Seeing big inbound link change, across the board

[simonuk]

I have noticed that links across the board have dropped by a considerable amount. Sites I had which had hundreds of links now have a handful (even BBC and wiki links to my sites have gone).

I then checked other blue chip companies I worked for and both they and their competitors have seen a massive drop in links (from tens of thousands to a few hundred or just over a thousand).

Anyone noticing a massive drop in their inbound links?

[Robert Charlton]

simonuk - I'm assuming you've used the Google link: operator to check these, since WMT wouldn't also give you backlinks for blue chip companies and their competitors.

The Google link: operator is a notoriously unreliable and inconsistent reporting tool... it doesn't represent all inbound links, nor does it represent which links Google counts. It shows a sample of inbound links, which may or may not be a random sample.

I don't know whether a massive drop overall suggests that Google is counting a smaller number of links, but it's probably more comforting to have an overall drop than just a drop for your own site. ;)

Take a look up in Hot Topics, pinned to the top of the Google Search forum's index page, and read this discussion if you haven't already....

The link: Operator [webmasterworld.com] - it's not what you might expect

I recommend using Yahoo Site Explorer for a more thorough backlink report, but it of course doesn't reflect what Google might count. Occasionally, btw, Google does report a backlink that Site Explorer doesn't, but that's pretty rare.