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Why Google doesn't consider most backlinks

Discussion in 'Google' started by CommonDavid, Jun 23, 2008.

  1. #1
    I've seen this question a lot, but never seen anyone's clear, concise answer or hypothesis to why Google doesn't consider a lot of backlinks in webmaster tools or link:domain.com.

    Is there a set of factors that Google uses before designating something a backlink?

    One factor I would have to think would apply would be:
    1. The linking site must appear in the Google index.

    Please add yours! :)
     
    CommonDavid, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  2. feras80

    feras80 Well-Known Member

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    #2
    Simply, it's one of Google's secrets :D

     
    feras80, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  3. NoIppo

    NoIppo Well-Known Member

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    #3
    2. Not flag as PAID link, maybe? Just a guess
     
    NoIppo, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  4. metros

    metros Notable Member

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    #4
    As long Google give good results, I don't care about their backlinks :)
     
    metros, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  5. SEO_WatchDog

    SEO_WatchDog Well-Known Member

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    #5
    Google does not ant to give away your link partners to make the life of your competitors harder...
     
    SEO_WatchDog, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  6. selectsplat

    selectsplat Well-Known Member

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    #6
    It's pretty simple, really. The links you see in the 'link' command, or in google's webmaster tools are the backlinks that actually counted towards that domains PR rating. That's why you never see 'no follow' backlinks listed in either of those places.

    Keep in mind that sometimes google 'resets' the backlinks that count towards a domains PR when if a domain expires. Essentially, google doesn't want someone who picks up the expired domain to reap the rewards of the footwork that the old dwmain owner worked for. That's why sometimes you see a domain with a PR4, but with no backlinks visable on google.
     
    selectsplat, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  7. mickmel

    mickmel Peon

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    #7
    That is true, but it's more than that. They intentionally don't show all of the backlinks pointing to a site, in an effort to thwart spammers. If they showed ALL of the backlinks for each search, you could start running queries, capture the data, and really start to reverse engineer how things work.
     
    mickmel, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  8. snowbird

    snowbird Notable Member

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    #8
    Agreed. Google does count most backlinks, they just don't display them...
     
    snowbird, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  9. selectsplat

    selectsplat Well-Known Member

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    #9
    I've seen matt allude to backlinks shown by the link command or in webmaster tools as being a 'subset' of the number of backlinks a site has, but i think he means it's a subset of all of the backlinks, with all of the backlinks being ones that don't count a=towards PR.

    After all, backlinks that count towards a domain's PR value is a 'subset' of all of the domains backlinks.

    I'm a pretty firm believer that the links shown by the link command and in webmaster tools are all of the links that count towards the PR value. Or more accurately, it will be all the backlinks a domain's PR value is the next time the PR is calculated for that domain.

    I do quite a bit of that already, but it's still difficult to know how google weighs each of the baclinks. For example, a backlink from a page with 1000 outbound links on it is given much less weight than a backlink with only 10. Not all Google backlinks are created equal. If a site has 100 google backlinks, it could be that only 1 of them has any significant weight.






     
    selectsplat, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  10. mickmel

    mickmel Peon

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    #10
    What makes you say that? Other than nofollowed and/or penalized links, why wouldn't they ALL count?
     
    mickmel, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  11. selectsplat

    selectsplat Well-Known Member

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    #11
    False.

    The VAST majority of backlinks are crap. Google knows it, so they don't count them when they calculate PR. That's why, for the most part, you only see QUALITY backlinks from the google link command, or in google webmaster central.
     
    selectsplat, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  12. selectsplat

    selectsplat Well-Known Member

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    #12
    Link farms, paid directories, and backlinks acquired before a domain expired are all reasons why google wouldn't use them to calculate PR.
     
    selectsplat, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  13. kianah

    kianah Peon

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    #13
    You want to see more in Google? put a space after the colon in the link check and Google will show more results

    link: www.yoursite.com
     
    kianah, Jun 23, 2008 IP
    FHI likes this.
  14. cashprior

    cashprior Peon

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    #14
    I agree. They simply don't show them, even if the linking page has been indexed.
     
    cashprior, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  15. Nyceane

    Nyceane Member

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    #15
    There are a lot of high ranked Digg pages, google does consider them heh
     
    Nyceane, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  16. CommonDavid

    CommonDavid Peon

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    #16
    At first I thought this was rubbish, but after looking over some quick statistics I think you might be onto something, as most of my numbers are actually pretty close.

    I think that the "devaluing" of directories and paid links might be throwing numbers off, so if you're not actively linkbuilding, your number in Webmaster Tools might continue to decline.
     
    CommonDavid, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  17. selectsplat

    selectsplat Well-Known Member

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    #17
    They don't show them because they're not being counted in the calcuated PR value.
     
    selectsplat, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  18. selectsplat

    selectsplat Well-Known Member

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    #18
    Unfortunately, that's not the same thing. if you use a space after the link:, then it is just searching the web for two different key phrases, "link:" and "www.yoursite.com". You'll get almost the exact same result as if you just search for "www.yoursite.com".
     
    selectsplat, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  19. selectsplat

    selectsplat Well-Known Member

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    #19
    Bingo! I'm glad someone finally gets it. I hate to do all this writing for nothing!
     
    selectsplat, Jun 23, 2008 IP
  20. perfect_square

    perfect_square Active Member

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    #20
    well, doesn't the site have to have a PR of 4 to even be counted? That must be the biggest issue.
     
    perfect_square, Jun 23, 2008 IP