Google Has Your Link Love

Valentine's Day is approaching fast, and Google has already given site publishers the equivalent of a basket full of Godiva chocolates with a Webmaster Central update featuring a much larger sample of backlinks than has been available.

blog, the team behind the changes noted how they have extended support for link queries: Unlike the link: operator, this data is much more comprehensive and can be classified, filtered, and downloaded. All you need to do is verify site ownership to see this information. To make this data even more useful, we have divided the world of links into two types: external and internal. External links come from outside the domain, while internal ones start on pages the domain owner controls. The difference in the numbers between a link: query at Google search and one made in Webmaster Central is pretty dramatic. Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan cautioned webmasters on it in his blog: Do not assume just because you see a backlink that it's carrying weight. I'm going to say that again: Do not assume just because you see a backlink that it's carrying weight. Sometime in the next year, someone will say "But I saw an insert-link-fad-here backlink show up in Google's backlink tool, so it must count. Right?" And then I'll point them back here, where I say do not assume just because you see a backlink that it's carrying weight. Matt also said that limited link: results from queries on Google have been that way partially for historical reasons. This update has historical significance for webmasters now. By assessing the data, webmasters should have a more complete view of how their websites are viewed by places around the Internet. That should be invaluable in determining marketing strategies and their effectiveness. Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl Bookmark Murdok: David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.