How are Server side redirects perceived compared to direct links (on a Directory site)

[Dan-Lawrence]

Hi,

Im creating some listings for a client on a relevant b2b directory (a good quality directory)

I asked if the links are 'followed' or no 'followed' and they said they are 'server side redirects' so no direct links.

Does anyone know how these are likely to be perceived by Google ?

All BEst

Dan

[Dan-Lawrence]

Hi Dirk

I sure did and thank you both for your help

All Best

Dan

[DirkC]

Hi Dan,

You already got an excellent reply to this question from Andy

Dirk

[Andy.Drinkwater]

No worries Dan

-Andy

[Dan-Lawrence]

Great thanks for confirming that Andy !

Many Thanks

Dan

[Andy.Drinkwater]

For this type of link, yes, that can be a little risky as it's a full page redirect (probably seen as a 301) rather than a textual link.

If it does turn out to be nofollowed (I would need to see the link to confirm) then it's a little different as link juice doesn't flow and that then satisfies Google, but I would err on the side of caution. Unless there is a good reason to pay for a premium link (more traffic, etc), then I wouldn't really bother.

-Andy

[Dan-Lawrence]

Cool thanks for confirming that Andy!

They also offer a premium listing so i presume those ones may be perceived as paid links and potentially be risky if done the same way ?

All Best

Dan

[Dan-Lawrence]

Thanks Dirk

If so then that should be fine for an unpaid listing but they also offer a premium listing so i presume those ones may be perceived as paid links and potentially be risky ?

All BEst

Dan

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Dirk is correct - these are seen as a 'followed' link.

I have read conflicting reports on how these are viewed from an SEO perspective, but I think that the general feeling is "don't worry" as it is a one off, it's a niche directory and is just going to form a part of your overall link profile. If every link was the same from the same type of site and followed the same format, then Google might see something unnatural.

Don't sweat it

-Andy

[DirkC]

If I understand it well it will be something like directory.com/listing.htm links to directory.com/companypage which is then redirected to www.company.com (so users actually never see directory.com/companypage).

I guess this type of link will be considered as a "follow" type link as server side redirects pass link juice to the destination (unless they block directory.com/companypage for indexing with their robots.txt and/or they put a nofollow on all the links to directory.com/companypage)

Dirk