The value of a space

[dburdon]

I was trying out the www.sitereportcard.com tool recommended by CTABUK in the pay per click thread.

I noticed it showed up a lot more Google IBLs than my main site was normally registering. I then went to my usual tool which is SEO open and got my normal results. I couldn't work out why I would get 2 such widely different readings. I then did a manual backlink check by going into the Google search box and typing Link : URL. I found I got a higher reading - approximately double.

What I noticed was that on SEO open there was no space between the ":" and the beginning of the URL i.e. the "h" in http.

When I tried a similar approach to Yahoo, leaving a space no reading at all. I then tried on MSN and found I actually got a lower reading.

Any clues as to why this should happen?

[Ellio]

It would appear that the higher figures obtained by leaving a gap are all Supplemental Results which is a seperate index I believe.

This is certainly the case for our site with a huge difference in numbers.

Any authority out there on Supplemental Results and their effect on ranking?

My guess is that while supplemental they have no or little effect.

[Ellio]

Actually if you a space it just searches for the word "LINK" and the "URL" rather than actual backlinks.

For some reason the results include a lot of supplementals...

[dburdon]

Ellio,

I can only surmise from this that Google doesn't include the "supplementals" in its normal link count, whereas MSN does.