Backlinks vs Incoming links
-
Hi,
I've been getting stuck into some SEO analysis for a company I work for and I am a little confused. I've tried a search to get an answer but this has ended up being more confusing. The company has been around for decades and their website since 1996.
I read everywhere about 'backlinks'. My SEO toolbar shows ZERO backlinks in Google but 218 in Bing. Google Webmaster tools shows nearly 2,000 incoming links from other sites.
Is a backlink the same as an incoming link? Why is this tool showing zero? I am even getting email from SEO spammers saying my backlink count is ZERO. But I can see links everywhere I look to the site.
Also, on the link analysis tool with SEOMOZ a competitor is showing 3000 external showing links with 250,000 total links. My site is showing 50 and 470 respectively.
I have spent the best part of two years getting the site listed in industry related directories. We have paid for entries in Yahoo and some other high (PR) -ranking directories. Prior to me there was someone else adding the site to directories and getting incoming links from industry related sites. So this has been going on a while.
Why are the backlings showing as zero but links from external sites showing over 1800?
Thanks
TT
-
I'll only chime in on Google: they don't like to show you everything. Across their products, they (at best) give you only a sampling, so even if numbers appear low that's not necessarily an indication it's true. The data I get from Analytics often is not the same as what feeds into Omniture; my takeaway is that these are indicators, not facts, to work with and make intuitive decisions.
Some of the other responders mentioned some other tools/options - variety is always good as, quite frankly - not one tool is perfect. You're on the right track and are doing your due diligence and that's what matters the most.
-
Doing a link: search in Google will only show you a very small number (sometimes none of the links) that Google has indexed. Use Google Webmaster Tools to see all (or at least most of ) the links that Google has indexed for your site.
Don't worry - Google still counts the links that they don't show for a link: search.
Bottom line: ignore the results you see from doing a link: search - they are too incomplete and don't matter.
-
Thanks for the response.
If Webmaster tools is showing over 1800 incoming links, Alexa is showing over 200 and I can verify many solid links myself from top directories such as Yahoo business directory then why is Google showing none?
What do I need to check or do?
My concern is if Google is showing no backlinks (and if I use link:www.domain.com in Google I get no results) then this will affect the PR and the position in SERPS.
-
There's only 3 categories of links
- Links pointing to your site. These are "incoming" and are sometimes called "backlinks" since they "link back" to your site.
- Links from your site to another site. These are "outbound" (sometimes you'll see the acronym OBL for "outbound link")
- Links within your site (between pages of the same domain). These are most commonly called "internal"
As Adam said, no search engine shows all your links (except maybe Yahoo). Open Site Explorer and Linkscape are a much more complete picture because Roger (the SEOMOZ bot) is crawling the web and indexing them. Better still is that SEOMOZ ranks them on importance. Honestly, it's one of the best things about the SEOMOZ PRO service.
-
"incoming link" is not as common of a term to use, but it does mean the same thing as backlink.
Google search and Bing search will not show you all your backlinks - just a selection.
Google Webmaster Tools is the most complete and accurate data you can get on how many backlinks you have. Open Site Explorer (SEOmoz) is also very helpful, as it helps you analyze your backlinks.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How Am I Linked to These Sites?
I was going through Google Analytics, specifically looking at the Channels under Acquisition. I found a number of sites that Google is giving credit as sources of traffic.
Reporting & Analytics | | TowerMarketing
When I went to the sites, however, and searched the page source for links to my site, I could not find any. My site is www.towermarketing.net. The sites being listed by GA are:
blackhawkhardware.com
musicas.baixar-musicas-gratis.com If anyone can tell me how Tower is getting traffic from these sites, and what I can do to fix it - because at this point I am considering them spam - I would appreciate it. Thanks!0 -
What is the best tool to look at Internal Links?
My site has on average 220 internal links a page largely due to how the site is built ie every page shows every link via the menu system, which isnt great, but from what i have read there isnt much i can do about it. However, this week 3 pages jumped to over 400 links and the home page over 500 internal links, GWT will only show me 200 of them, Is there a tool that i can use that will list all my internal links, so i can find out why this has happened? Thanks Ash
Reporting & Analytics | | AshShep10 -
Show item status in GA - LIve vs sold vs unsold
Hi guys, I am working with SEO for an auction site with B2C and C2C. (similar to eBay) All item\products on our page have an unique url. The auction can last from hours to weeks.
Reporting & Analytics | | helgeolaussen
When the item is live, sold or (finished but)unsold it still has the same url.
So when I take a look at SEO traffic to items in Google Analytics, I can't tell if the item was live, sold or unsold at the time the user landed on the page. Which makes it diffucult to analyse the traffic. Is there anyway I can make GA show the status of the item for the time user landed on it? Best regards, Ceran0 -
Linking Multiple Niche Site In Same Google Analytics Account
Hi, I am providing SEO for Local business. Is it advisable to separate out the Google Analytics into different Google account or is it ok to remain it this way? Some of the client might be in the same niche, and might be competing with the same keywords as well. What I was worried is, Google might see these sites as same owner and only rank for 1 of the site. I was thinking to get the owners to register for their own Google Analytics and share the access to me.
Reporting & Analytics | | JonathanSoh0 -
Removing Bad Links, Bad?
Our situation is this.. We recently went through a major redesign that included a significant change in content and URL structure. This of course cause a significant increase in 404 from our search traffic. In an effort to minimize those 404s we requested that Google remove certain URL directories from their index. Doing this resulted in a 90% drop in the number of impressions we were getting from search. My question is this, is it better to allow the 404s with a good landing page that explains the changes or better to remove the bad urls? Much thanks...
Reporting & Analytics | | SQE-SEOMoz0 -
How do you set www vs non-www in Bing Webmaster Tools?
A site of mine is showing as example.com instead of www.example.com in Bing and Yahoo. I know where to set the preferred domain to www in Google Webmaster Tools, but I can't seem to find that function in Bing Webmaster Tools. Can someone please point me in the right direction?
Reporting & Analytics | | DentalPlanSEO0 -
Google Webmaster Backlinks
How can I view/download all my backlinks in google webmaster ? Currently when I try to download or view it shows only "Top 14 domains linking to" information and not ALL the links.. Any thoughts?
Reporting & Analytics | | krishru0 -
Tracking Effects of Internal Linking
Can anyone suggest the best way to track the effectiveness of internal linking on a website? Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | RishadShaikh590