What's the real deal with nofollow
-
I had a few questions regarding nofollow links. It seems like more and more sites, forums, etc. nofollow their links. Is it still worth trying to get a link from? I've heard only Google takes nofollows into consideration. Do other search engines (Bing specifically) "listen" to nofollows? Finally, when checking for nofollow, does it need to be right by the link(s) or can it be anywhere in the source? Thanks in advance!
-
Based on your comment I decided to confirm my understanding. I had thought the "nofollow" tag in the header was a directive to not follow any links on the page. Apparently I was mistaken.
I created a test page and verified the result with two link checkers. Both view the link as a followed link despite the "nofollow" tag in the header.
I will modify my original reply.
-
Thanks for the information about nofollow in the of the page.
-
Do other search engines (Bing specifically) "listen" to nofollows?
Bing honors both the NOFOLLOW and NOINDEX commands when properly implemented.
Is it still worth trying to get a link from? I've heard only Google takes nofollows into consideration.
I can't say with certainty that all search engines respect the NOFOLLOW directive, but I can say the major ones do, and for most people that is all that matters. As far as worth, there has been indicators that some value is still gained from nofollow links.
A nofollow link can still help show diversity and balance in your domain and page ranking metrics. It can possible also help associate your site or page with keywords through anchor text. Possibly the best value is exposing your site to other users who might otherwise not find you. If you offer quality nofollow comments on a popular blog, some users will click the link and go to your website.
Finally, when checking for nofollow, does it need to be right by the link(s) or can it be anywhere in the source?
The line element which contains the link is the only place to check for the "nofollow" tag.
-
Nobody knows exactly how Google and other search engines treat nofollow links. And even when they reveal a little information about how they treat them they can always change their mind and not tell us. This is part of the history of nofollow.
I would not waste any of my time chasing these links. Part of the signal associated with these links is: "they paid us".... "they spammed us"... "we don't trust them"
-
If it makes sense to participate in these spaces, do it. Don't worry if they are follow or nofollow.
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
-
Any reason to nofollow outbound links to social platforms?
This one is stumping me - a site I'm working on has decided to nofollow all of their outbound links to LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. I can't find a reason for doing that...I think it's from the old and mistaken suspicion that this would deliver link equity away from the site. Everything I've read says that there's no downside to dofollow outbound links as long as they are to legit sites and on the up-and-up (e.g., not overly link-trading with another site, for instance). Thoughts?
Link Building | | TimDickey0 -
Does having '?search' in a URL affect the page quality?
In our Costume Themes category on our website, http://www.costumedirect.com.au/themes/, the links direct to search pages with URLs containing the term '?search'. For example, the 'Edward Scissorhands' link directs to http://www.costumedirect.com.au/search.php?search_query=edward. Will the question mark and 'search' in our URL affect the page quality and rankings? Thank you.
Link Building | | CostumeD0 -
Followed and nofollowed links
Hi all, When we should add followed links and when no followed? How this will affect to our site? Should all our links to other sites be no followed? Which sites we should give value? Thank you for your time Miško Macolić Tomičić
Link Building | | Eurasmus.com0 -
How Effective Are Links Between The Same Company's Websites With Different Domain Extensions?
Morning! The main competitor of an eCommerce site I'm working on has a total of 31 sites for 31 different countries. Each one of these sites has a different domain extension (.com, .co.uk, .fr, .it etc.), and every single one of these sites' pages links to all the other homepages through a dropdown menu on the navigation bar. When I pop the .co.uk URL (our main competitor) into Open Site Explorer, I'm advised they have a 45,079 links from 475 domains. If I look at 'just discovered' links, most are from their own sites - I guess MOZ picks these up every time a new page is created. Now, these guys are huge in the UK. They rank in the top 10 for pretty much every single search term and, to put it into some kind of perspective, their Search Metrics score is 33,000 compared to our measly 160! Don't get me wrong, they do get some decent links from authoritative sites, but it seem most of their links are from their own sites. How does Google view these? Does my competitor have these thousands of 'internal' backlinks to thank for their current position? I've just checked their .kr URL and this has 12.5 million(!) links from just 450 domains. Do every single one of these links pass equity? Or does Google just look at one from each domain? Thanks, Lewis
Link Building | | PeaSoupDigital0 -
Tons and tons of nofollow links
Ahrefs is showing that I have 1,278 no follow links. Many of these are from a site that I'm totally unfamiliar with (growmap.com) and don't see any reference to my site on. Perhaps I left a comment on it at some point? But more than 800 of my nofollow links are from this site. Is this going to hurt me? Thanks. My url is http://www.farnorthkennel.com if curiosity comes about.
Link Building | | Joshlaska0 -
How Much Should I Worry About NOFOLLOW Links?
I've got many unnatural backlinks that have the NOFOLLOW tag. How much should I worry about those links? Could Google penalize my website for these links?
Link Building | | sbrault740 -
How would one get on the Huff Po's "Around the Web" list?
On the huffington post they often have lists of links related to the article, near the bottom just before the comments. This section, when present, is called "Around the Web". See this as an example: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-bacon-phd-ma-ma/health-at-every-size_b_1314339.html Do the article authors choose these links, or are they auto-generated somehow? I had a relatively small competitor appear here, so I'm wondering if there are any tricks to gett included. Thanks! Edited to add hyperlink
Link Building | | AdoptionHelp0 -
Whats the deal with Squidoo?
It seems like a lot of our competators are getting lots of link juice from fake/spammy looking articles on squido. Is it worth the effort to make these articles and add links to them, or is google smarter than that? Example here: http://www.squidoo.com/selfstoragesmyrnatn links to: www.migsonstorage.com who seems to be doing pretty good according to OSE with a PA of 63 and a DA of 56
Link Building | | adriandg0