Several webmasters and SEOs are reporting that the link reports in Yahoo Site Explorer is reporting drastically less links than ever before. I assume this is not being discussed as much as it would have been a year or two ago, simply cause Yahoo is out of search but some webmasters and SEOs are concerned over the major link drop.

I personally checked my January 2009 screen shot and compared it to today and I noticed a drop of over 100,000 links! Here is a before and after screen shot.

Today:

In January 2009:

A Search Engine Watch Forums thread has a post about this drop, as well as some tweets.

.bbpBox14263109799 {background:url(http://s.twimg.com/a/1274144130/images/themes/theme1/bg.png) #9ae4e8;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}

@rustybrick Do u have any theories on why people are seeing lots of link loss in Yahoo SiteExplorer? I saw you covered this topic…less than a minute ago via HootSuiteSusan UrbanUrbanSeattle

.bbpBox14300877012 {background:url(http://a3.twimg.com/profile_background_images/76396131/matrix-1280×1024.jpg) #1A1B1F;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}

Noticing a significant drop in link counts in Yahoo’s Site Explorer for the “link:” – “except from this domain” option. Anyone?less than a minute ago via EchofonG-Rodgrod69

.bbpBox14231514509 {background:url(http://a3.twimg.com/profile_background_images/37858893/BanksyBalloonGirl.jpg) #c2c2c2;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}

Seeing a big drop in number of backlinks reported by Yahoo Site Explorer. Anyone else?less than a minute ago via EchofonDan Sharpscreamingfrog

Did you notice a major drop?

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Update May 23, 2010: Seems like most of the links lost are now back.