NOFOLLOW Links: Can we 100% ignore them for SEO purposes?
-
Some SEO articles say we can completely ignore NoFollow links. Other articles say they still matter - but then are very vague on what they count for or against. So which is it really?
I do realize that they can provide traffic, and for that they are worthwhile. But it is SEO I am asking about...
The SEO purpose I am most concerned with is the Link Profile. Separating the Follows from the NoFollows often gives really different anchor text distributions.
If they don't matter, why do MOZ and other SEO Analysis programs still include them in their standard reports? (I can see some benefit to having them as part of the in-depth reports)
So what's your thoughts? Can we 100% ignore the NoFollows for our SEO analysis?
-
Thanks everybody!
It looks I need to "sort of" consider them in my analysis
-
I've ranked a few sites with great onsite and nofollow links. There's some sort of trust/authority that is passed through them. That being said, dofollow links pass more authority.
The reason why all of the other SEO tools include them is because they work to show you as many links as the tool finds. They don't limit it based on what they perceive as valuable. They provide you the data to make the choice.
-
you're are going to need some keyword anchor text from followed links - but not an unnatural amount!
Yeah the ratio of what you need is crazily small right now - I've seen sites with some amazingly good rankings in competitive spaces with nearly blanket brand / miscellaneous anchors, but of course the sources from which they obtain these links are largely relevant to their competitive market / keyword. Like Mailchimp - 10,000 unique linking domains linking with "mailchimp" (plus many more variations below); 28 linking with "email marketing" (all from some questionable badges, mind you) / SERPs right now. The commercial terms will pop up naturally from time to time and that's fine, but to be honest, we'd stopped seeking or being happy about deliberate competitive anchor text a while ago.
-
Again I would say they both matter (follow and nofollow) but followed links are going to have a lot more value. It is interesting to look at the distribution of anchor text between followed and nofollowed links. If you want to rank high for a competitive keyword, you're are going to need some keyword anchor text from followed links - but not an unnatural amount!
-
I would look at them for the entire backlink profile, but pay more attention to the followed links when it comes to something like anchor text distribution. Here's why:
If I were Google and I were looking at a car insurance website, and I saw that it had 200 followed links with brand mentions, URLs as anchor text, "click here", etc., then that looks fairly good. However, if the site also has 400 links with "cheap car insurance" as anchor text, does that look somewhat like the site has been doing something like comment spamming? Yup, it does. They make up a telling part of the profile and Google would be silly not to take them into consideration, but they should not directly affect site authority in the way followed links do.
Keep in mind that DA scores are a Moz metric and whilst Moz attempts to replicate how Google operates to the best of its ability, it isn't a Google figure so can't be relied upon to show how Google views a site's authority.
If you've been penalised, I'd most certainly start with removing followed links that are poor in quality. I have not heard of a situation where someone has recovered from a penalty after removing nofollowed links (this doesn't mean it hasn't happened). It's the followed links that Google cracks down on if they dislike them, and the followed links that make a large difference to your rankings.
-
For what is it worth Gregory, I've built DA with almost entirely no-follow links. So I personally would say that it would be good piece of information to have regarding the anchor text of those links.
-
Thanks iStorm. I just looked at the Factors article and see NoFollowed in there as part of the grand total number of links.
What I still want to hear more about is if they should be included when looking at things like a site's Anchor Text distribution....
-
Nofollowed links still have value (especially in the fact that great traffic links can be nofollowed), but you want pure SEO value. Take a look at Moz's latest Search Engine Ranking Factors: http://moz.com/search-ranking-factors
This is their list of the highest correlated ranking factors which include link totals (follow and nofollow) - look at #12 on the list. So yes, they do correlate to ranking factors, but they are a much smaller factor compared to the value of a followed link.
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
-
I have 2 E-commerce sites - Can i cross link?
Good Morning Everyone, I have 2 e-commerce websites that are similar and sell the same products. The content (text/descriptions/titles) is different so the content is not duplicate. SITE A has a ton of blog posts with highly relevant information and we frequently update the blog with posts about the types of products we carry and how it can help people in their daily lives... SITE B has no blog posts, but the content on the blog from SITE A is extremely relevant and helpful to anyone using SITE B. My question is, do you think it is frowned upon if i were to add links on SITE B that point to specific posts on SITE A... For example, if you are browsing a category page on SITE B, i was thinking of adding links on the bottom that would say "For More Information, Please Check Out These Posts on our Blog" www.sitea.com/blog/relevantinfo1 www.sitea.com/blog/relevantinfo2 www.sitea.com/blog/relevantinfo3 I think this would seriously help our browsers and potential customers get all of the information that they need, but what do you think Google would think about this cross-linking and if it violates their guidelines? Thanks for any opinions and advice.
Technical SEO | | Prime850 -
SSl and SEO
Does the type of SSL used on a site have any significance to trust and seo ranking?
Technical SEO | | unikey0 -
Too many links?
Hello! I've just started with SEOmoz, and am getting an error about too many links on a few of my blog posts - it's pages with high numbers of comments, and the links are coming from each commenter's profile (hopefully that makes sense they're not just random stuffed links). Is there a way to help this not cause a problem? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | PaulineMagnusson0 -
Self-referencing links
I personally think that self-referencing links are silly. It's blatantly easy for Google to tell and my instinct says that the link juice for this would simply evaporate rather than passing back to itself. Does anyone have information backing me up from an authoritative source? I can't find any info about this linked to Matt Cutts, Rand or any of those I look up to.
Technical SEO | | IPROdigital0 -
Tracking Links Tool
I think someone may be trying to harm my site by adding spammy links so I want to track the links going to my site on a daily basis. Any tool suggestions? Majestic SEO is great for getting an overall picture of my links, but is not updated daily. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | theLotter0 -
.Nofollow and link count
If i use nofollow on links ( internal or external ), will it reduce the link count as regard to Google. If there are 50 external links, and i nofollow 20 of them, will Google count this as 30 external links.
Technical SEO | | seoug_20050 -
Internal Linking
Where is the best information on internal linking. I'm so confused and everything I read says something different. Ahhhh Thanks
Technical SEO | | meardna770 -
What Are The Page Linking Options?
Okay, so I'm working with a site that has pretty good domain authority, but the interior pages are not well linked or optimized. So, it ranks for some terms, but everything goes to the home page. So, I'd like to increase the authority of the interior pages. The client is not wild about spreading targeted juice via something like a footer. They also don't like a "Popular Searches" style link list. The objection is that it's not attractive. They currently use cute euphemisms as the linking text, so like "cool stuff" instead of "sheepskin seat covers." In that made up example, they'd like to rank for the latter, but insist on using the former. What about a slide show with alt text/links? Would that increase the authority of those pages in a term-targeted kinda way? Are there other options? Does it matter how prominent those links are, like footers not as good as something higher up the page? They currently use a pull-down kind of thing that still results in some pages having no authority. Do bots use that equally well? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | 945010