11 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
11 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

DOFOLLOW VS. NOFOLLOW: Your Source(s) for DOFOLLOW backlinks? is NOFOLLOW really useless?

by orvn
9 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Okay everyone, high PR sites have NOFOLLOW links everywhere.

QUESTION 1:

- When I add an external URL to a Youtube like, it's Nofollow,
- When I include sources or external links in a Wikipedia page, they're all Nofollow
- Twitter, Facebook and Stumbleupon links are all Nofollow
- Blogger and Wordpress links are Nofollow by default.

Okay SRSLY WTF.
I do understand that this was done to prevent spam, but where's a guy to find some decent DOFOLLOW's if NOFOLLOW is becoming the standard for high traffic sites wanting to avert SPAM.

I usually submit to directories and try to get the most I can out of an article or two. Yahoo Answers and Digg.com tend to be gold.

What do you guys do?

---

QUESTION 2:

Are NOFOLLOW's really useless?
Or do they just carry less weight/link juice?

I understand that there's a lot of controversy surrounding this topic and that we're not really sure about this in the SEO world, but I'd just like to hear your experiences.

That's why I'm also including a poll! (:
#backlinks #dofollow #nofollow #sources #useless
  • Profile picture of the author Wesley Atkins
    Nofollowed links will carry less weight in the SE's.. However..

    People need to stop thinking of backlinks as juice for their site...

    ..If people looked at links in terms of the traffic value they provide, you will do much better at SEO longterm.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2816119].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author orvn
      Originally Posted by Wesley Atkins View Post

      Nofollowed links will carry less weight in the SE's.. However..

      People need to stop thinking of backlinks as juice for their site...

      ..If people looked at links in terms of the traffic value they provide, you will do much better at SEO.
      That's actually a REALLY good point.
      You've given me something to think about.

      Essentially, this question arose because I wrote a Wikipedia article for an educational institution, and then wondered if it's a good idea from an SEO standpoint.

      It makes sense that if a link is used a lot, bots may be interested in it, even if it's a NOFOLLOW.
      Signature
      Orun Bhuiyan[@orvn] [linkedin] See what I've been doing lately by visiting my marketing agency's site. SEOcial specializes in content marketing and integrated optimization. We create conversions for businesses by gracefully connecting the realms of design, development and marketing.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2816144].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jhonsean
    Google also counts no follow links as well but not as much as do follow links, I think many visitors most likely go for an informative link and user friendly features of the sites that's why do follow links is commonly use.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2816152].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author NicoleBeckett
    Nofollows definitely play a big role in SEO. First and foremost, you can get alot of traffic from nofollow links. Even though the search engines don't give them as much weight, someone can still click on your nofollow link, head to your site, and become a valuable customer. People aren't looking at whether your links are nofollow or not; they're simply trying to decide if your link is worth clicking on.

    Second, having nofollow links shows Google that you're building links naturally - because nofollow is just part of being on the web. As you've seen, there are so many places that are nofollow, so if you don't have ANY, it can look a little fishy to the search engines.
    Signature
    Sick of blending in with the crowd? Ready to stand ahead of the pack? The right content writing services can get you there...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2816182].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author JRCarson
      If I had an article that was being viewed thousands of times a month, I don't care if it's dofollow or nofollow, what I care about is how many times people are clicking to where I want them to go.

      If I've written the article on a topic and it is getting a lot of views, but I included a link that has nothing to do with it, nobody is going to click on it. So great, it's a powerful backlink, but I lost out on hundreds or thousands of targeted visitor clicks!

      I'm not an expert with SEO by any means, but since I've started just worrying about creating quality content, back linking seems to take care of itself without any thought. (with good initial keyword research at the beginning of course)
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2816280].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author samuel.johnson
    A link is a link in yahoo but in Google it may differ depending on nofollow or dofollow.

    I think it is right.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2816295].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Andrew James
    I have mentioned this in a few threads recently, don't ignore the No Follow! You're thinking in the purely SEO terms.

    Think about your end goal...Traffic.

    If you can get your links out there on high traffic sites then why would you not do that? That No Follow link might not increase your SER, but the link itself could drive 100's of extra visitors to your site who want to read what you have to say.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2816610].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author orvn
      Originally Posted by Andrew James View Post

      I have mentioned this in a few threads recently, don't ignore the No Follow! You're thinking in the purely SEO terms.

      Think about your end goal...Traffic.

      If you can get your links out there on high traffic sites then why would you not do that? That No Follow link might not increase your SER, but the link itself could drive 100's of extra visitors to your site who want to read what you have to say.
      Oh I know a thing or two about driving traffic I'm just wondering about the direct effect on my rankings.

      Originally Posted by samuel.johnson View Post

      A link is a link in yahoo but in Google it may differ depending on nofollow or dofollow.
      I think it is right.
      Yeah, I saw that analysis too! Yahoo doesn't care for nofollow, but MSN and Google do. Although investigation shows that Google does explore these links.

      Originally Posted by JRCarson View Post

      If I had an article that was being viewed thousands of times a month, I don't care if it's dofollow or nofollow, what I care about is how many times people are clicking to where I want them to go.

      If I've written the article on a topic and it is getting a lot of views, but I included a link that has nothing to do with it, nobody is going to click on it. So great, it's a powerful backlink, but I lost out on hundreds or thousands of targeted visitor clicks!

      I'm not an expert with SEO by any means, but since I've started just worrying about creating quality content, back linking seems to take care of itself without any thought. (with good initial keyword research at the beginning of course)
      Please, check out my post on creating quality content! (:
      http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-...nkbaiting.html

      Originally Posted by NicoleBeckett View Post

      Second, having nofollow links shows Google that you're building links naturally - because nofollow is just part of being on the web. As you've seen, there are so many places that are nofollow, so if you don't have ANY, it can look a little fishy to the search engines.
      Thanks. I hadn't considered that. Your post was helpful.
      Signature
      Orun Bhuiyan[@orvn] [linkedin] See what I've been doing lately by visiting my marketing agency's site. SEOcial specializes in content marketing and integrated optimization. We create conversions for businesses by gracefully connecting the realms of design, development and marketing.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2818503].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author co-creator
        how many backlinks can you build a day without being suspicious?

        I was told to limit the amount of backlinks I build to 5-10 a day... but I'm really psyched about moving up the rankings in google and building as many backlinks as a I can every day.

        Is it really a bad thing if I build more than 5-10 backlinks a day? What could happen? At this pace(5-10), things seem to be going so slowww...
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3164259].message }}

Trending Topics