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  4. Does the ratio of external nofollow links to external "do follow" links matter in terms of SERPs ranking?

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Does the ratio of external nofollow links to external "do follow" links matter in terms of SERPs ranking?

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  • tcolling
    tcolling last edited by Jun 28, 2012, 4:00 PM

    My site has an external link nofollow:dofollow ratio of approximately 1:1

    That is, there are about as many nofollow external links as "do follow" external links.

    I have an impression that the ratio of no-follow to "do follow" links is a factor in the way that our website shows up in SERPs.

    I have the impression from reading a variety of sources, and from looking at Seomoz, that calculate "trust" factors as if they mattered (in SERPs), that seem to value a relatively low nofollow:dofollow ratio.

    Am I correct about that?

    Thanks,
    Tim

    PS - I don't know whether or not this matters, but our website is at: www.trustworthycare.com - Tim

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • bronxpad
      bronxpad @tcolling last edited by Jun 29, 2012, 6:22 PM Jun 29, 2012, 6:22 PM

      No problem,

      I'm more than glad to help. Enjoy your weekend.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Cyrus-Shepard
        Cyrus-Shepard last edited by Jul 4, 2012, 1:32 AM Jun 29, 2012, 2:53 PM

        Interestingly, there's a strong correlation between the number of nofollowed links to a domain and higher rankings, although the correlation isn't as high as with the number of followed links to a domain.

        http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors#metrics-1

        Most well ranking websites have a natural amount of nofollowed links, but I've never seen any evidence that a 50/50 ratio would either harm or benefit you.

        Regardless, you want to keep working to build good, mostly followed links. If you continue to do this, you should be in good hands.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
        • tcolling
          tcolling last edited by Jun 29, 2012, 12:04 PM Jun 29, 2012, 12:04 PM

          Joel - Thank you for taking time to respond to my question.  I appreciate your help!

          Is anyone else interested in offering their input?

          Thanks,

          Tim

          bronxpad 1 Reply Last reply Jun 29, 2012, 6:22 PM Reply Quote 0
          • bronxpad
            bronxpad last edited by Jun 29, 2012, 12:03 PM Jun 28, 2012, 4:19 PM

            There are no concrete rules when it comes to ratio of no follow / do follow but a rule of thumb is that you should have an 80/20 ratio of do follow versus no follow.

            It would be suspicious if you only had do follow but wouldn't look right if you only had no follow.

            As you already know, do follow links hold a lot of value. No follow links just gives the impression that your link building is natural.

            That being said I would't remove the no follow links to get a better ratio. Just make sure your link building strategy focuses on natural white hat strategies

            Hope this helps.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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