Given Google’s recent decision to treat the “NoFollow” attribute as a suggestion for indexing and crawling starting on March 1st, this is an ideal moment to pay more attention to internal and external nofollow links, and analyze the advantages they offer, as well as numerous ways to employ them.
What Are Nofollow Links?
In 2005, Google provided an option of rel=”nofollow” to bloggers who were having difficulties with people employing comment spam to generate links with the goal of targeting particular words, such as “wedding invitations.” Since then, Google has recommended avoiding the attribute of paid links (which may result in punishments from Google).
The nofollow attribute instructs search engines to not follow the corresponding outbound link that has been tagged, which signifies that the website does not support the said link.
What a Follow and Nofollow Link Looks Like
In the HTML of your source code, a “Nofollow” tag is included. If you are manually designing links, take a look at our demonstrations, as several Content Management Systems include a nofollow feature.
Here is what a follow link looks like:
<a href="https://example.com">Anchor Text Goes Here</a>Here is what a nofollow link looks like:<a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">Anchor Text</a>Nofollow Link Options for Google
In September 2019, Google gave webmasters the opportunity to signal their intent more precisely with the introduction of two new link attributes. The goal of these link elements was to help Google better understand the purpose of each link.
rel=”sponsored”
Google recommends utilizing the sponsored attribute to mark links on your website that originated from paid advertisements, sponsorships, or other types of compensation. This is their desired strategy for when links are monetized in any way.
The sponsored attribute looks like this:
<a href="http://www.example.com/" rel="sponsored">Anchor text</a>rel=”ugc”
Google advises to label links to user-created content, like comments and forum messages, as coming from UGC. Despite this, they suggested that taking away this feature from links could be a way of acknowledging and recompensing faithful contributors who have habitually made great additions.
The UGC (‘user-generated content’) attribute looks like this:
<a href="http://www.example.com/" rel="ugc">Anchor text</a>Google recommends utilizing rel=”nofollow” when no other values are suited, and when you’d rather not have Google associate your website with, or crawl the page that is connected with, yours.
NoFollow vs. NoIndex: What Is the difference?
We have seen some uncertainty concerning how to get Google to keep a page out of their index. Therefore, we wish to outline the distinctions between the nofollow and noindex commands and explain the options available.
As has been mentioned, it is possible to apply the nofollow attribute to individual links. Nofollow also can be added to the of a page which tells search engines to nofollow all links on that page:
<meta name="robots" content="nofollow" />If you had the intention of blocking Google from accessing the pages on your website through this directive, please be aware that in the past, this indicated to them not to include it in a specific link, however, this does not shield the page from Google’s crawlers if accessed through a different route. If Google is interpreting the nofollows as mere suggestions, then investing in this strategy would be ineffective for you.
If you do not wish for Google to go through or include a page on your website, you will have to employ the noindex marker.
The Noindex Meta Tag
A ‘noindex’ tag informs search engines not to list a page in their search results. Google has declared that when its search engine, Googlebot, revisits the page with the tag or header, it will not display that page in search results, even if other websites are linking to it.
They claim that the noindex command is only effective if the page is not blocked from the robots.txt file. If a robots.txt program has put a block on the page, the crawler won’t be aware of the “noindex” command, allowing the page to still come up in search results if other pages are linking to it.
You can add a noindex tag to the head section in HTML for a particular page like this:
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow">Or you can add it using the X-robots-tag HTTP header:X-Robots-Tag: noindexBy using an X-robots-tag, you can block search engine robots from indexing an entire page or certain elements on the page.Avoid Using Nofollow to Stop Google from Indexing a Page
In the past, people endeavored to stop Google from searching through and noting a page with nofollow, yet that isn’t the best method; utilizing noindex is the most efficient approach.
I have never been an admirer of using rel=”nofollow” for managing spidering. Nevertheless, several online shopping services employ it as a speedy solution for advanced browsing. You should pay close attention to how Google indexes your webpage if you want to get the best results.
I tend to be overly cautious, and if I definitely do not want a page to be seen, I will put both nofollow and noindex. This isn’t always necessary, yet I like to be prepared for any circumstance. – Stevie Howard @MyMktingSense
Benefits of Nofollow Links
Let’s explore some of the multiple advantages of nofollow links. I bet you might not know some of them:
1. They help to diversify your link profile
Natural backlink profiles are meant to be diverse.
Some links are nofollowed, while others are followed. It is unavoidable that some people will link to you with non-followed links, even if you do not desire it to occur.
Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, most of the links you get from the following places are nofollow:
- Social networks
- Forums
- Pingbacks
- Press releases
- Directories
- Wikipedia (anyone can edit a Wikipedia page)
The basic idea is this: If a blog only has dofollow links or has an abnormally high proportion of dofollow backlinks, it’s an indication something suspicious is occurring. If that is true, you could face Google’s punishment in the near future.
You should utilize a mixture of no follow and follow backlinks in order to vary your approach.
2. Traffic boost from second-tier links and backlinks
It is not possible to prevent individuals from selecting nofollow connections, so one of the greatest advantages of them is the opportunity of extra web traffic coming to your website.
For instance, even if Huffington Post (a website mainly using nofollow backlinks), that link is still quite beneficial.
Why?
Huffington Post has a huge readership, so every single one of their guests now has a potential chance of experiencing your website.
Additionally, when the link to your website in an article from the Huffington Post includes the reference of your business, it causes a surge of recognition for your company.
That nofollow link is apparently far from useless.
he said. He explained that the possibility of earning profits increases even further with additional links.
3. SEO boost to your referenced pages
That subtitle might sound confusing.
What ways can you use to increase your SEO level for pages that have a nofollow link?
Isn’t the whole idea behind the nofollow attribute to stop Google from assigning authority to the page being linked to?
Well, you’re correct!
That’s the point.
But then, Google understands that.
Those designing the highly defended Google algorithm understand that website owners desire to protect their search engine optimization (SEO) by not aiding the SEO of other websites through the utilization of the nofollow link tag.
The main point is this: Even though you’re using a nofollow tag in your link to Google, they still realize that you’re linking to them.
Given that they are conscious of it, the power of nofollow links to contain the growth of domain authority is uncertain.
If you acquire a nofollow link from a respectable website, that does not imply that the backlink will be completely ineffective for your SEO.
A large number of research studies found on the internet indicate a different result.
4. They can guard you against Google penalties
Sometimes there are good reasons to buy links.
It might be a good idea to pay for an advertisement on a website that is popular and has a lot of visitors. If you’re spending a considerable amount of money to be featured, it might be beneficial to add a link to your website so readers can find it quickly.
Google declared that the use of dofollow paid links is a breach of the Webmaster Guidelines.
However, the SEO community is divided into two groups:
- Those who believe that Google can correctly recognize paid links algorithmically
- Those who believe that Google cannot correctly recognize paid links algorithmically
What are Dofollow Links?
Search engines can traverse Dofollow links in order to gain access to a connected site. The authority of the source is transferred to the website the link points to.
As stated before, the more respected links directed to your website, the greater the probability of search engines believing in your website and considering it an authoritative source.
Generally, links are set to have the Dofollow attribute as the standard setting, which means extra HTML code is not needed to ensure they will be followed. In addition, having Do Follow links on your website also allows you to share the influence to the sites you are connecting to.
Despite this, the inclusion of Dofollow links in comments on webpages or discussion boards can invite spammers who are looking to increase their website’s visibility.
HTML Tag for Dofollow Link
When you create a backlink within your website, whether it’s in a comment, on your sidebar, or within your article content, a normal link will be coded similar to this:
Nofollow vs Dofollow Links: What is the Difference?
There is only a single distinction between do follow and no follow links, which is that a nofollow link has an attached tag indicating that it should not be followed.
As an internet user, it is impossible to tell the difference between a link that will follow you and one that will not. You can select, duplicate, and utilize a no follow connection just as you would some other link present on the web.
When considering SEO, there is a major contrast between do follow and no follow backlinks.
Here’s the difference in simple terms:
Links that are set to “dofollow” can aid a website in improving their search engine ranking, whereas links that are set to “nofollow” do not.
How to Check if a Link is Dofollow or Nofollow?
Basically, there are a few ways to check if a link is dofollow or nofollow:
- Check the HTML code
- Use browser SEO extensions
- Use backlink analysis tools
Let’s look at them one after the other:
1. Viewing HTML code
The simplest way to locate the link if it is visible is to look at the HTML code of the source website. Here, you’ll see what you’re looking for:
To accomplish that, you can click on the anchor text associated with the link and then select either “Investigate element” or “Inspect” (the wording can change depending on what web browser you are using). Alternatively, if you are using Chrome, you can press “Ctrl+Shift+I”.
Look at the HTML of the web page and make sure the link is functioning properly.
If you come across a link with the rel=”nofollow” attribute (as demonstrated in the image), then that is a nofollow link. Else, the link is dofollow.
Nevertheless, it is not necessary to always manually inspect the HTML. That can be time-consuming, and that’s where browser extensions come in:
2. Using SEO extensions
Several browser add-ons can aid in distinguishing between follow links and not-follow links. One of the most advantageous Chrome add-ons for this is the “Nofollow extension.”
This tool is advantageous as it will automatically create a dotted line around any links on a page that have been set as nofollow.
3. Using backlink analysis tools
If you are trying to understand the type of nofollow and dofollow backlinks that a website has (either your own site or a competitor’s), you can obtain this information from tools such as Ahrefs or Semrush by conducting a backlink analysis.
If you’re unable to purchase the necessary tools, Neil Patels’ Ubersuggest can also get the job done and it won’t cost you anything.
Conclusion
When employed properly, both type of links (nofollow and dofollow) are beneficial and fit certain scenarios. And I believe you already know what those are.
Nofollow links should be taken into consideration as having an important part in SEO. If you have not paid attention to it until now, you may need to rethink your position.
This article has aimed to provide the important facts needed to use nofollow links to your benefit, rather than to your hindrance.
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