hi, ive got a bit of a frustrating problem, when i do a backlink check in yahoo using the command link:www.webmaster-talk.com i get a ('from all pages' and 'only to this URL') number of 7,891 however when i use the 'Export results to: TSV' option, the resulting file only shows 990 backlinks in Excel. I have tried this with many different domains. can anyone tell me what i am doing wrong? why are the two numbers different? thanks in advance

try linkdomain: command..

Hi, tried that, although the number of backlinks declared is different (than using link:domain), the result is the same in that the number of links present in the TSV is different to that displayed on the page. I dont understand why this would happen.

Search Engines only show 1000 results EVER.

but regardless of how many links a search engine will show, the number of links present in the TSV version should be the same as that stated online. Otherwise it is a pointless feature to have.

but regardless of how many links a search engine will show, the number of links present in the TSV version should be the same as that stated online

Why? If you go to the last pages of the SERPs you can't get further than 1000 so why would you expect the export to be any different?

Otherwise it is a pointless feature to have.

No more pointless than checking the number of links any collection of page happens to have.

Why? If you go to the last pages of the SERPs you can't get further than 1000 so why would you expect the export to be any different?

My first example obviously wasn't the best to use.
If the number of links is 1000+ I would expect the export to be 1000, inline with the number accessible online. As I have previously said this is not happening, no matter what the stated number of links online are, the number of links in the export is different.

If I export the links for a site with fewer than 1000 links it still does not work therefore it is a useless feature. Unless someone else can give me a better solution.

No more pointless than checking the number of links any collection of page happens to have.

Pretty much every seo would disagree with you on that one. I suppose it depends on the industry you are working in / or your client is working in.

Anyway, does anyone know of a better way of getting a reliable list of backlinks?

Cheers

Pretty much every seo would disagree with you on that one. I suppose it depends on the industry you are working in / or your client is working in.

You are wrong on that score, only the link begging "SEO"s are bothered about counting backlinks.

What does it tell you?
You have no idea whether they are of any value WRT SEs
You have no idea if they send qualified visitors,

Just another time wasting exercise that adds no value at all to your website. Read your logs, the links that actually send traffic and buyers are the ones you need to know about and nurture similar ones.

I know for a fact that I am not wrong having worked in some of the biggest seo agencies in the uk with clients in the most competitive industries (in terms of seo).

only the link begging "SEO"s are bothered about counting backlinks.

on the contrary, any seo worth hiring would make this the first step as part of their competitor analysis. The backlinks can tell how aggressively the campaign is being run, roughly how difficult it is going to be to compete, budget needed to compete, which agency or seo is working on the campaign (and therefore what seo strategy is being used) etc etc etc - this is basic stuff

when people say that backlinks are a waste of time it is basically telling everyone that the the level of seo that they are experienced with (and capable of) is pretty limited.

try speaking to companies who are earning 1000s of pounds a day profit that their seo is 'wasting' their time with backlinks. wake up an smell the conversions man

ANYWAY, does anyone have any ideas regarding my initial problem???