For over a year now, probably longer, the link operator, i.e. link:domain.com in Google, would not really provide the best results. Google's Gary Illyes told us almost a year ago that the command is not gone but truth is, I don't think any SEO felt comfortable with the results for about a year.
This morning on Twitter, in response to a complaint about the link operator results, Google's John Mueller said he advises against using the link operator. He didn't say why, he just said, don't use it.
@kunjan_13 @methode @rustybrick would probably tell you not to use the link operator in search. 🤷
— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) January 11, 2017
Of course, Google does have a link report for webmasters in the Google Search Console but that doesn't give you competitive link data.
I am surprised so many SEOs still even bother looking at the link operator still.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
