"Google Search Console's link report seems to be either missing data or is now showing fewer links. I suspect it is a bug but I also don't think Google spends too much time monitoring this report within Search Console. We've reported these issues numerous times over the years and Google has fixed the issues in the past. For this site, Google is showing over 50% fewer links than it did in August for me."
"I did ask John Mueller of Google about it last week, but I did not hear back - to be fair, it was New Years... Hi @johnmu.com l've noticed a big drop (around 75%) in external links count after the dec core update, mainly on sites that were keep declining after the dec core update. Could Google be cleaning up backlinks for these pages? Just curious if you can share your thoughts on this."
Google Search Console's link report shows a significant reduction in reported external links for a site, falling from about 350,000 in August 2025 to under 150,000 in January 2026. Historical screenshots show fluctuations over years: about 2.5 million in August 2018, 1.2 million in October 2019, 550,000 in July 2022, and 215,000 in June 2023. Similar reporting anomalies have been reported previously and have been fixed after reports to Google. The drop coincides with a December core update, prompting speculation that Google may be cleaning up backlinks or that the Search Console report contains missing data. A Google representative was queried but no immediate response was received.
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