Huge Decline In Links Reported In Google Search Console Links Report

Earlier this week, we reported on some declines in the number of links reported in the Google Search Console links report. Well, it got a lot worse this morning, and now everyone is seeing huge declines in the link report.

I am glad I captured a screenshot of my link count that day because today it is a lot less. In fact, it is about 40% links being reported from just a few days ago. I went from 287,000 links to 177,000 links.

Here is what I see now:

Here is what I saw on May 27, 2024:

Here are some of the complaints online:

I don't know if anyone is interested... GSC reports far too few links. Last week the number (internal links) was 13x higher. Homepage links are completely missing. #SEO @SEO_Suedwest @rustybrick @JohnMu @danielwaisberg @googlesearchc pic.twitter.com/UtitQcdm3T

— Christian Radny (@ChrisRadny) May 30, 2024

Is there a bug in Search Console link report? 👀
Many websites are seeing a huge drop in backlinks.
And some zero also✌️@rustybrick @JohnMu #SEO @googlesearchc pic.twitter.com/lM8WB9tsKh

— Abhishek Ghoniya (@abhiicheck) May 30, 2024

90% of our backlinks are gone today on multiple websites. Another issue?

— Goddess Dilek (@Evilworld1234) May 30, 2024

There are also complaints in the comments area here and in the forums.

Google has historically shown fewer and fewer links over the years.

Here is a screenshot from June 2023 showing 215,000 links:

Here is a screenshot from July 2022 showing 550,000 links:

October 2019 at 1.2 million links:

August 2018 at 2.5 million links:

Did you notice a drop in links in this report? If so, how bad?

Does it even matter anyway? :)

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google Webmaster Help Forums.

Update: Daniel Waisberg from Google said the team is looking into it:

Looking into it

— Daniel Waisberg (@danielwaisberg) May 31, 2024

John Mueller from Google said on Reddit:

Hi! This is just a reporting issue in Search Console at the moment. Folks are working on resolving it. You didn't break anything (well, that I know about), and nobody has taken your links away (again, that I know about). I don't have a timeline that I can share for how quickly the links between the data & Search Console will come back though.