For accuracy - site: operator or webmaster tools?

[Lightguy1]

Which is a more accurate description of links indexed by google. When I use to do the site: command it would say I had over 10,000 pages, which it should. Not if I do it, for the past 2 weeks it will say I have about 3000 with the site command. In webmaster tools, it displays that there is about 9300 URLS indexed. Which is the correct number I should be paying more attention to?

Thanks

[tedster]

I assume you mean "urls" and not "links". The link: operator will be a much smaller number than the Webmaster Tools report - and both are only partial samples.

The site: operator has become more chaotic and limited in recent weeks, but so has the Webmaster Tools.

See these recent threads for related discussions:

Strange Behavior of site: operator [webmasterworld.com]
Google's Site: Operator - Digging Deeper Returns More URLs [webmasterworld.com]
Should I do anything about incorrect Webmaster Tools report? [webmasterworld.com]

[Lightguy1]

I am using the site: command to look for number of indexed urls. The link: command is for links to my site. I am only interested in the indexed pages, not the links.