How do I know what my actual backlink profile is?

[Aggie]

The number of inbound links to my site varies so much across tools (GA, Google Webmaster, Bing, SEOMoz, Majestic SEO, site: operators).  What's reality?

[KeriMorgret]

Google, Bing, SEOmoz, and Majestic all have their own programs that crawl the web, each having their own priorities and algorithms and limitations. Google is generally best for showing you links to a site you have verified in Google Webmaster tools. The other three will show you links for sites that are not your own. For Open Site Explorer (the SEOmoz tool), our index is not as large as Google's (I think they have more cooks in their cafeterias than we have employees altogether at Moz), but we do offer the additional metrics that you can't get from Google.

Google Analytics will show you which links bring visitors to your site that use javascript, and your log files will also show referring sites. If there's a link to your site that no one clicks on, it won't show in your log files.

The exact number of links may never be known, especially if you have links from an intranet behind a firewall that none of the bots are allowed to crawl. That's when you'll see something in GA that you won't see in any of the other tools.

I know this may not be the easy answer you were looking for, but I hope it helps. Let me know if I can do anything to help clarify things for you.

[shiftins]

I would go with WMT. Besides the fact that it is Google, they seem to update every week or 2 vs moz who can barely stay on track for their monthly updates.

I dont think there is a 100% tool but from what ive seen all the links that show up in other tools can be seen on webmaster tools and then some. although this may not be true for everyone it is so for my current profile.

also keep in mind that just because it doesnt show up in the profile does not mean it is not counting for you.

[Aggie]

Thanks.  That's what I've been using as my true "yard stick".

[Highland]

Open Site Explorer gives you about as complete a view as is possible. It does it by crawling the web itself and finding those links for you. You can then run reports on them, etc.

Google Webmaster Tools is a close second, because it represents how Google sees links to your site. It's hardly comprehensive, however, and you have to build your own reports. But, still, anytime Google will give you better detail, take it.