NoFollow & Directory Scraper Backlinks
-
I was wondering how important it was to remove/disavow:
- NoFollow backlinks - many ("buy viagra" etc).
- Directory backlinks - many questionable/generic directories.
Obviously the focus is the equity passing links but both of the above constitute a significant proportion of backlinks to the site - I've seen that "scrapers" are seen as natural and obviously NoFollow do not pass link juice - but does the sheer number have a bearing and therefore make them equally important to address?
Thanks in advance for your responses.
Regards
-
If you've got viagra spam pointing at your site you likely won't be able to remove them. So should you disavow? Disavowing a nofollowed link won't accomplish anything as disavowing is simply asking Google not to count the link and a nofollow link is already not being counted. However, when you have loads of nofollowed links from spam attacks this is one situation where I often do go ahead and disavow these. The reason for this is that one tactic that spammers can use is to point a bunch of nofollowed links at a site and then one day turn them all to followed. If you've got them disavowed then you've got that covered.
Also, if you have viagra links pointing to your site, make sure you don't have a hack within your site. Try doing a google search for site:yourdomain.com viagra and see what comes up.
For directories, I don't worry about things like dmoz scrapers and 100searchengines and stuff like that, unless somehow you managed to sneak a keyword anchored link into dmoz. I wrote a thorough article on my thought process for auditing directory links here:
http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2360254/is-that-directory-link-unnatural
-
Regardless of the nofollow attribute, having spammy links in your link portfolio can hurt your SEO and cause a penalty. If you've identified links that are clearly on spammy site, proactively dissavow those links. Don't think that just because they have a nofollow attribute that your site is safe from penalty, because they are not.
Edited for directories - it all goes back to the quality of the link and website linking. If the directory is legitimate and useful to users, then consider it a good link. If the directory is a hodgepodge of links that was only generated to be a link farm, then get rid of it before it does you harm, because it isn't doing you any good.
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
-
Best way to regular check backlinks & identify low quality and spammy links?
Previously my site was under manual penalty and then 80% of the links i removed and my penalty lifted. ( I am talking about 1 year before) Now i have few queries - What is the best way to regular check backlinks? what to do if a spammy link appears What to do about directories that link to us What to do with old links that are not good quality Now I have to check number of links and quality of links of website so which is the best method check? Thanks! dev
Link Building | | devdan0 -
Backlinks from the Same Domain (But Different Pages)
Wayyy back when (in the days of yore) Mr Cutts spelled out in a video that page rank is distributed equally between the external links on the page. If there are two links on a page, each gets passed 50% of the available page rank etc. (Perhaps an oversimplification but bear with me). As a result of this, the company I worked for at the time (this was the dark ages when sidebar homepage links were in vogue) decreed that we would only ever approach a site about a link for a client once, as additional links had little extra SEO Value. Now you could argue that if there are 5 external links, each acquiring 20% of the power, and your site has 2 of those, you are getting 40% of the power, but lets forget the basic math for a minute. I have scoured the web and Mr Cutts' videos and I cannot find the answer to my question: If my site (Site A) has a backlink from SiteB Page 1, and a backlink from SiteB page 2 - does this count as two separate links in the eyes of Google? If the SAME site links out to my site, linking to different pages in different posts, does this give me more SEO benefit? Thanks for your time!
Link Building | | Turkey0 -
Not sure which url to use for backlinks
Hi our site, northamericahvac.com automatically goes to http://www.northamericahvac.com/servlet/StoreFront. There isnt anything I can do about it though, because we use prostores which limits things for us. That leads me to ask, when I'm making backlinks would I use northamericahvac.com www.northamericahvac,com, or http://www.northamericahvac.com/servlet/StoreFront.
Link Building | | ithvac0 -
Which number is important for backlinks?
I'm getting very confused. What is the important number regarding backlinks to my site? The Moz number vs. Hubspot grader spits out vastly different numbers. For the particular site I'm trying to improve, I don't have Webmaster Tools installed yet (waiting for webmaster to do as it doesn't have asynchronous code on it). Also apologies for novice question but I remember once being told that offpage SEO and specifically the amount of external backlinks is responsible for 75% of your SERP. Is that still the case?
Link Building | | Bua0 -
Are directories still an option for linkbuilding
I know that after the recent slate of Google updates, many free directories got taken down. We've typically used the list of directories placed on SEOmoz (www.seomoz.org/directories). Before adding a site to a directory, we always check to see if it is indexed by Google. Is this still a safe option or should directories be avoided?
Link Building | | TopFloor0 -
Yahoo! Directory Category Question
The listing for my company was buried in a bad category in the Yahoo! Directory that had no Page Authority. I was able to get them to remove the old listing because I couldn't find the account info for the individual that originally created it. I resubmitted and they didn't put my site in the category that I requested but the Page Authority of the category that I was placed in is 50. Is this OK? Or should I repeal and ask them to move it to the category that I had originally requested which I feel would be more relevant for my company and listing which also has a 50 PA?
Link Building | | TRICORSystems0 -
Yahoo Directory - Which Category?
I'm submitting a law firm's site to the Yahoo paid directory. The location of the firm is in a suburb of the large city for that region, and that suburb is so small that there is no option for it under Cities. Obviously, the client wants to target the large city, not the suburb they're located in. Wondering if it's OK to submit the site to Yahoo under the category of the large city if the business is not technically located in that city. The address is clearly listed in the footer and on the contact page. Might Yahoo reject the submission for that, or will their editors realize there's no listing for the suburb and allow it?
Link Building | | c2g0 -
Different Countries Google Directories?
How is this site pulling this off? I have seen other sites get placed in the google directory before, but for some reason this site is managing to get backlinks from every different countries google directory! http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/http%253A%252F%252Fwww.moving-storage.net%252F/a!links
Link Building | | adriandg0