Yahoo and google backlinks discrepancy is HUGE

by Ange
7 replies
  • SEO
  • |
Can anyone shed any light as to why there is a huge discrepancy between google webmaster and yahoo site explorer?

I know neither is 100% accurate and I expect some difference, but this is seriously HUGE!

I'm talking about 40,000 difference, with google webmaster tools showing the higher number of backlinks.

So WDYT?
#backlinks #discrepancy #google #huge #yahoo
  • Profile picture of the author Dani P
    I'd like to know this too, Yahoo shows that I have 680 links, Google toolbar on Google Chrome shows I have none and Google Webmaster Tolls shows I have 1,600!!!!

    Why do much difference
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  • Profile picture of the author bgmacaw
    Neither are entirely accurate in what is shown and not shown, in what is counted and not counted so don't read much into it. All you're getting is an estimate so accept the numbers as that, accept this little bit of chaos and don't lapse into analysis paralysis.
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  • Profile picture of the author aymen99
    google will show you quality backlinks only from pages that holds PR or going to be soon and also they count only dofollow backlinks or social media backlinks...
    yahoo will show you all the backlinks pointing to your site from everywhere...
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    • Profile picture of the author Tom Goodwin
      Originally Posted by aymen99 View Post

      google will show you quality backlinks only from pages that holds PR or going to be soon and also they count only dofollow backlinks or social media backlinks...
      I'm afraid that just isn't true. Google has never painted a truly accurate backlink picture (no matter how "quality" the links), and likely never will.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ange
    I know it's just an estimate AND that google is more 'picky' so I'd expect google to show less links.

    Yahoo site explorer says I have around 12,000 backlinks and google webmaster tools shows I have just over 54,000 links, more than 4 times as many!

    I just can't get over why the difference is SOO big!
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  • Profile picture of the author Kael41
    Each search engine calculates what a backlink is and WHEN to display it differently. They also operate under different databases, and depending on when googlebot releases an indexed link from the cache into the live database, it all depends.

    Google's indexing schema is quite different than bing/yahoo. It's been a fun journey these past 10 years to try and figure out how to work the system, that's for sure.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Goodwin
    The short answer: Don't try to compare the data.

    Google's data: to be honest, this is often pure bunk when it comes to backlinks. If they actually painted an accurate backlink picture, it would likely encourage more link spamming, which they don't want to do.

    As long as your backlink numbers are steadily increasing, don't worry about it and keep building more.

    Tom

    Originally Posted by Ange View Post

    Can anyone shed any light as to why there is a huge discrepancy between google webmaster and yahoo site explorer?

    I know neither is 100% accurate and I expect some difference, but this is seriously HUGE!

    I'm talking about 40,000 difference, with google webmaster tools showing the higher number of backlinks.

    So WDYT?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2667384].message }}

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