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Need help with conflicting nofollow advice

by DigitalLayne
6 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I was wondering what the best practice is with multiple links to the same page. Say you home page has a link in the header to the "about page" then there is a link to it in the menu then again in the footer.

Will Google just over look this or should two of the three be a nofollow?
#advice #conflicting #google #nofollow #seo
  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    None of them should be nofollow.

    The question is why do you have 3 links to the same page? That is making all the links on your entire page weaker. Just use one.
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    • Profile picture of the author Electrical
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      None of them should be nofollow.

      The question is why do you have 3 links to the same page? That is making all the links on your entire page weaker. Just use one.
      The way my website was originally designed, there is a navbar across the top that links to the 5 main pages and those same links are also across the bottom of the page in a much smaller bar. I just figured that I would put an easy to use bar at the bottom so that if the customer wanted to see more they could click from there instead of scrolling back to the top.

      Should I get rid of that lower bar of links?
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      • Profile picture of the author edpudol1973
        Originally Posted by Electrical View Post

        Should I get rid of that lower bar of links?
        No, that is a good practice and I don't see any reason why this will cause any problem in terms of SEO. You're doing a favor for your site visitor.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by Electrical View Post

        The way my website was originally designed, there is a navbar across the top that links to the 5 main pages and those same links are also across the bottom of the page in a much smaller bar. I just figured that I would put an easy to use bar at the bottom so that if the customer wanted to see more they could click from there instead of scrolling back to the top.

        Should I get rid of that lower bar of links?
        Here is what I found in tests I tried. If those are the only links, it doesn't matter. So if you have links in the navigation and then the exact same links in the footer, and no other links on the page, there is no impact.

        However, lets say you have a link in the context of the page, and if you have 5 links across the navigation. Now if you add 5 more links to the footer, even the exact same links that are in the nav, that one link in the content gets weaker.
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        • Profile picture of the author Electrical
          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          Here is what I found in tests I tried. If those are the only links, it doesn't matter. So if you have links in the navigation and then the exact same links in the footer, and no other links on the page, there is no impact.

          However, lets say you have a link in the context of the page, and if you have 5 links across the navigation. Now if you add 5 more links to the footer, even the exact same links that are in the nav, that one link in the content gets weaker.
          I see, thanks.

          I actually have exactly that on my homepage. Top navbar and smaller navbar at the bottom with the same links. Then I have a link in the main content to another page that is also linked in the navbars.

          I have to rethink this whole thing. Would getting rid of that link in the lower navbar clear it up?
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  • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
    Originally Posted by DigitalLayne View Post

    I was wondering what the best practice is with multiple links to the same page. Say you home page has a link in the header to the "about page" then there is a link to it in the menu then again in the footer.

    Will Google just over look this or should two of the three be a nofollow?
    Nofollow deletes link benefit, so avoid using it.

    If the links are identical** Google only counts the 1st link as found in the code.

    **If a URL ends #something (example.com/#something) Google will treat it as a unique link, so if you DON'T want Google to count the 2nd, 3rd... links don't add #something to the URLs and Google will only count the first link.

    So do nothing, Google ignores the extra links.

    If you are trying to reduce link benefit being wasted on webpages like the about page, avoid linking to them. If you have an about page, contact, private, T&Cs etc... don't link to them all sitewide, link to the about page sitewide and link from the about page to the others. This would significantly reduce link benefit flowing to these webpages that won't rank for anything, but you have to have for users or legal reasons.

    David
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