SeattleSEOGuy]

I must be feeling good today, because I'm going to reveal how this works one more time. Those of you who read this and pay close attention will see why google backlinks are very important.

When google started showing backlinks in webmaster tools it was to keep others from getting the same links from the same locations. Webmasters have become obsessed with wanting to know the exact number of backlinks they have according to google. This works out to the benefit of google, while your focused on your total number of links you pay less attention to the actual links that count the most (Google search results links).

First of all, Google only shows backlinks in the command query from pages that are the most important to them. This is why the number is always pretty low for most sites. The amount of Google backlinks you have pointing to your site does come into play and can make your site very strong in the Google index. What people have never understood and still don't understand is how to get their links to show up in the Google backlinks results. This is alot easier said then done, but only if you don't know what your doing.

This is the only time you actually want to play follow the leader.

If you can get links from the exact same page that shows up in the google search result then you can build a pretty strong site through these links and get google to love your site. The fastest way to do that is through sitewide listings on a site that has a ton of google backlinks. The problem here is that this method is now heavily frowned upon by google (go figure). Therefore, I must warn you. If you go over board Google will slap you for it, I learned this along time ago with one of my directories which is still awaiting Google's forgiveness.

I won't reveal the exact method of how to make this work, but the answer is in this post if you can unlock it. Anyway, that's the secret to good google rankings, get as many google backlinks from high authority websites as you can and watch your site dominate. But be careful in the process.

 

[djbaxter]

When google started showing backlinks in webmaster tools it was to keep others from getting the same links from the same locations.

Huh? This makes no sense at all to me.

First of all, Google only shows backlinks in the command query from pages that are the most important to them. This is why the number is always pretty low for most sites.

As far as I know, that is simply not true. Google's policy has been to show a sample of the backlinks they know about but the actual links they show vs. those they don't show have little or no significance. They certainly do not show the most important, or the ones with the highest PR, or those from domains with the most authority. It's pretty much random.

These days you get a more complete picture of backlinks from your Google Webmaster Central account, I think largely in response to the popularity of similar services from Yahoo and then Bing.

If you can get links from the exact same page that shows up in the google search result then you can build a pretty strong site through these links and get google to love your site.

This is based on the mythology and misinterpretation you've outlined above and again makes little sense to me. You go after pages that Google shows linking to you and try to get a link to you from that page... which is already linking to you?

The fastest way to do that is through sitewide listings on a site that has a ton of google backlinks.

No. Google has been discounting sitewide links for some time now. It's neither the fastest way nor the best way to acuire beneficial backlinks.

If you go over board Google will slap you for it, I learned this along time ago with one of my directories which is still awaiting Google's forgiveness.

If by "slap" you mean Google will penalize you, that's incorrect. Such links are simply discounted or devalued compared to other links.