Does this Google code denote a penalty?

nK_w85lr66_NoAJ:www.domainname.com

[DeValle]

A potential SEO customer has complained that her site lost good placement in Google recently. When I entered the client's URL into Google I saw that it had in fact been indexed. But when I checked "Find web pages that link to www.domainname.com" I noticed the string of random characters before the domain name.

But when checking link:www.domainname.com there's no similar notation. I get "Results 1 - 8 of about 12 linking to www.domainname.com.

What's the significance of these characters? Is the site currently under a penalty?