• SEO Roundtable, Tuesday, November 13, 2007 1:15 PM

Webmasters can use Live Search to get an instant read on all of their inbound links again, as forum users are reporting that MSN has reinstated a version of the "link command."

Adding the "+linkdomain:" or "+link:" parameters to a URL search string will return a list of all the sites that are linking to it, and can even go down to a page-by-page basis. For example, entering "+link:www.mediapost.com" into the Live Search box will turn up some five pages worth of sites that directly link to MediaPost.

MSN took this feature offline in March because of abuse by bots and other automated systems, much to the chagrin of Webmasters. According to some site owners, the Live Search link results tended to be "more comprehensive than others'," so the feature's return will likely be applauded. However, if Microsoft detects Webmaster abuse again, it may ultimately be permanently killed.

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