No-follow value

[SCW]

While conducting competitive analysis and examining link profiles via OSE, one will generally see a portion of external inbound links possessing the "no follow" attribute.

I am wondering what the latest general consensus is regarding whether or not these links contribute any link juice or page authority - enough to influence SERP positioning? Or contribute to domain authority?

One of my client's competitors has several hundred more inbound links from external domains than we do. The majority of these are "no follow"  links from pages of relatively low page authority, but the domain subject matter is quite relevant. The competitor's site generally ranks higher for similar key phrases. And so far, this is the only reason I can see ( I have examined and compared numerous factors ) which is allowing the competitor to outrank us.

There is no doubt in my mind we have superior content and on-page SEO structure, so now I am looking at this purely from an off-page perspective to identify ranking factors.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[SCW]

I think you are right on the money with that assessment. They were ranking higher from the beginning. Domains are very close in age. It's kind of ironic, in that, the no follow supposedly passes no juice, yet I also read a mix should be present. Uhh... why? LOL

Our competitor's site does indeed have a healthy mix of follow and no follow links. At this point, I am wondering if the no follow links are considered or weighted in other ways (e.g. as a measure of trust or relevancy)?

Anyway, I am with you on this, I suspect the no follow links do lend "something" - just not sure what...

[bronxpad]

The rule of thumb is that the no follow attribute doesn't pass any link juice but in my humble opinion I have personally seen sites that would not get discovered otherwise with no other links pointing to it and on page seo not so great get discovered and started to rank well relatively quick because a link does exist. Also it has been mentioned in the past that a good link profile should incorporate both followed and no followed links.

Your clients opposition might have a healthy mix of followed and no followed links. Also Domain age plays a factor as well. Were they ranking higher than you from the beginning or did they all of a sudden shout up in the serps?