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Google Webmaster Tools: What Links Count?
By Matt Keough | June 28, 2007
Beth wrote about Webmaster Central in a recent post. I agree with her that the tools there are useful. But I’d also like to point out that the information presented there has to be interpreted carefully, just like any other data source. Let’s consider the links report.
Once you have authenticated your site, Google will share with you the links they have identified pointing to your domain. This list is far more robust than the list your can see from the “link:” operator. This is fair play on Google’s part. This will cut down to a degree in reverse engineering of their link collecting practices. If you authenticated hundreds of domains I suppose you could start identifying trends.
In any respect, don’t get too excited by the total number of links you see Google identifies here.
The links included in your grand total are not all equally helpful in boosting your PageRank or your search engine rankings. If you have multiple links from the same domain, they are all counted in the total. Links that are wrapped in a “nofollow” are also in the total. Links from low authority sites are not in grey and that mega-authority link you were brilliant or lucky enough to get from the most authoritative site in your neighborhood is not in bold red. Paid links are not bracketed in dollar signs. And I doubt the good folks at Google are going to add that sort of guidance anytime soon!
However, you can find out more from Google about the information they DO offer.
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June 29th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
The data does provide sufficient insights, but I appreciate your clarity on its limits. When looking at competitors, marketers also should keep in mind that they won’t be able to make a direct comparison. They’ll have exclusive, deeper data for their own business but only limited data from competitors when using the link: operator.
July 19th, 2007 at 3:34 am
I think it is fair play after all. Your own site back links analysis (Google’s point of view) should be of great help. Thnx Mr. Google…