Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Is it possible to create "hidden" backlinks?
-
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"?
-
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
-
You can have the link as a "do follow" but no bot will notice it anyway.
-
Thank you for your response, but the link would "have to be" a follow. I guess this isn't possible. Thank you!
-
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.
-
OHHH!! I am Sorry! I meant Not Possible.
How is it Possible that Google crawlers Crawl it and ahrefs one Don't ?
Thanks
-
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?...
-
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
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
-
Search Intent and Relevance
Hello SEO gurus 🤓 I’m looking for the most efficient ways to analyze the search intent and relevance of competitors who are ranking for the keywords we’re targeting. While I know Google excels at assessing search intent and relevance, I’m interested in learning how we can evaluate these factors as metrics for our competitors. The goal is to understand their strategy better and find ways to outrank them. Do you have any tools or methodologies that you recommend for assessing competitor content to determine its alignment with search intent and user needs/relevance? I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on this!
Competitive Research | | Cricket931 -
How do you select which keywords to push in SEO?
Hi Guys Selecting the right keywords that a website can realistically rank for is a key to gain top rankings relatively quick. I am just curious to hear how you guys do it (the methodology) when selecting which keywords to push? I mean you need to check the competition for each keyword as well so how to check this quickly to see what we realistically can rank for? Cheers John
Competitive Research | | igniterman751 -
Is it possible to find out how many indexed pages a website had at particular dates in the past?
I've found all kinds of websites and tools that can tell me how many pages a site has indexed currently, but how about historically? Does such a tool exist?
Competitive Research | | bigvibes9090 -
How Do You Create an excel spreadsheet of all blog post content on a site?
Is there a quick and easy way to create an excel spreadsheet with a list of all blog content and it's SEO factors i.e. URL, title, description, etc.? I know I could use screaming from to get the entire site but is there a way to just get the content on the blog?
Competitive Research | | RonMedlin0 -
Free tools to find country of origin of backlinks/urls
Hey are there any free tools out there which can allow me to insert a large list of urls, and it determines the country of origin of the domain. I know the paid version of majestic does, but i was wondering if theres any free tools? Cheers, Chris
Competitive Research | | monster990 -
Is it possible to bulk Check CMS
Hi Mozzers, Any of you know a way to bulk check which CMS a list of sites run on? Let's say I'd like to develop a plugin for a CMS (e.g. Wordpress or vBulletin). But that'd only make sense if some of the sites in the niche use this platform. And I'd like to avoid checking them manually with WASP. Thanks! Thomas
Competitive Research | | ThomasHgenhaven0 -
What is the difference between "external backlinks" & "referring domains" on Majestic SEO?
According to Majestic SEO's glossary, a "Referring domain, also known as "ref domain", is a domain from which a backlink is pointing to a page or link." Given this definition, I'm not sure what an external backlink is?
Competitive Research | | nicole.healthline0 -
Creating Sub Pages To Target Specific Keywords
Hi Guys, Hope you can answer this question. Our website is currently on the first page in position 6 for a competitive keyword, domain is 11years old and currently has a PR of 4. At the moment there are 4 competitors above us one of which as two listings, they have managed to do this by creating a page dedicated to the keyword. E.g www.ourdomain.co.uk/key-word.html. Do you think we would achieve a good ranking if we built the same page but with fresh content and links pointing to that page? Cheers.
Competitive Research | | ScottBaxterWW0