Difference between Google's link: operator and GWT's links to your sites

[tdawson09]

I haven't used the Google operator link: for a while, and I noticed that there is a big disparity between the operator "link:" and the GWT's links to your site.

I compared these results on a number of websites, my own and competitors, and the difference seem to be the same across the board.

Has Google made a recent change with how they display link results via the operator?

Could this be an indication that they are clean out backlinks?

[Jeepster]

Hi bstone81.

Not sure I understand your question. Assuming you're asking why there's a disparity between the "link:" command and what you see in GWT's, here's Mr Cutts himself. From 2009 but I suspect it's still relevant:

http://tinyurl.com/amykbrx

[tdawson09]

Thanks Jeepster, that video answered my question. It just seems like Google was showing a lot more links on the link: search than they currently are.