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Question:
Why aren't all of my links showing up in Google? I've managed to arrange quite a few link exchanges in the past couple of months, but only a handful show up when I use the Google Link: command
link:www.example.com
I know the links are on my link partners' sites because I've checked. Why aren't they showing up and is Google giving me credit for them?
Submitted by Amy F.
Answer:
There are several possible reasons why some of your links don't show up with Google's Link: command. Here are a few of them:
- The links haven't been "spidered" and indexed by Google yet. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months for Google to find and crawl new links. If the links are fairly new, give it a while and they'll show up eventually.
- Your link partner(s) used a link structure that can't be crawled by a search engine robot. This includes (among others) certain types of JavaScript links and links that are stored in a database and displayed with a CGI script.
Always ask your link partners for "static text links". Most other link types can't be crawled and indexed, so they're useless for search engine ranking purposes.
- Google's Link: command doesn't show links from pages that are below a certain PageRank threshold, usually PR3 or lower.
Try to get links from pages with a PageRank of PR4 or higher when possible (although any PR1+ link provides a PageRank boost to your page even if it doesn't show up with the Link: command).
The bottom line is that your links will eventually show up unless they're on pages that are PR3 and lower. Even then, they'll still give your page at least a small PR boost.
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