I need some help with using COUNTA.

I have a column which gathers its data from a link to another tab on the worksheet. This is performed using "=" and it is gathering a date.

I then want to count the number of occurences in the column as the date from the donor sheet is populated.

As I use the "=" for my link, COUNTA is recognising that and is tallying each "=".

How do I set the COUNT to recognise and count only a date and not the "=" formula?

I'm using Excel 2003.

Thanks for any help given.