link: on Google

[altyfc]

When looking at inbound links for some of our clients' sites, I've noticed that some of the first results to appear for a search for link:thedomaininquestion.com happen to also be some of the best referrers.

Is this co-incidence or do others here see the same thing happening. If it is not just co-incidental, it strikes me that some of the best sources of traffic can be identified by doing similar searches or similar, larger sites, and seeing what the first two or three results are there.

As an example, if I perform a search for link:www.lonelyplanet.com, the first (non Lonely Planet) domain to appear is http://www.worldtravelcenter.com/ - the homepage of that site has a PR7 and it's a well known site, and no doubt a good source of traffic (they themselves come 4th for searches for the very competitive 'travel insurance' market).

Is this a good means of identifying good traffic sources? I'm really not sure because I do sometimes see not so good referrers amongst these first few results. Would be interested to hear what others think.

Aaron