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  4. Is it possible to create "hidden" backlinks?

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Is it possible to create "hidden" backlinks?

Competitive Research
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  • co.mc
    co.mc last edited by Jan 11, 2014, 2:38 AM

    Don't miss interpret this... I DON'T mean hidden backlinks that you would stick on a page using html/css.

    What I am trying to figure out is if it's possible to create backlinks from sites that aren't visible by crawlers or SEO tools like Moz?... Does that make sense?

    Another words, let's say I place a visible/genuine/follow backlink to any external website from my blog. Is there a way to keep crawlers like Moz or other SEO tools from "seeing it"?

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • Cyrus-Shepard
      Cyrus-Shepard last edited by Jan 14, 2014, 8:55 PM Jan 11, 2014, 9:44 PM

      My understanding is you want Google to see it but not Moz or other SEO crawlers, is that right?

      I can't speak for all other crawlers, but you could accomplish this via robots.txt, although I really wouldn't recommend it because SEO crawlers use so many different user agents, you would have to exclude so many of them you might exclude important crawlers such as Bing or Google Mobile (for example).

      The idea would be to allow Googlebot and other crawlers to your site, but exclude everything else. Again, I don't recommend this because it's an overly-complex solution with a high degree of error possible.

      You could also do some fancy magic by detecting user-agents, but that's even more dangerous, so I'm not even going to go there 🙂

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • eyepaq
        eyepaq last edited by Jan 11, 2014, 4:34 PM Jan 11, 2014, 4:34 PM

        You can have the link as a "do follow" but no bot will notice it anyway. 🙂

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • co.mc
          co.mc @eyepaq last edited by Jan 11, 2014, 2:35 PM Jan 11, 2014, 2:35 PM

          Thank you for your response, but the link would "have to be" a follow. I guess this isn't possible. Thank you! 🙂

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • eyepaq
            eyepaq last edited by Jan 11, 2014, 9:52 AM Jan 11, 2014, 9:52 AM

            Hi,

            I don't see the reason but if there is one and you need that done - there is a way.

            You just create a small box iframe. Within this iframe you have an html independent page that will be a noindex, no follow and you can place the link / links there.

            Those will be visibile / accessibile by the user - it looks part of the page but on view source you won't be able to find those links and since the separate HTML is not indexable / crawlable those links are not visibile for any bot.

            Hope it helps - that is if I understood the question right 🙂

            Cheers.

            co.mc 1 Reply Last reply Jan 11, 2014, 2:35 PM Reply Quote 0
            • Asjad
              Asjad last edited by Jan 11, 2014, 5:20 AM Jan 11, 2014, 5:20 AM

              OHHH!! I am  Sorry! I meant Not Possible.

              How is it Possible that Google crawlers Crawl it and ahrefs one Don't ?

              Thanks

              Asjad Afzal
              COO
              Globital PTY LTD

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • co.mc
                co.mc @Asjad last edited by Jan 11, 2014, 5:16 AM Jan 11, 2014, 5:16 AM

                So wait, are you saying that it is possible? so you could allow Google to crawl the links but not other crawlers like Moz, and other SEO tools?...

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • Asjad
                  Asjad last edited by Jan 11, 2014, 5:17 AM Jan 11, 2014, 5:02 AM

                  Hey, Whats the Point in hiding the backlinks from these crawlers ? May be you don't want to give your backlinks data to your Competitors! that's Smart Actually 🙂

                  Secondly, I think Its Not Possible because You Need/Want Google Crawlers to Follow them So other 3rd party crawlers will excess them.

                  May be Im wrong!

                  Thanks

                  Asjad Afzal
                  COO
                  Globital PTY LTD

                  co.mc 1 Reply Last reply Jan 11, 2014, 5:16 AM Reply Quote 0
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