Changes to 'links to your site' in WebMaster Tools?

[AbsoluteDesign]

We're writing more out of curiosity...

Clicking on "Download latest links" within 'Links to your site' in Google's WebMaster Tools would usually bring back links discovered recently.

However, the last few times (for numerous accounts) it has brought back a lot of legacy links - some from 2011 - and includes nothing recent. We would usually expect to see a dozen at least each month.

...Has anyone else noticed this? Or, do you have any advice?

Thanks in advance,

Ant!

[Stramark]

Are you sure that you have the right property selected in Google Search Console?

there is a difference between www and non www. and http and https?

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

Unfortunately, sometimes Search Console does take some time to update, usually not 4 years though! Sometimes it depends on the size of your site and how many links your site has. Here is more information on how Google updates this index.

Have you check other sources like Majestic, ahrefs, or OSE? Having multiple sources to pull from will give you a more detailed and up to date view of your backlink profile. If you haven't, I highly suggest checking those sources, and if you have, utilize those for the time being until you see Search Console updates, or perform a backlink audit to see if backlinks are being deleted or heavily nofollowed.

Hope this helps a bit!