The number of Google Search Console links keeps dropping

I rarely look at the links report in Google Search Console because, well, I rarely look at my links for this site. But something prompted me to check, and I noticed that the raw number of links reported in this tool was dropping drastically.

I signed up to 2019 the Google Search Console links report had half of what it showed a year earlier. From 2.5 million links in August 2018 to 1.2 million links in October 2019. So I checked the other day and now it shows 550,000 links. This is a 78% decrease in links reported by Google Search Console in 2018.

Here is a current screenshot showing 550,000 links:

October 2019 to 1.2 million links:

August 2018 at 2.5 million connections:

I know, in 2021 Google said the link report is not a priority for Google, John Mueller said at the time: “I don’t see any need to spend a lot of resources on the links report – it’s not something we tell people to focus on.”

But wow – that’s a huge reduction.

I know new websites pick up new links fairly quickly in this report.

Have you noticed these changes in your Google Search Console link reports over time? I don’t care about the purpose of the classification, it’s just a report, but still.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.