Are NoFollow Links a Waste of time?
-
I share links to my blog on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and Instagram. However, my links on social media sites are NoFollow Links. Do No Follow links help my Search Ranking or is it a waste of time to share my content on Social Media?
Ytellsocial
-
John Cross - thanks for providing with wonderful information and the slide share link.
-
Neal
Sharing links on social media is becoming more important to ranking as time progresses. So my view is the better you get at social now the more influence it will have on rankings now and down the track. EGOL has nailed its importance but I think social will only get more powerful on search/ranking influence.
Google is looking at ways to amplify social as it maybe the most pure (incorruptible) measurement tool for rankings. Earlier this year google & twitter announced they were re-connecting and google would have full access to the "firehose" or all tweets. Though yet we have not seen any significant changes in causation between ranking and tweets google will be working on something given the open funnel they now have into twitter.
Positive social shares validate a website and inform google your website is relevant, current and being talked about.
Moz published the slideshare below, which maybe helpful.
http://www.slideshare.net/jennifersablelopez/social-medias-influence-on-search-going-beyond-rankings
So I recommend think less about the technical side of nofollow links and more about the positive aspects of social media ie driving traffic to your website, creating links by sharing and then owning the space as the of power social to SEO is amped up.
-
Patrick Delehanty - Thanks for sharing great content with me to help me understand that no follow isn't bad.
-
Hi there
First, nofollow links are not a waste of time, if they pass the following questions:
-
Does this link help my website?
-
Is this link relevant to my website?
-
Would I trust this site (that's linking to me) if I landed on it?
-
Is the website or content in which I am being linked from topically relevant to my website?
-
If you check metrics - does anything about the metrics (domain authority, page authority,Majestic, SEMRush traffic/ranking data, etc) make me feel uneasy?
-
Are the links from directory templates? (example)
-
Inspect URLs with blatant spam words
-
Free
-
Porn
-
XXX
-
Submit
-
Directory
-
Paid
-
Links
-
URL
-
Sex
-
etc.
-
Check for multiple domains and URLs on the same IPs
-
This can usually show link farms or spam
...then that is a link I would consider obtaining.
Second, I would take a look at this resource from Moz. Going through this will help you in the following ways:
- What your user looks / act like
- What kind of content they like
- How they digest that content
- Where you should share that content
- How often you should be writing
- Where you should look to link build based on your audience
Here's another great resource on personas to help you. What it comes down to is knowing the type of content your audience wants/needs, and where to find them to get it to them. Once you get that figured out, the rest is just finding a way to keep up!
Hope this helps you! Good luck!
-
-
thanks for providing great insight to me EGOL
-
**.... is it a waste of time to share my content on Social Media? **
This is the real crux of the question.
If people see your postings on social media and click through to your website then that is a sign that you have something worth sharing. But, it also could be a sign that you are dropping clickbaity shares. You can check Google Analytics or Clicky or whatever you are using to monitor your incoming traffic.
If your shares are productive then you have to value your time compared to the amount of traffic and possible revenue or visibility that you are receiving from social sources. I don't share my content on social media because I am not a social media participant with a large number of people who interact with me. It is not a productive use of my time. It is more important for me to write content with that time.
However, all of the pages of my site have buttons that make it easy for my visitors to share in obvious ways and many visitors do that. I get traffic every day from social but occasionally I get enormous traffic from it. The best thing is that my visitors are doing the sharing for me.
Cultivating a tribe of people who like your website is the most effective way to take advantage of social media. For this to happen you must have strong sharable assets on your website.
Another thing that you can do to facilitate social sharing is to be sure that you are showing your best, most highly sharable content with all of your visitors. Obvious links to your most popular content, your most often shared content, what's hot today content can trigger content consumption and sharing.
Learn what content is winning for you and then play your strengths.
-
You are very welcome
-Andy
-
Andy Drinkwater - thank you for the response
-
They aren't a total waste, but they don't pass any page rank.
As for them being on social media sites, this is considered to be an emerging way to pass additional signals to Google around popularity, etc, so they could be useful in some way.
If you are looking for links that do something for you, then you need to get a bit more creative in where you try and share your content and how you perform your outreach. Target sites within your niche, make contact, introduce yourself and your article to them and explain why it might be of interest to their readers.
-Andy
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
-
Pinterest Link Value
Hello, First of all I know that all the links which come from Pinterest are no follow. However about 4 years ago we made a campaign to pinterest for one of the websites we are managing. Although the thing was going well we had to stop it for various reasons. Right now, 4 years later, this thing has grown big without any move for us! All these years our pins, which were great in many aspects, were continuously reppined. This has lead to the point where the Google Search Console is reporting that about 500.000 links are linking to our website from Pinterest. We know how this has helped us or not concerning the actual refferring traffic from Pinterest but our main question, and this where we want the Moz's community help, is how is this helping from a SEO aspect. Thank you!
Social Media | | Tz_Seo1 -
Add Tracking Parameters to Website Links on Facebook/Twitter
does anyone know of a way to add tracking parameters to facebook/twitter website links in the about us section so that we can understand what traffic is specifically coming from that page? I already add tracking to posts, but I am more trying to track each standard link on these social channels. I am currently running into character limits or the result looks like a long url that will most certainly deter clicks because it looks suspicious.
Social Media | | dsinger1 -
What percentage of linking root domains is safe for guest posting
Hello, From what I've been experiencing and learning lately, link building seems to be good only in moderation and content marketing - stellar targeted authoritative content - attracting links and pushing it on social channels seems to be much safer. My question is, high quality guest posting - quality sites with good anchor text profile 3+ PR (hopefully more) and one link back from the body of the content to the home page or an article you're pushing - seems good but only in moderation. For high quality guest posting, what would you recommend our percentage of linking root domains to allocating to guest posting. I'm looking for a safe percentage that will hopefully not get devalued any time soon, and any additional advice on making this a good long term balanced strategy. Thanks.
Social Media | | BobGW0 -
Link Google Business page and Google Plus fanpage ?
Hello ! I'm strugling with a stupid issue. I have for my company: A website A google page A google entreprise / place page A youtube page They are all Google services so does anyone know if there is a way to link all of them together ? I know it's possible for youtube and Google page, but let me know google was smart enough to let us link our places.google.com and google + Tks a lot !
Social Media | | AymanH0 -
How To Use Followerwonk and Twitter for outreach link building
I'm wondering if anyone can help me with how to use follower wonk and twitter for outreach link building and offer any strategies. I'm using the following method but perhaps there are more efficient ways of doing it or other software that can aid the process. As I understand it it's a case of searching bios on followerwonk based on keywords and at the minute I'm selecting targets by social authority. (Is that the best metric or the there another one that's better?). I'm basically then following users in my niche and hoping that they follow me back. Those that do I'm then visiting their website based on the url in their twitter bio and running it through OSE to check the domain authority to see if the site authority is high enough to warrant listing them as a potential link target. If so I'm communicating with them by sharing their content, mentioning them or direct messaging them complimenting them on an article or such like. My aim is to build a relationship and eventually achieve a guest post or backlink somehow. Is this how the process should work?
Social Media | | SamCUK0 -
Looking for some link bait ideas for local businesses?
I own an agency and have several local clients. Particularly clients in the service areas - Window replacement company, Roofing company, Foreign Car repair company, and an Asphalt paving company. I really want to run some link bait campaigns, and would love any input you guys might have. Thanks in advance for your ideas:)
Social Media | | RonMedlin0 -
What are different strategies to achieve a strong social presence for clients in multiple industries? How do you best leverage your time?
I just finished watching the mozinar on "The End of Search Without Social" mozinar, and I have so many points that I want to implement for our agency. The problem I see is that we have clients in about 20 different industries. How do you create strong social relationships in each of these industries for your clients? It seems that you could have more influence if you built all into your own personal profiles or your SEO company's to create that great fan base. Anyone have success in doing it across the board? Thanks!
Social Media | | esztanyo0 -
Social Content Posting - Post to Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter and Linked in at the same time
Hi, Is there any means of posting new content for my companies various social profiles in the one go rather than having to log into each one? This would save a lot of time. Thanks
Social Media | | fdep0