Q and A: What's the difference between these two Google backward link searches?

Dear Kalena...

As always, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Much appreciated! Here is yet another question: I have been recently mystified by Google's link:www.yourwebsite.com search feature. If you do the search with a space between the colon and www you get different results. Example link:www.yourwebsite.com vs. link: www.yourwebsite.com

Can you explain the difference?

Thanks!
Marco

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Marco

That's easy. The first search is the correct query to use for determining the number of backward links pointing to your site that Google considers significant (note this is not your *true* number of backlinks. To see a more accurate list, you need to view your site within Google's Webmaster Tools).

The second search is a malformed query. What you're actually searching for with that query is all documents that have references to the word "link" and "www.yourwebsite.com" on the same page. Look at the cache for one of the listings for the second version and you'll see both items highlighted.


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Roll your own search engine

You might have noticed the "search this site" box on this page is a bit different to the usual you see on the web. I used to use Atomz for on-site searching, until I realized that Atomz is only free up to a certain number of pages. Once your site grows beyond that number, you have to pay for the service.

I thought about using a standard Google search box, but I had heard good things about Rollyo and thought I'd check it out. My opinion? Brilliant. The site is intuitive, the service is a snap to set up and the search functionality can be tailored to search a single site or several at the same time, making it truly tailored to your own requirements. If you are looking for a site search option - consider rolling your own at Rollyo.