Backlinks: Which search engine and tool is best?

alltheweb has the reputation - though many are missing

[Calum]

What is the best way to check your backlinks?

Have been using the simple method of going onto alltheweb.com and typing in: link:www.mysite.co.uk

This yields a list of valid sites - though excludes a great number of new links added in the last 3 months. Is there a great time delay going on here or is there a better site/tool to check backlinks?

Any help greatly appreciated.

[DaveAtIFG]

I get good results from Yahoo, ie
link:http://www.webmasterworld.com/
Use a fully qualified domain name.

[t34WRJ]

In Google:

link:wwWebmasterWorldebsite.com

OR

wwWebmasterWorldebsite.com -site:wwWebmasterWorldebsite.com

Although neither are perfect.

Cheers

James

[Bernie]

Hello Calum,

since ATW has changed to Yahink I don't consider the backlinks to be up to date anymore.

Google has the problem that low-pr backlinks do not show up.

I currently favorise Optilink with the option check links with Hotbot. The most actual and complete results I could find.

[Sathish]

Yes! Yahoo is the best tool for checking your backlinks.

FYI - ATW and Y! will show the same backlinks.

[Bernie]

I get good results from Yahoo, ie
link:http://www.webmasterworld.com/

just checked it out - pretty impressive. It seems that backlinks checked on yahoo.com are much more up to date than on ATW. Yet optilink/hotbot recognized more backlinks in my case.

[Sathish]

Bernie,
Haven't tried Optilink before.
Does the free trial version has the backlinks checking option?

[Sathish]

It seems that backlinks checked on yahoo.com are much more up to date than on ATW.

no, check again bernie. even the link number wouldn't change. you'll get the exact results both in ATW and Y!

[mfishy]

Yahoo! is the best for this now, and by a large margin.

[Calum]

Thanks Bernie - yes Yahoo does give more results that alltheweb.

Where do I get hold of 'optilink'?
Any idea how out of date Yahoo is or when they will next update?
The last 3 months have seen legit sites with PR's of 3 to 6 linking to me - and none of them show in G, Y or Alltheweb, sigh!

Are we left with only the SERP's to judge the success of our backlinks?

Thanks again