Does Webmaster Tools Use Delayed Backlinks Reporting?

[internetheaven]

We know that Pagerank is constantly updated and that the line on the toolbar is only updated every few months.

What about the backlinks reports in the Google Webmaster Tools section? Is that updated as Google updates it's usage (i.e. not knowledge of) of the backlinks? I suppose that is two questions really:

1. Does the algorithm factor in all new links found as an when they are actually found by Google? Or does it do an update once a day/week/month?

2. If it does an update, is that update reflected in the webmaster tools immediately or is the reporting delayed?

The backlinks updates I have seen in my webmaster tools generally co-incide with a backlinks update on the actual Google search engine (which we are due soon anyway, right?)

Thanks
Mike

[tedster]

The only official word I know of came from Vanessa Fox last spring, when she was with the Webmaster Tools team - and right here on WebmasterWorld, too:

we update both links data and anchor text once a month.

[webmasterworld.com...]

Yes, Google's ranking algorithm factors in new links on a continual basis -- that calculation is independent of what the reporting features show us.

[internetheaven]

So to clarify, a backlinks "update" in both the Google search results and in the webmaster tools section is just like the Toolbar Pagerank update - just for show so that people can see what Google have already been using for weeks?

[tedster]

Yep