Inbound Link Problem

Sites do link to my client but Google can't see them

[raveon]

I have been working with a client for six months to improve his search engine placement. All is well except for Google. For the primary keyword phrase we are interested in we rank 195th on Google, our home page PR is 4.

The main weakness we have at this time is inbound links, we do have several but not as many as the leaders. But Google thinks we have none! We have several from PR 4 and 5 sites but a search using the "link:www.domain.com" phrase shows a big fat 0 links (and these links have existed for several months). I believe this is the main reason why we are at the bottom of the pile.

For example the top few competitor sites all show their listing in Google directory and DMOZ but although my client is also there right with them on the same page in those directories, we show no "credit" for those links either!

Any ideas as to where to go from here? I've tried waiting through a few updates but to no avail. Does it help to Email Google?

[Nick_W]

I believe that you need to have a PR above 4 for backlinks to show. Doesn't sound like you have any cause to contact google, you just need to get some better backlinks...

HTH

Nick

[raveon]

Thanks Nick but please re-read my post;

"We have several from PR 4 and 5 sites"

DMOZ (PR 5) for example should definitely show as an inbound link but it does not. We are there along with the others, they get credit for the link... we do not.

(BTW PR4 sites are displayed by Google)

[jimbeetle]

Hi raveon,

It also depends on when you got the links. If they're fairly recent they might not show until after the coming update or the next.

And at times Google's been found to be a bit uneven in the links it reports. Wait a few days and see what happens after the next dance.

Or, check your back links at Alta Vista or alltheweb, they list all links that they index. Then crank up the Google toolbar and vist the pages the link comes from. Just cause the site is a PR5 doesn't mean that the links page can't be a 1 or a 2.

Jim

[Susanne]

raveon,
Are your links on PAGES with PR 4 and 5? You said:
"We have several from PR 4 and 5 sites"
Did you mean sites that have that pagerank on the home page? Make sure to check the actual page where your links are placed. Cheers!

[BigDave]

Google does not show backlinks based just on the PR of the page that is linking to you. There is something else involved. I suspect that at least one of the factors is how much PR is passed to you from that page.

I have had PR3s show up when PR5s did not.

I don't worry about it because the only statement that we have from Google on it is that they will not necessarily show you all the backlinks. Maybe they decide one month not to show backlinks with no anchor text and the image used to link does not have alt text. That's fine with me, they are still counting that link when they calculate PR.

PR is calculated during the indexing algorithm. OTOH link: is part of the search algorithm. They need to get link: results out fast, so they have to serve you filtered results.