Have I Lost Most Of My Backlinks?
 

Following my change of domain name, I have done a 301 redirect of my old domain to my new domain, to reap SEO benefits therefrom and recover as much of my backlinks as possible.

When I check for backlinks even to my old domain however, I observe a lot of my former backlinks is not stated. I thought backlinks once gained remains forever. For example, most backlinks resulting from my article marketing efforts is not shown. Can someone please explain this.

I know it may take sometime for the old domain backlinks to be transfered/recorded for the new domain but will there come a time when the full transfer would have taken place and all SEO benefits fully accrued such that I can then dispense with maintaining the old domain?

Re: Have I Lost Most Of My Backlinks?
 

Backlinks do not stay forever. They come and go. You just have to keep building them. One thing is Google is Google for a reason. Noone will ever figure out how they count for everything. It might not show a lot of backlinks with Google externally but internally there are links there. Same with PR, they might update every 3 or so months but internally in Google they have a constant PR check.

Re: Have I Lost Most Of My Backlinks?
 

Hi Dele,
I hope you did not have a different registar or change the registar as this can have impact as well.
Brian Walters seo

Re: Have I Lost Most Of My Backlinks?
 

Thank you Matt. It is just that i think backlinks are supposed to be permanent. What i think changes is the ranking of the backlinks as one's link may have fallen so much/low that it is practically impossible to view the link on the search engine. But i think a "backlinks check tool" should still indicate the link even if a "position check tool" cannot practically locate the link since most "position check tools" are limited to a maximum of the first 1000 links for each search term/keyword.

To justify this for example, when i go to the website of say Ezine articles, i still see all my articles complete which should mean those links are intact and are still on the web but just not practically visible on the search engine.

Imagine however that a "position check tool" that can search through all the links for each search term/keyword is in existence, shouldn't one find one's link?

Thank you Brian, I actually did change registrar? but will appreciate you explaining how that can result into loss of backlinks.

Re: Have I Lost Most Of My Backlinks?
 

Well I am a bit out of my depth now but I think it is a google and registrar thing and about ip assignments. Change registrar changes IP assignments and thus loss of links as they may now be in a different subnet. This could be science fiction and someone else may no more. If so please validate and correct if necessary
Cheers
Brian Walters SEO

Re: Have I Lost Most Of My Backlinks?
 

Dele and Brian,

As I understand it, it has to do with the DNS (Domain Name System), or most importantly, your nameservers. Your nameservers are assigned to an IP address. If your nameservers have changed, for example, like taking on the default namservers when you changed registrars, the IP address changes at the same time.

However, if you can keep the same nameservers (maybe ones you created when you purchased a domain name), the IP address should remain intact, and you should retain your backlinks. It's also my understanding that the backlinks do follow the IP address (your domain name).

I hope this helps!

Jeff

Re: Have I Lost Most Of My Backlinks?
 

Wonder why i can't find the "thank you" buttons.

Thanks to both Brian and Jeff for your explanations.