Is "link:" search command hiding any secret

[abhishekkaushik]

There are two way to check external back links in Google;

(1)link:www.example.com
(2)example.com -inurl:example.com

But the result from these two query are not the same in fact there is big difference. The first result consist of much lesser outcome than second one, I accept that the later also contains citations like example.com without having inside anchor tag <a href="http://example.com"></a>, but I guess they are outnumbered by anchor links.

Now the million dollar question; Are result from first query contain links that are actually included in PR calculation, and second query all of them.

[Quadrille]

The 'secret' is that the first one is only ever a selection of the links that are known to Google.

And I wouldn't bet the house on the second one either.

No "webmaster searches" are wholly reliable; much better to concentrate on key word / key phrase searches to assess progress.

Use Google anaylytics, too, for a variety of useful info.