Backlink Count

difference between link:www.mysite.com and link: www.mysite.com

[le_gber]

Hi,

Just thought I do a quick check on the number of backlink I've got on google using the link:www.mysite.com. The results gave me 0.

However when I do a backlink count with link: www.mysite.com (space between : and www) I get some. These are valid genuine backlinks.

Could someone explain the difference to me as I don't understand.

Thank you

Leo

[plumsauce]

link: www.mysite.com (space between : and www) I get some.

yep, just tried the same thing, my thinking was
that the space character converted the search to:

null link + www.mysite.com

and therefore you were getting the results for
just www.mysite.com,

but there are many inconsistencies

note: * substituted for space character 
site:example.com -xxxx  
 1 of 1 
site:*example.com -xxxx  
 1 to 8 of about 12 
link:*example.com  
 1 to 6 of about 10 
link:*example.com -xxxx  
 1 to 6 of about 10 
example.com -xxxx  
 1 to 10 of about 15 
link:example.com -xxxx  
 did you mean link:another.com -xxx? 
link:example.com  
 Your search - link:example.com - did not match any documents.  

i can't see any pattern to this, but something
is definitely fubar'ed

it makes one wonder if it has anything at all to
do with lost backlinks lately, hmmm?

++++

[plasma]

When i do this w/ space it highlights "link" in the results, too.
That means it looks just for the keyword "link" and the other keyword.

[coconutz]

The blue statistics bar [google.com] beneath Google's logo on the SERPs defines your search:

link:www.mysite.com (no space)
Searched for pages linking to www.mysite.com.

link: www.mysite.com (with space after colon)
Searched the web for link: www.mysite.com.

Google Web Search Features [google.com]
"Some words, when followed by a colon, have special meanings to Google. One such word for Google is the link: operator. The query link:siteURL shows you all the pages that point to that URL. For example, link:www.google.com will show you all the pages that point to Google's home page. You cannot combine a link: search with a regular keyword search."