No_follow link confusion

[tim98133]

Can someone help clear up some confusion I have over no_follow links? I want to start using social networks & message boards to help build backlinks, however I'm unsure which sites are no_follow or not. I have the SEO tool bar that highlights no_follow links, however I'm not sure that it's all that accurate.

For example I've read several times that MySpace was a no_follow site but the tool bar doesn't highlight any of the myspace links as being no_follow. My understanding is that you also need to be carfull on the pathway of the links. For example a message board that's hidden behind a "community" link may be unaccessable form the search engines even if the message board itself is no_follow.....

Over all I'm very confused & I've spend a LOT of time trying to figure it out. I just don't want to waist a lot of time using social networks if it's not going to help.

Can anyone tell me exactly what needs to be done to see if a site is no follow or not?

Thanks!

Tim

[jlandells]

Tim,

I think you've got it figured out already!

If your toolbar is telling you a link is NoFollow, then it probably is. If it's telling you that a link is *NOT* NoFollow, then it almost certainly isn't. However, as you rightly pointed out, some social media sites require a login so the spiders won't necessarily see your links.

To figure out where your links will be followed (assuming the toolbar tells you that they aren't flagged as NoFollow) log out of the site and see if you can get back to your link without logging in. Look at sites such as Squidoo, HubPages or Digg where their links are visible without a login.

Hope this helps,
-John.

[jinglee]

Am I missing something? I just go and view an existing link in the source code..thats simple enough...

[K Goel]

You can read this: What Is DoFollow? What Is NoFollow? All Answered Here

[alanfukuda]

If you're using Firefox there's an addon (nofollow or dofollow or something) that easily allows you to see which links are dofollow.

Alan

[tim98133]

Originally Posted by jlandells

Tim,

To figure out where your links will be followed (assuming the toolbar tells you that they aren't flagged as NoFollow) log out of the site and see if you can get back to your link without logging in. Look at sites such as Squidoo, HubPages or Digg where their links are visible without a login.

Hope this helps,
-John.

Good point. I never thought about the possibility that the links may only appear behind a log in. Good to know. Thanks for your advice!

[Smokey_Joe]

If you would like to doublecheck, hit View-Page Source and look for rel="nofollow", but the tools should do the job.

[4morereferrals]

Be mindful of the fact that some sites have their url links obfuscated via javascript - and that will trick the doFollow/NoFollow toolbars - like the one for firefox mentioned in this thread.

In regards to these links ... its a link .. its DoFollow ... but the google bot cant follow it or discern it. Typically wont count or add value to your seo efforts. Ive become a fan of viewing and searching the html code

[paulgl]

Any type of backlink, so to speak, is good and serves a purpose.
I think people spend too much time worrying about follow, no follow,
follow the leader, follow the yellow brick road,...
A solid backlink is a solid backlink. If you build on a regular basis,
and don't stop, things will happen in the right places.

I do believe google sees all links. What they actually "count" for
is another story.


A "no follow" link every now and then will not hurt. May not help,
but I think too many people confuse not making a difference with
hurting. And "real" people will indeed see them!

Paul

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by paulgl

Any type of backlink, so to speak, is good and serves a purpose.
I think people spend too much time worrying about follow, no follow,
follow the leader, follow the yellow brick road,...
A solid backlink is a solid backlink. If you build on a regular basis,
and don't stop, things will happen in the right places.

I do believe google sees all links. What they actually "count" for
is another story.

Bad advice there. The fact that Google sees all links means nothing. Its well established that a no follow link gives no PR. If its no follow the link will do nothing for you in serps.

[paulgl]

I does not help. But just because it does not help, does not
mean it hurts. It doesn't hurt. That's the point. Shoot I'd give
a lot to have a ton of no follow links on some high traffic domains.

When I say it doesn't help nor hurt, I am talking about google.
No follow links are still quite valuable.

Again, I think too many people confuse "not helping" with "hurting."
They are not one and the same. Google ignoring something does
not mean it counts against you. It just does not count for you.

People also confuse PR with SERP.

And another thing people confuse is putting nofollow links on your
site. As if you MUST put nofollow on various links. Not even
close. Google themselves have said nofollow links DO NOT count
against the site. In fact, google came up with it to avoid spammed
comments in blogs and where people add links. Somehow it gets
twisted to mean something else.

Paul