Is a no-follow link/sponsored link a good editorial link?

[tutugirl]

Ok maybe this is a dumb question.  I really need some better, more quality backlinks pointing to my site.

There is a site that has domain authority of 72, page rank 5 that is offering me a sponsored blog post.

Do sponsored posts count as a good editorial link?  Also what if they are no-follow (and how would I find out ahead of time), does that still give me link juice?

[MicahMMG]

It won't give you link juice.  It might give you traffic, but probably not a lot.  There are probably other opportunities that your time/money are better spent on.

[tutugirl]

Yes they disclose that it is sponsored.

[RuthBurrReedy]

Nofollow links do not pass link juice - Google may still crawl them for informational purposes, but they won't count toward your overall domain profile quality. I would only pursue sponsored posts/editorial links if you're confident that the blog's audience is a good match for you - i.e. treat it like an ad, not like link building.

I would be extremely cautious about buying sponsored links.  If the person doesn't disclose that they've been compensated for a blog post, they could be in violation of FTC guidelines.  A reputable sponsored post SHOULD nofollow their links, otherwise you would be in violation of Google's paid links policy: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66736

[tutugirl]

Thanks for your reply.   Is it better to have 2 good quality backlinks (editorial) vs one excellent one?

For example:

domain1 has a domain authority of 52 with a page rank of 4

domain2 has a domain authority of 72 with a page rank of 5

Both fit well into my niche, but the offbeatbride bride post is $475 more and wasn't sure if the higher domain authority and page rank is worth it in terms of getting a boost from Google.

[smokin_ace]

Hi there,

Actually the sponsored posts is still good way of getting a good rankings for your keyword. Just make sure that this website has theme relevant to yours and the post itself will be unique not copied.

If the following link will be no-follow then it is depend on how much you are going to pay for it. I can't really say that no-follow links are not carrying any value for SEO, especially after many updated done by Google.

To find out if the link is no-follow you can use http://www.seomoz.org/seo-toolbar

Hope it help

Ruslan