It’s very important to have some indicator of backlink growth and backlink authority.

You and your visitors tell me I am wrong thinking Alexa will tell you anything about backlinks to your site, however, my toolbar has a link that shows me sites linking into your site, the heading is site reputation?

I thought backlinks were link votes, which speaks to your reputation, the links shown below are from my Alexa toolbar page, and they are from places like Warrior Forum etc.

That isn’t a backlink? If not, what exactly would you call a link pointing back to your site from another site? It even states on the page that these sites linking to yours (588) was the count for this site.
Also, I just checked my site, and the exact same data for my site, show Digg, several other sites of mine, and even your site, as being one of the links pointing to my site?

I am really confused here because if those aren’t backlinks Pot Pie Girl, what are they?

Gosh, I’m embarrassed, I feel so terribly stupid! I have been trying to teach myself for a whole year, I;m only 56, am I just to old to start this?
Below are some of the sites linking to yours, so they would not be backlinks? WOW! I’m in trouble!
David
warriorforum.com
warriorforum.com/adsense-ppc-seo-discussion-forum/223793-why-did-my-new-blog-post-get-noticed-so-quickly.html
huffingtonpost.com
huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/10/google-instant-search_n_712126.html
google.com.ph
digitalpoint.com
aweber.com
blackhatworld.com
blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/blogging/271014-its-official-google-will-ban-autoblogs-2.html
ask.reference.com/related/google instant?qsrc=2892&l=dir&o=1060
search-results.com/web?q=google instant&qsrc=6&o=100000020&l=dis

David – those numbers from the Alexa toolbar are the Alexa Ranking, they have nothing to do with a backlink count.

If you go to Alexa.com and find their “Top Sites” list, you’ll see that Google is #1, with an Alexa of 1 I think or something like it. Obviously not their # of backlinks (just to illustrate).

It’s a ranking system from 1 being the top site, to xxxx being the bottom of the dogpile. So PotPieGirl.com is around 18k Alexa, meaning the estimated traffic according to Alexa puts her site at #18k in the world.

All it really means, though, is that for every 1 person visiting here with the Alexa toolbar, Alexa assigns 500 or so estimated visits for that visit (they know that not everyone has the Alexa toolbar so they estimate).

Hopefully that clears it up. It’s got nothing to do with a backlink count.

There is a new search engine on the internet. I’m not sure how long they have been around, however, I do know that they have the top computer experts in the field.

http://seoengine.com is a great tool. I have used one of their packages called an SEO Pass and they crawl your site just like Google, and the information they supply you with is nothing short of incredible!

They crawl your site down to the pixel. They told me things about my sites overall health that I would have never found.

Fact is 99% of the websites on the internet are suffering with link flow problems that we cannot detect ourselves.

Sure, you could get a real savvy SEO consultant to figure this stuff out, but the time it would take would not be cost effective. This is a search engine that uses similar algorithms to Google, what better way of checking your sites SEO then by the same system that your trying to optimize for!

I have left you the link just in case you had not seen it, which would surprise me knowing you!

Take care, thanks for your loyalty to your subscribers!

P.S. I am going to use your link to join Wealthy Affiliate University!

Thanks again!
David

It tells me how many incoming links I have, and gives me a complete listing of those sites as well.

For example, you have 588 links coming into this site right this minute. Your Alexa ranking in the U.S. is 10,000 something, and about 18,000 and some odd numbers worldwide!

WOW GIRL! Your doing pretty darn good! Which brings me to my next issue, you had a link in the email you sent me for The Wealthy Affiliate University, and Pot Pie Girl, I have decided to take you up on that offer!

Thank you for all you do, for all of the great information you create for us! It is a breath of fresh air to find solid factual freshly written content, and on a regular basis!

Sorry about that, I guess that was a tongue twister. I mean that though, from my heart! I left a comment on your site a while back, I am pretty new at this, and I guess I shot my ignorant mouth off a bit about Google and the Panda!

I meant no harm, or disrespect, I hope my purchase will help smooth that wrinkle out, even though you probably never noticed it, and it was not directed at you anyway!

Take care Pot Pie Girl, I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving Day, and I wish you much more success online, and offline!

Respectfully Submitted,
David aka. The Relentless1

thanks

Tim

Market Samurai uses MajesticSEO, and it’s fine enough for my needs. Benefit is the PR checking, anchor text checks, no monthly fee. It only digs up to 1000 links though…

SEO Spyglass has a free version and it rocks the planet for link-checking. More affordable than most alternatives and it gives a LOT of information. I was using that in preference to YSE anyhow. It’s my personal fave of the bunch. http://link-assistant.com

Link Diagnosis at http://www.linkdiagnosis.com/ uses OSE and works in a pinch.

Finally, SECockpit by Shane Melaugh (sp?)…that also uses OSE but it has a premium OSE functionality for an affordable price (more affordable than OSE I believe for internet marketers). Problem is it’s a monthly fee, but that’s pretty standard now…

I like to use Mikes keyword tools you can check your backlinks, see how your keywords are ranking in Google etc..

There are a few good alternatives just Google it.