Will No Follow Links count toward your root domain links for Domain Authority?

[FastLearner]

I am wondering if no follow links help, hurt, or do nothing when it comes to increasing page and domain authority?

I know they are not supposed to pass rank and I have read discussions that some people suspect they still might, but I am wondering if I have a mix of follow plus no follow, will the no follow ones increase the count of the root domains linking to me and help boost my authority?

Assuming of course the no follow links are coming from quality sites with high page and domain authority of their own.

Thanks.

[MediaCause]

Does anyone know if Mark and Barry's answers still hold true (nearly 1 year later)?

We have a disproportionate amount of NoFollowed Linking Root Domains and I'm worried that it's having a negative effect on our rankings.

Thanks!

Eric

[StalkerB]

A lot of what Mark said, but it definitely depends where it's coming from.

A big part of the social web has nofollow links in profiles (quite correctly as they can't control what people are linking to), but I'm pretty sure the big search engines are looking at SM sites in order to determine part of a domains authority.

Nofollows don't hurt and there is always the advertising value of them. Though if these are editorial links it's got to be worth talking to the site owners to see if you can get the nofollow removed.

[FastLearner]

Awesome Mark,

Thanks for responding so quickly. I am off to get some no follow links to diversify my link portfolio

[Hurf]

No follow links certainly don't hurt! Whilst they may not pass on any direct PR, they can still attract REAL click through traffic (maybe even REAL customers!) especially if the nofollow links are coming from related "quality sites with high page and domain authority of their own." - If these sites which feature your no follow links are indeed quality then they will attract traffic as a result - if your no follow links are present amongst the quality information on these sites it stands to reason that you can only benefit from those links.

No follows links also help to create LINK DIVERSITY which will improve appearance of any link building method you use - as it is expected that a number of your inbound links will be no follow links.

There are some  who suspect that Google MAY take no follow links into consideration despite their clear statements to the contrary.

So in summary, if you can get no follow links from quality sites you should certainly do so as they will NOT harm your DA or ranking - at worst they would be neutral in this regard - but still pass additional traffic your way.