Follow, or no-follow links have been a matter of confusion among the rookies in the SEO arena. The following abstracts clear all doubts about both SEO techniques.
What are the do-follow and no-follow links?
It is true that the sites that are getting inbound links to get search engine ranks. The more the number of links, the greater is rank. Google keeps details of all the SEO backlinks. It thus ranks the page higher on its search engine, for the concerned topic or the keywords.
In this context, Google takes PageRank metrics for the calculation of link points. It’s the link point that reaches the new sites through hyperlinks. As everyone knows, the more reputed, a site is, the greater the advantage that the site gets SEO backlinks to grab.
Coming do-follow links, are counted as points, enhancing the ranking of the page. Talking about the no-follow link, the link that is not counted as a point or doesn’t give any boost to the concerned site. In short, it doesn’t help the site in any positive fashion. These links create using an HTML tag, which indicates that they shouldn’t count.
The game of backlinks
The facts discussed above the do-follow and no-index no-follow links are correct as per the norms. But, it is true at the same time that a parallel world of black hat techniques does exist. Their aim is to fool Google and get ranking through a black hat or the illicit methods. Prior introduction of no follow and PageRank metrics, link building, can exploit.
Now SEO backlinks are the assets. The greater the number of inbound links better is the ranking became the formula. Now SEO experts got stubborn about getting inbound links. Starting from comments on the posts to creating spam sites, various strategies used.
The funny part is that any random site added its link on Wikipedia as the reference. All these aspects made Google get stricter about the no-follow aspects. It came up with a high-end back link checker.
The no-follow links arena
One must be clear in mind that the no-follow link strategy is for those who use black hat techniques. There are many who use these links despite knowing everything about it. The spammers or spam sites use this technique as they can’t get a follow link ever.
The interesting part is that WordPress features automatic assigning of the no follow link trait to the whole of the user-provided links. In fact, Wikipedia also follows the same strategy for its reference section. It is true that creating spams through the blog comments is still quite active. But, no-follow has restricted the same to a great extent.
It is often seen that the SEO experts and webmasters remain confused about where to make use of the no-index no-follow feature. To make things simple in this context, below are the sections where no-follow links recommend.
- These should refer to the paid links; link points should not be bought.
- It should be associate with the comment section.
- It should be associate with the links posted on forums.
- Anything that regards as the ‘untrusted’ as per the Google norms should make associated with no-follow links.
It is often found that some webmasters suggest that disabling no-follow links on the comments. It helps to encourage more people to comment. Similar is the case about the forums and other online discussion platforms.
Are no-follow links still relevant? Where are these used?
One should not conclude straight away that no-follow links are useless. These are effective SEO techniques playing a crucial role in providing referral traffic. There are a few examples of forum posting and blog comments. Which helps the site in driving significant traffic?
In fact, in an era of social media, one can’t stick to or be loyal to PageRank. Those who want to increase their brand value or attention then do care about the quality of the link. It will help you in the long term.
In modern times, it has gone tough to get listed among the reference list of Wikipedia. It’s all about the content quality if you feel the content is relevant to your website. Then don’t mind including it in the site within the reference lists. In short, it’s a matter of observation and having focus on the needs.
How to determine whether it’s a no-follow link?
Now, as it is clear that the follow and no-follow links are being integral to the SEO techniques. One must be able to distinguish between the two. Well, it’s not a tough task, though. Visit the navigation bar in the Chrome and put a click on View, then on Developer, then to View Source.
Otherwise, you can put a right-click on the page and then tap on Inspect Element. Those still using Firefox can do the right-click and then visit View Page Source. Next, go to Edit, and then to Find and search ‘no-follow’ here within the search bar. Each aspect of the no-follow tag can be very much evident through the process.
There are many extensions available for SEO experts to use. Who often has to keep a proper check of the no-follow links? These extensions help them by providing the no-follow and do-follow links.
Tips for getting do- Follow Links
Now, as it is evident that do-follow links are crucial, hence everyone thrives for the same. But there is hardly any shortcut for this; writing great and original content is still the key. Apart from this, one must consider the option of doing guest posts on authority sites.
Conclusion
At last, you can conclude as no-follow and do-follow links are crucial and need to use it with care. All the links are valuable and required to grow the website or for the best results.
