NoFollow Links Helpful for SEO
I guarantee that your perception of NoFollow links will change completely by reading this post. In fact, we (SEOs) destructed the power of NoFollow links. But there is a strong relation (still alive) between NoFollow Links and Ranking. The proof which we produce now will prove that “NoFollow links helpful for SEO”.
I really need to thank Mr. Adam White for doing this wonderful case study. Let resurgence it completely from bottom to top.
The Story of NoFollow Link’s Bad Reputation
Search Engines created the NoFollow attribute in 2005 due to link spamming (comment). Those days people were crazy and they created so many unnatural text profiles and backlinks. To stop this and identify the natural links, the search engines created the NoFollow attributes and recommended all site owners that, you may continue to use these links at any time in future but show it as a paid link or ad. That means the site owner must add a NoFollow attribute to the respective link so that Google will identify these links as a paid one.
This update made an impact and the SEOs came to a conclusion that NoFollow links were useless.
Whether this rumor was right or wrong? Let’s see!
Are Nofollow Links Helpful for SEO
As you all know “Brand Trust” is one of the biggest factors for Google when it comes to Ranking. Google needs a trust factor to rank your pages. Once the trust builds, Google allows your pages to rank top. And of course, the trust depends on how many backlinks your homepage has.
If you are a brand, of course, Google knows that you will advertise your business. Your ad will say Google that you are doing a business and you are paying for the ad. As a brand, when you spent more money on ads, it shows you are serious about your business and you want to build more trust. Now imagine, an ad with nofollow links will increase the trust or decrease it?
I mean to say that, Google expects nofollow links on your backlinks profile. Because a brand will advertise their business. That means nofollow links will increase the credibility of your website.
Yes, nofollow links are helpful for SEO.
Proofs which state that Nofollow Links are Good
Mr. Adam’s case study says that pages which are ranked #1 position in SERP(Search Engine Result Page) have 20-40% nofollow links in every niche, industry, and category. That means 3 nofollow links out of 10 links. here are some few examples (not the whole website but pages) as per Mr.Adam;
Keyword: “backlinks”
- #1 ranked site: https://www.gotchseo.com/backlinks/
- Percentage of nofollow links: 28%
- Percentage of nofollow links for entire site: 30%
Keyword: “mortgage payment calculator”
- #1 ranked site: http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/mortgages/mortgage-payment-calculator.aspx
- Percentage of nofollow links: 31%
- Percentage of nofollow links for entire site: 12%
Keyword: “diet pills”
- #1 ranked site: http://www.webmd.com/diet/obesity/weight-loss-prescription-weight-loss-medicine
- Percentage of nofollow links: 21%
- Percentage of nofollow links for entire site: 14%
Keyword: “online degrees”
- #1 ranked site: http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/degrees
- Percentage of nofollow links: 25%
- Percentage of nofollow links for entire site: 16%
Keyword: “best fidget spinners”
- #1 ranked site: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-fidget-spinners/
- Percentage of nofollow links: 23%
- Percentage of nofollow links for entire site: 21%
Keyword: “internet business”
- #1 ranked site: https://www.thebalance.com/top-internet-business-ideas-you-can-start-today-1794709
- Percentage of nofollow links on #1 ranked page: 31%
- Percentage of nofollow links for entire site: 17%
You might have got a doubt that whether these pages are really ranking because of nofollow links? Yes, it may! As per Mr. Adam, after doing a lot of research like above, came to a conclusion that NoFollow links will increase the relevancy of a web page as per Google algorithm.
Conclusion
I can’t say that his research is right or wrong. But if there is an advantage with nofollow links, why can’t we try for our web pages or our clients? As you all know, SEO is always like an ocean to learn. More and more SEO experiments will make us more strong. Let’s take a chance and try once
Nofollow backlinks are helpful for SEO but not as dofollow backlinks. And we also need to maintain the mixture of both sorts of links to be safe from spam.
NoFollow links are somehow is a good way for backlinking. I tried this strategy on my blog and frankly speaking, It works! The results are there in few days.
Thanks for the case study!
Hello thank you for this post. This information is really helpful for me.