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
-
Tracking Backlinks
Hi there, I'm looking for a tool/ service whereby I can track backlinks & be alerted when:
Link Building | | jasongmcmahon
a) They've moved
b) They've been removed & 404 is generated Is anyone aware of any such service?0 -
Is it better to have backlinks from domains with medium DA, UR, using same language and good relevancy, or backlinks from domains with high DA, UR but using another language and with less relevancy?
Dear all, while I understand that quality backlinks with high DA, UR, same-language and relevancy would be best, would backlinks with high DA, UR but less relevancy and using languages other than the one used in my website be something good? Or would they do more harm than anything else and still be outcompeted by backlinks with lower DA, UR but same language and/or more relevancy? Thank you Frank
Link Building | | Frank_Smith0 -
Are Sidebar Backlinks worth for SEO?
Hello! Let's use the following example: I have a blog (let's call it Blog A) and I find another blog in the same niche (this will be Blog B) that has higher DA and PA than mine. Will Google penalize me if the Blog B puts a link to my blog in their sidebar? Remember, the Blog A and Blog B are from the same niche. I ask this because Google says that links on sidebars appears in every page and in some pages the link may be useless. But if both blogs are from the same niche, there won't be pages where the links will be from different themes and with less relevance. So, is my thought correct: we can use sidebar links without caring about penalization ONLY if the blogs are from the same niche? Thanks in advance!
Link Building | | btqkelvin0 -
Backlinks from non-relevant site
There's a forum I used to participate in that allows you to include a link to your website in your signature block. I have over 500 posts in the forum so that provides a lot of backlinks to my website. However, I recently decided to remove my website link from my signature for two reasons: The forum is 95-99% dead. Hardly anyone uses it anymore. BTW, the website that houses the forum is still popular within is niche (articles, etc). Just the forum appears to be dead. The website and its forum really have no connection whatsoever to my business. I'm in a completely different niche. However, I have no idea if I've made the right decision. Will removing my signature and the backlinks hurt my site? Or will it help it since the other site really isn't related to mine? Thanks for any thoughts on this!
Link Building | | emh19690 -
Natural or Unnatural backlinks
Somebody embedded a link to one of my websites on the sidebar of her blog. It ends up hundreds of links from this blog. Will this type of links be considered unnatural links by Google? Here is the url of the blog. http://chordsandmore.blogspot.com/ To find the link to my site, please search "yoke wong". Thanks.
Link Building | | pianomother0 -
Back to Basics: Article Directories :)
Does anyone do this? I don't any more but what I used to do is: Find 20 article directories I thought were good, register to all and note down in a excel sheet. Generate 1 article (500 words) and make a byline to go with it containing my anchor text link. I would then systematically go through my excel sheet submitting my article to each one. 2 weeks later repeat the process. This is something I used to do a few years ago but stopped because it was duplicate content across the directories but I think I was probably going about it the wrong way. Anyone?
Link Building | | activitysuper0 -
Paid Directories and On-page Keyword SEO
I have a new website and I am getting ready to submit to a few paid directories to get my links started. I wanted to optimize my domain name/keywords for those directories and also for my on page SEO. My domain contains my keywords. For example "www.horsebuggy.net Questions: #1 Should I target the horsebuggy.net in my on-page SEO or just target horse buggy? #2 When I submit to a paid directory which should I choose for my company name. (I currently have a DBA for each term....for ex.. horse buggy and horsebuggy.net . Thank you, Boo
Link Building | | Boodreaux0 -
Multiple submissions to article directories
Hello, I would like to ask if I can submit the same article to multiple article directories. I have read that while only the first published article will gain credit and show on search engines, but the all the links generated from the publishing the article at different sites will still tally up and count as separate backlinks to my website. Is this true, or is 1 or a few links going to be counted from the 1 article?
Link Building | | jingliang3_rogers.com0