"Some words, when followed by a colon, have special meanings to
> Google. One such word for Google is the link: operator. The query
> link:siteURL shows you ALL the pages that point to that URL. 

When I LINK:foodman123.com Google only shows 8 pages linked to foodman123.com.
I know FOR SURE that there are at last 27 valid commercial sites which link
to foodman123.com.

IS the documentation wrong or is google not working properly. And, how does 
this affect my rank?

TOny DIlworth

Hello there

You have the right idea but there are some variables which change the
results.  You need a space between "link:" and the site for which the
information is being searched.

For example:

link:foodman123.com shows (no space) shows 8 backlinks.

link: foodman123.com (with space) shows 25 backlinks

links: foodman123.com (note the 'plural' word "links" ) - shows 38 backlinks

The last should be a nice surprise since there are ten more than you were thinking.

Those links which effect your ranking are those with a rating of 4 or
higher. (at least the last time I looked)

You can check the ranking of incoming links by checking the sites with
the Google Tool Bar - - available here for free if you don't already
have it:
http://toolbar.google.com/

Search - none really.  I just typed in the variables to get the
results.  I also realize the above is not a "tech" answer, just one
from experience trying to keep up with my own website.

If I may clarify anything, please ask.

Cheers
digsalot

---

Request for Answer Clarification by foodman1234-ga on 09 Nov 2003 04:06 PST

You should get Google to change their documentation.

---

Clarification of Answer by digsalot-ga on 09 Nov 2003 13:02 PST

Thanks for the suggestion.  The fact that you posted it here means
that somebody, somewhere in Google will see it.  Whether or not it is
acted on is far beyond the reach of the Google Answer researchers.

I hope the answer did ease your mind somewhat as to the number of
links coming into your website.

digs