Lost back links

[NexDog]

Is this update still happening or what? We lost our #3 placing down to page 3 and now we are back on page 1 - #9.

But! Why do I not see our PR 8 links from our web designers? Google no play fair!

[Stefan]

The update is still happening. The backlinks have yet to catch up. It's the new-abnormal.

[Powdork]

But! Why do I not see our PR 8 links from our web designers? Google no play fair!

Some would consider that very fair.;)
Not myself though. They'll be back.

[Kimkia]

The update is still happening. The backlinks have yet to catch up. It's the new-abnormal.

Well, I just wish the new-abnormal would hurry up and get normal again. Unless Dominic is truly going to straighten out these search results, it seems like a step backwards in time; odd for an se that prides itself on a combination of search relevance and minty freshness.

I, along with many, lost about a third of my backlinks; never had a PR8 link to lose, and my site did move back up to PR6 with Dominic, even with the lost backlinks, so I'm just confused at this point.

If the backlinks have yet to catch up, does that mean NexDog's PR8 links will be recovered? I've searched the Dominic posts and still don't understand the logic for the removal of backlinks. Many that remain are minor, and include guestbook links, while other backlinks coming from higher rank just aren't there.

[berli]

Are people who are missing backlinks seeing the most recent links disappearing, or is it completely random?

I've gotten a bunch of new inbound links within the last month (after Dominic got started), myself. It will be interesting to see how I rate against my competitors (hobby site, but I feel competitive :-) after the new backlinks are factored in.

I do think patience is in order. It can hardly benefit Google to favor old sites over new ones indefinitely, especially since sometimes those old sites 404 on you . . .

[Brett_Tabke]

Please see the other 30+ threads on losing backlinks.