Google gave us a new link tool about a month ago. Now people are noticing a massive update in the number of links reported in that tool.
Two very new threads, one at DigitalPoint Forums and the other at WebmasterWorld report these updates.
One person at DigitalPoint said:
It looks like there is a link update going on in the webmaster tools new links section. At least it apears that way. I noticed that the number of pages linked and the number of links to prior pages has increased tonight by a significant ammount. However, when clicked it seems to be the same number of links prior. So maybe they're in the process of updating.For example one of my sites forums front page had three links prior. Now it says 129. However when clicked it's still at three. Something to keep an eye on in the coming days I guess.
One person at WebmasterWorld said:
Just logged into google webmaster tools and to my surprise the backlinks for the sites I manage have gone through the roof! I suppose we are in for a backlink update, pr update earlier than usual as it's probably already complete on google's end...reasoning we are seeing shifting in SERP's.
So have fun checking your links.
Update: I remember I documented the number of links this site had via Google a month ago. We had 131,280 external links then, and today we have 178,137 external links. So looks like it did update on our side.
Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums & WebmasterWorld.
