rel="nofollow" backlinks - Are they worth it?

Cristian Level X³

October 22, 2017, 12:12 pm

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There are two types of backlinks you can get. Dofollow links and nofollow links. Dofollow links transfer authority which means your website is scoring SEO points with Google for having such links.

rel="nofollow" backlinks - Are they worth it?

In essence, there isn't a "dofollow" tag, only the "nofollow" tag exists which tells search engines crawlers no to follow that link and in essence stop counting it in terms of backlink profile authority. If a link doesn't have a "nofollow" tag it means that link is essentially "dofollow" and in truth should transfer part of its authority to the domain and page it links too.

So, what are the most common type of websites that use the "nofollow" tag and does it worth getting backlinks from such sources?

1. Social media websites.

Every social base website will have a nofollow tag implemented for all their links. This includes Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram and everything in between.

2. Q&A and Content Communities.

This includes websites like Quora, Reddit or Youtube

3. Popular Websites.

Most popular websites where user-generated content is a thing will probably have the nofollow tag implemented.
This includes blogs, big publications, forums, review websites, new sites, etc.

In the past, SEO experts used to used huge amounts of time looking for websites which allowed dofollow backlinks. Entire lists based on niches were built and I remember SEO experts valuing such list like nothing else because once these lists went mainstreams a huge amount of spammers would usually follow leading the way for a nofollow tag implementation from the webmasters of sites that were targeted/attacked.

Recently big publications that allowed dofollow backlinks like Huffington post and Wallstreet also tagged their links with "nofollow" essentially killing an industry built around getting dofollow backlinks.

So what are we left with if everyone sets a "nofollow" tag?
How does Google figure out link authority when everyone gives out nofollow backlinks?

Well, dofollow backlinks still consist an important ranking factor, but not as huge as it once was. I always thought that Google acknowledged nofollow backlinks to some degree and now that everyone is implementing the nofollow tag there are very few sources remaining to back out user experience, content quality and overall importance of a page.

Although nofollow backlinks won't be acknowledged the same as dofollow links I bet Google counts them and has been doing it for a while now.

Quality nofollow backlinks from big publications and websites can still drive traffic. So you can still profit and convert from such backlinks.

But the most important factor of nofollow backlinks is exposure. Exposure to people and publishers across the web and a real opportunity for people to find your website and consume your content. So in essence, the more exposure you get the higher your chances of getting dofollow backlinks from other people get.

This is why I believe nofollow backlinks are powerful, not because of link juice or traffic, but because of pure exposure and if this exposure is done in major publications like Huffington Post or big communities like Quora you are going to win and dramatically increase your chances of getting dofollow backlinks from totally different sources and essentially getting SEO juice and value which in terms will lead to better rankings and an increase in organic traffic.

What is your opinion on this new trend where everybody, including major publications which were once dofollow, is now implementing the nofollow tag in their backlinks?

Do any of you use nofollow when posting backlinks? Do you agree with this new policy of avoiding spam but at the same time killing any possibility of getting high-quality dofollow backlinks?

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TommyCarey

When I'm running an SEO campaign for myself, or a client, I will usually mix in nofollow links here and there so everything seems more natural. Just think about it, how many times do you think a website will have only dofollow links in the thousands or tens of thousands? It's just not natural, some of them have to be nofollow because people will be posting and sharing your website or blog on sites they are frequently on. They don't care about the website being nofollow or dofollow, they just want to post a link to your website or blog because they liked it

My main rule about nofollow links, if I'm posting them myself:
If you are going to post a link, and you know it's going to be a nofollow, post it on a website that you can usually get some traffic from by direct link clicks. Obviously, you won't get any love from the search engines with these links because the spiders will stop in their tracks since it's rel nofollow, but people who see the link might click on it and follow through.

Getting quality traffic to your website or blog is what everyone needs, so posting high quality nofollow links (yes, they exist lol) will always be a good thing even though you won't see any love from the search engines directly from the links.

1. Nofollows make your backlink profile look more natural since it won't consist of all Dofollow links.
2. High quality nofollow backlinks can bring in traffic which will result in an increase of sales, subscribers, followers, likes, shares, etc.

- Razzy

9 years ago

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DarthHazard

I don't use any nofollow tags when posting backlinks. I think it is actually quite a good thing to do because it can help prevent spam. If people and bots know that your site does not allow dofollow backlinks then chances are that they will actively avoid your site saving you a lot of time and effort of having to remove any spam that has been posted onto your site.

9 years ago

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kgord

Everybody wants to reduce the amount of spam they get for sure. If monitoring your backlinks can help to do this, I am all for it. It just seems like a good way to cut down on the amount of spam we can get. They are easy to contain it seems.

9 years ago

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keen2write

Do you have any tips to find or even get great quality do follow backlinks, please?
I really enjoyed reading this and it as actually gave me some insight more as for how valuable the dofollow links or to more than No follow links.

9 years ago

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Cristian

Well, the time when dofollow backlinks where available via comments and forum posts is over. So, don't expect any magic lists to exists. The only way you can get dofollow backlinks is through hard, hard work and exceptional content.

And I think you missed my point, nofollow links can still lead to dofollow links if your content is good enough, because of the exposure it gets, so if you have an opportunity to gain a nofollow link, take it!

9 years ago

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vinaya

I understand the difference between nofollow and dofollow. I also understand the benefits of getting nofollow links from reputed sites. However, I don't know how we can find out whether the link is nofollow or dofollow. You said if there is a "nofollow" tag it is a nofollow link and it there is no such tag it is dofollow link.Where can we see this tag?
Is there a tool or program to check the link, or do I have to understand coding in order to find out dofollow and nofollow links?

9 years ago

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anwebservices

There may be some special tools for it, BUT i usually use my Firefox or chrome for checking it very simple way. On the link you make right click with your mouse, then in dropdown menu i click "Inspect element", another window opens up and you can see in the "code" of that webpage if there is "rel=nofollow" tag next to that link which you checking. I guess it's simple enough ;) Try for your self

9 years ago

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Cristian

https://www.test.com - right click this link and click inspect

You should be able to see the following:

9 years ago

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itommy

I think it is not more effective for SEO but it still is worth to have for your sites. Especially if you can have no follow links on high traffic site then you can get a bit more traffic or SEO benefits for your websites though.

9 years ago

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overcast

These days I don't even bother with the back-links relevance with follow and nofollow. And another thing is that dofollow is often the default being offered by the CMS like WordPress. In case those who are trying for the nofollow it seems like you have to manually to that change. Another thing is that backlinks are properly judged in the eyes of the google. I just think that it's reasonable to see how the backlinks are changing for many among us.

9 years ago

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Everett

A lot of times I see services offering hundreds to thousands of nofollow backlinks, and think why in the world would anyone want to buy that service, when a few dofollow backlinks would be of more value than hundreds to thousands of nofollow backlinks.

Sometimes people get desperate to get any backlink linking to their site and do not care about if the link has any SEO juice at all. Some people waste days on end posting nofollow backlinks from social media, and other sites that adds the rel=nofollow tag to their links. I do not think I would ever be that desperate for such low quality, low-juiced SEO backlinks. Instead I rather had people add my links to their blogs, and websites on their accord.

Quality nofollow backlinks from big publications and websites can still drive traffic. So you can still profit and convert from such backlinks.

Surely this may be true, and it is, however if you post on a big publication website just to get a backlink, people that are aware of this practice would surely know what it is you're doing. My opinion on things like guest posting, is a means to just get a backlink, and offer content to do so. I do not like this type of trade, but hey if it scores a really good backlink, why not?

9 years ago

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TimothyAlex

Well, I tend to go with that the vast majority of websites are going to put their links out there on nofollow websites, especially social media and Q%A sites.You just cannot have an effective content distribution plan without them. Seriously, one site that I manage receives a healthy percentage of traffic from closed Facebook groups, and those links have zero SEO value, but they do drive traffic and can lead to do follow links when content is referenced. Personally, I am all about organic link growth. Google does track link patters. If they see hundreds of do follow links in a short period of time, and then nothing, and then hundreds, and then nothing, it can set off red flags.

9 years ago

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itommy

It is still valuable in any cases.
Vice versa, if you don't have time, you only should focus on dofollow backlinks because nofollow backlinks don't help SEO for your sites though.

9 years ago

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Corzhens

Wait a minute, do you mean to say that our posts in social media has no effect in SEO influence? I thought posts in social media like Facebook are considered social signals which in effect is already equivalent to backlinks. If that is the case with Facebook and Twitter that posts of the site’s link is a no-follow then we probably have to think about the promotion of business in social media.

8 years ago

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Seoclerks

rel="nofollow" backlinks - Are they worth it?

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