Backlinks and PR

High PR backlinks that google finds but never shows as backlinks.

[Doug10]

Hi, I have a link to my website from an authoritative website whose link-page is PR6.

Although the link has been in existence for several months now, it never shows up when I click the info button on the google toolbar and look at my website's backward links.

I've checked the WebmasterWorld Google FAQ and it says Google sometimes applies a filter to links (but the WebmasterWorld links to discussion of the filter are dead so I can't find out any more.)

Google is certainly aware of the PR6 link because if I search +mydomain +com in Google, the link shows up. In fact, I have lots of what should be reliable, good href links that show up in +mydomain +com but are not listed as backlinks by Google.

I'm hoping someone can tell me:

1. Does Google only count backlinks that show from their toolbar for PR purposes or will I still get benefit from my PR6 link?

2. How is Google filtering links - in my case seeming to include lower PR links exclude higher links.

Thank you.

[bakedjake]

Hi Doug10, welcome to WebmasterWorld!

Does Google only count backlinks that show from their toolbar for PR purposes

No...

or will I still get benefit from my PR6 link?

You should, provided nothing else silly is going on.

How is Google filtering links

They aren't filtering links, per se, they're filtering the display of links. So your links are there, but they're just not showing them when using a link: query. Many have stipulated that they intentionally broke the link: query in an effort to further confuse SEOs.

Yahoo's link: and linkdomain: query are a better representation of the actual status of things.

Hope that helps.

[DerekH]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, Doug10

Hi, I have a link to my website from an authoritative website whose link-page is PR6.

Yes, but though a high PR link page may well get you visited by Googlebot more often, it doesn't follow that the link itself is worth that much - the worth of a link on a high PR page is diminished by the number of links on that page.
We already know that Google no longer lists all backlinks above a threshold and none below - many contributors have noticed that a varied selection are offered instead...
I think a lot may depend on how diluted that PR6 is by the time a single strand of it links to you.
Regards
DerekH

[Doug10]

Hi Jake and Derek,

Thanks for your welcome and your replies.

Yes, you're right - the PR6 page I referred to has close to 50 outward links, so it's effect is going to be diluted as you suggest.

link: in Yahoo was pretty good at finding plenty of links but I couldn't get linkdomain: to come up with anything. I suppose I must be using it wrongly somehow? Could you let me the precise syntax I should use?

Thanks again,

Doug

[bakedjake]

Doug,

You'll want to use linkdomain: as follows:

linkdomain:www.domain.com

no http, no page name. Just the linkdomain command and the base domain.

HTH.

[Doug10]

Thanks Jake - works perfectly.

[matt21811]

Since the new "faulty" backlinks displayed by google have been in place I have suffered in position in the serps. I took a closer look at the backlinks that do show and they all seem to be the ones that are on theme. Most of my backlinks are off theme. I only got into this to as a way to make some money from some hobbyist web sites I owned.

I found one of my hobby sites still showing in the back links for my affiliate page. The site is about a roleplaying boardgame and my affiliate page is for vision corection products. I could not see how the two are related. A closer look showed that the roleplaying game talked about health points and also mentioned blood. I theorized that Google is now only counting on backlinks from pages that are on topic but that on topic could have a pretty broad definition. I tested the theory by looking at other pages higher up the SERPs than my page.

I could not find a single backlink that didn't have some health related content. Some content might be a considered stretch, for example, a hair care page. The hair care page was full of terms like health and nutrition. In some cases the health related content on the back link page was fairly insignificant but it was always present.

Does anyone who competes for a profitable keyword have a counter example to what I have experienced?

[stevenmusumeche]

The link: command shows a ton of off-topic backlinks to my site, but doesn't show many of the on-topic links.

[Webdetective]

I have noticed something even stranger. I did Google search for link:www.domain and that was showing some backlinks that are below PR 4, including a few that were PR 0.

You have a good point. Maybe Google is trying to confuse webmasters.

[bether2]

I have noticed something even stranger. I did Google search for link:www.domain and that was showing some backlinks that are below PR 4, including a few that were PR 0.

Yup, this has been going on for quite a while now. The old "only PR4 and higher" rule no longer applies.

[Nuttakorn]

The link: command is not shown backward links at all. You cannot use this method to check all your backward , you may check from another search engine to compare with your backward or searching from your domain name.

[Crush]

On yahoo I have 1980 backlinks and on google I have 380. I am still in the first 3 results so who cares about backlinks. SERPS count

[Webdetective]

What is the Google command to see all my backlinks? linkdomain: doesn't work for Google.

[Crush]

e.g link:http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/25731-2-10.htm

[cbpayne]

>What is the Google command to see all my backlinks?

There is no command to see ALL the baclinks in Google.
The link:url only show Google's random sample.

[shopgal]

When I see my backlinks they show 2600 with the majority being internal.

Are internal links PR5 and 4 worth far less than external links?

[Doug10]

Hi shopgal,

Your PR comes from external links to your site.

Your internal links distribute that PR around your site.