Not seeing even one of my several dozen .uk backlinks in GSC

[RBT]

I know Google Search Console doesnt show all the backlinks but I find it pretty weird its only removed my .uk backlinks. Every other backlink that I am aware of is showing as normal. I used to be able to see all of them before.

Since I am from the UK, most of my best backlinks are from .uk websites. I can still find the pages indexed when I search for them in google and they still have the backlinks, its just not showing in GSC. They are all normal backlinks (not nofollow).

I have been noticing a steady decline in ranking and traffic as well that coincides with this so it seems like I am losing the link juice. The probability of only .uk links not being shown is very close to zero since I have so many .uk backlinks. All genuine backlinks from legit UK sites, most of them were from 80+ DA sites!!

 

[CCarter]

I have been noticing a steady decline in ranking and traffic as well that coincides with this so it seems like I am losing the link juice. The probability of only .uk links not being shown is very close to zero since I have so many .uk backlinks. All genuine backlinks from legit UK sites, most of them were from 80+ DA sites!!

I wonder if Google has deemed them un-natural and therefore have discounted/nulled them out - therefore the reason they are no longer showing in GSC. I personally don't know how GSC's backlink data work, but if they are discounted and not showing up, that's an interesting signals to verify backlinks.

Another possibility could be that there is a glitch with .uk backlinks within GSC and no one has reported it or taken the matter seriously inside Google yet.

 

[secretagentdad]

Anyone ever do any meta studies on ratio of links in search console vs other solutions that had anything interesting?

 

[Ryuzaki]

This, to me, sounds like one of those correlation without causation situations. CCarter offered a possible explanation, since Google is full of bugs the past 5 years or so and won’t acknowledge or fix them (like mobile responsiveness errors in GSC).

Google has been pushing countless big updates since June, ones they’ve held back due to corona. That’s a much more likely explanation for your traffic decline than anything else.

If this was me, I’d keep my eyes peeled to the situation but not go down the rabbit hole yet. Because, frankly, the only way to influence the situation is to keep moving forward with a growth mindset and not a “preservation of the past” mindset.

 

[RBT]

So I disavowed some toxic backlinks and it seemed to have helped (or maybe just another coincidence). Got a nice boost in traffic overnight and half my .uk links are seemingly back. Didnt think we needed to do that in 2021. Maybe it was a negative SEO attack thingy lol? I had 500-600 backlinks from EACH of those spammy sites. And most of those spammy sites looked exactly the same, even having the same site icon. I cant imagine the point of that.

Anyway, thanks for your help. You guys are always so helpful. @Ryuzaki @CCarter