Total Links vs Ext. Followed Links
-
Hi
I'm fairly new to SEO and SEOMOZ. I've created a campaign for my own site and I've added 3 competitor sites. There are 1,385 total links to my site and a massive 49,450 links to one of my competitor's site. However under "Ext. Followed Links", there are 1,045 to my site and only 911 to the same competitor site.
Am I correct that it is the "Ext. Followed Links" which are more important from an SEO point of view as the other links have the "no follow" attribute set? Or have I got this wrong?
Thanks
James
-
You are correct in thinking that. Nofollow links are used to say "we do not endorse this external reference", which means no PR value is passed (although, Google still reserves the right to actually pass some PR if it feels the external reference is worthy), but the external site will be crawled. Nofollow does not stop the bots from accessing the referenced URL.
With that said, you need a proper ratio of dofollow to nofollow backlinks to keep your incoming links looking organic. For example, if 99% of your backlinks are dofollow, Google might see that as being a little fishy. The biggest mistake people make is to not go for a backlink just because it has a nofollow tag on it. With all the social media out there these days, and the large majority of them applying nofollow tags on all external url's, it doesn't make sense to not get your links out there regardless. Google still sees these backlinks and recognizes them as a reference to your site/company, and there is a large signal in their current algo for that.
So don't dwell on it, trust me. You will find you're just investing too much time for something that you cannot control. Just focus on creating relationships with relevant sites and the rest will fall into place. Pay no attention to the nofollow tag. Take it from a guy who used to be OBSESSED haha. I read more source-code than actual page content for years!
End note: when it comes down to it, to help put things in perspective, consider a _nofollow_backlink to your site coming from wikipedia.com or something like that. And then consider a dofollow backlink coming from some no-name, or less reputable site than that. You're going to see a significant increase in popularity from that one nofollow backlink than any other dofollow backlinks, no what I mean?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Internal links: How do I find keywords that are not linked to a URL?
Hi Moz members I'd really like to place an internal link of every instance of an important keyword phrase "cycling caps" or "cycling cap" to my eComm category page
Link Building | | andystorey
https://www.prendas.co.uk/collections/headwear/cotton-caps I feel this would not only help my customers browsing my store, but I believe it will help from an SEO perspective. How can I search my site using Moz, Screaming Frog, Google etc to find every time cycling cap(s) is used but is not linked to the above URL? I can then apply the same for cycling jerseys, socks, etc Andy0 -
Link value from high authority domains vs low authority domains. How big is the difference?
Hi Guys. Could you send me in the direction of some quality information on link value. i.e) How much 'link juice' do you get from high authority domains vs low authority domains. Also, I understand the Moz value for DA is logarithmic, not linear. Does this also mean that a link from a site with a really high DA would be exponentially higher value than a site with a low DA. You know....like orders of magnitude better? Cheers in advance, I love you guys 😉 Isaac.
Link Building | | isaac6630 -
When buying used domains, how do i see the links pointing to that domain? OSE not showing links
when buying used domains, how do i see the links pointing to that domain? Sometimes the open site explorer doesn't show any links to the domain, especially if the domain is parked. Obviously a domain for sale with 1000 domains linking to it has lots of SEO Value right? Thanks mozzers!
Link Building | | Ron100 -
A few questions about link building?
1. Is it worth gaining more then 1 link on a website when link building, for example if I did a guest post on a blog, is it worth doing another guest post on the same blog linking to the same website? So 2 guest posts on 2 blogs, or 4 guest posts on 4 blogs? 2. When building links through guest blogging, you have two options, a link in the byline and a link in the content. Will a link in the content have more benefit then in the byline as its surrounded by relevant content? 3. Does having a link higher up the page have more benefit then one lower down?
Link Building | | activitysuper0 -
How many nofollow links should we build to have a natural link profile
Hi guys, As with many link builders we have been building lots of dofollow links for our site, so many that mainly our incoming links are dofollow. Some pages have 99.5% dofollow external links which I know is not very natural. In your experience in terms of percentage how much should you have in terms of nofollow external links in your link profile. I noticed SEOMoz has about 12-13% nofollow external links, shall I go with this figure? Thanks guys. David
Link Building | | sssrpm0 -
Twitter followers and link campaigns
Hi All, This may be a silly question but I like to ask the obvious 🙂 If i had acround 3,000 twitter followers and wanted to embark on a link campaign, would it be wise to simply tweet out to all and essentially say, please link to my site XXXX or would it be better to select individual followers and email them directly? I was wondering if its just a 'win win' with tweeting followers or whether poor links from some users might cause more harm than good. Thanks all
Link Building | | wedmonds0 -
New ways to get links (excluding on site link bait)?
Fellow SEOs, I’m looking for a new way to reach out to bloggers and site owners for links. There are quite a few link bait techniques to lure bloggers thanks to = amazing content, infographics,...but there are not so many articles on ways to contact bloggers/webmasters and ask for links... We all know that contacting site owners directly and politely asking then to place a link on their home page is as useful as a comb in Bruce willis’s hand. Link exchange is as dead as the Dodo and business partner links are usefull and easier to get but opportunities are often limited. I have been organizing contests for bloggers recently and it has been quite successful up to now, but I always like to have a spare trick up my sleeve. So if any of you have a decent method to reach out to bloggers/webmaster and get decent links please let me know, I will be forever thankful ; ) Cheers
Link Building | | ref.price0 -
Followed Links from random forums, is it worth?
I have a competitor that apeears first place in Google with a certain keyword, i explore their site, and they have a lots of forums poiting to their page. What they do is, just go to a random forum, comment some threat and they put the anchor in sig, with that keyword, linking to their page. Well, from what i read in SEOmoz articles, Google its no supose to penalyze this pages? Because thoose are pages (forums) that dont have nothing to do -subject- with the page that apears in first place? Its a good practise? Should i do the same (x2) to get the first place in google? (Sorry for my English) Thank you.
Link Building | | comercialroldao0