The Google Backlink Dance Resumes

Yesterday, August 31, 2004, Google ran their backlink "update". This is the process of simply showing the amount of backlinks that are pointing to your site. This search is easily conducted by typing "link:www.mydomain.com" into Google's search box. The search results show a sampling of these links. Typically, when Google performs such an action, the search engine forums are lit-up like Christmas trees with people reporting their results of the "update."

WebProWorld. cbp, a moderator of the search engine section, said, "There is no such thing as a backlink update - it is just a change in the composition of the sites that Google chooses to show in the sample for a page - it is meaningless." This response was greeted with a question, which asked, if this wasn't an update, then why could they see more links when they queried their site. cbp replied that Google was allowing you to see more links pointing to the individual's site. In other words, they were updating the results. This point was reinforced by jestep, another WPW mod, who said: "I have to agree with CBP about the backlinks. Google already accounted for them a long time ago, and now they are just changing the results that they are letting you see. It seems to me that the backlinks are now updated continuously. The results that are shown are updated every 4 - 6 weeks." Even rustybrick, who first mentioned the story on latest search news.