link: command paranoia

[magnolia1]

Most probably a spot of paranoia setting in late at night, but as I was just checking my back links using the link: command, I wondered if Google maybe monitored the use of this? Who uses this command apart from SEOs? Why would Google give SEOs this tool?
I imagine if you've just paid for a ton of links you would use the link: command a lot more than if you hadn't, because you would want to see if the links have been picked up.
Could Google use this as a way of detecting unnatural link campaigns? Does lots of new backlinks + high use of the link: command = a sneaky SEO trying to give Google the impression that their site is better than it actually is?

[beanstalk]

However, other than on your own site what else would you run the link command for? ... your competitors.

So really it all evens out. If you're penalizing yourself you'll also be penalizing your competitors.

[flood6]

My "gut" tells me Google wouldn't do this so while I was reading the first post, I was trying to express a good reason why google wouldn't do it. beanstalk hits the nail on the head with his reason.

To test the theory, you could set up two similar pages and optimize them both for a made up phrase that has zero competition (ervdfdf asffdf), give them equal inbound links and check one's IBL's like 6 times a day, while ignoring the other. You should see something noticeable within a month or so. If you try it, let us know how it turns out.

[Mr_Gadget]

Originally Posted by beanstalk

However, other than on your own site what else would you run the link command for? ... your competitors.

So really it all evens out. If you're penalizing yourself you'll also be penalizing your competitors.

...busily starts performing link commands on competitors websites.... :)