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Are No Follow Links Really Worthless?

by spyroskoun
64 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi
Please tell me do I have to keep commenting on no follow blogs or it is a waste of time and the big G never see the no follow comments?
Thanks in advance
#follow #links #worthless
  • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
    Yep, Google will not follow a nofollow link, they do not pass anchor text or PR. Google drops nofollows links from their link graph, which means they are worthless.
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    • Profile picture of the author Russell Barnstein
      Originally Posted by BarryOnline View Post

      Yep, Google will not follow a nofollow link, they do not pass anchor text or PR. Google drops nofollows links from their link graph, which means they are worthless.
      So Barry if I could offer you a No-Follow link on a PR9 or even PR10 page, you wouldn't want it?

      To the OP:

      Just because search engines don't FOLLOW links doesn't mean they're worthless. Remember: links count as a "vote" to a website. The higher quality the vote, the more the link is worth. It might not pass PR and Google might not spider off from it, but you can bet it's being counted.

      Now think about this: if every internet marketer or webmaster out there was ONLY targeting Do-Follow links, what do you think that would do to the value of Do-Follow?

      Targeting No-Follow links as well as Do-Follow is a critical part of building a comprehensive but natural SEO footprint.
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      • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
        Originally Posted by Russell Barnstein View Post

        So Barry if I could offer you a No-Follow link on a PR9 or even PR10 page, you wouldn't want it?
        Why would I want a PR10 nofollow link when it has NO value?

        Here is the main 3 uses Google has put in place for the use of nofollow links:

        1.Linking to untrusted content
        2.Paid links
        3.Crawl prioritisation (typically linking to yourself with nofollow)


        So what does this say to Google when they find a nofollow link?

        1) The link is not trusted
        2) It's a paid link
        3) A link to yourself

        And because of this Google will not crawl the link, pass PR, pass anchor text and drop it from their link graph.

        Why would I want a link that Google views as paid or untrusted?

        And to tell someone that nofollow links are "critical" is completely wrong!
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        • Profile picture of the author Russell Barnstein
          Originally Posted by BarryOnline View Post

          Why would I want a PR10 nofollow link when it has NO value?

          Here is the main 3 uses Google has put in place for the use of nofollow links:

          1.Linking to untrusted content
          Barry, you can't be serious. You think Google created No-Follow so that people can deliberately link to untrusted content? Assuming that by putting the attribute in place they must KNOW the content is untrusted...

          Some of what you say is dead-on. But some of it, like this, is just in bad taste.

          Not to mention, you continually expound on the fact that there's so many metrics and variables that we can never be sure of anything, yet you categorically insist that you know FOR SURE that No-Follow links offer NO value.

          Perhaps you should loosen your stance a little before you fall down.
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          • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
            Originally Posted by Russell Barnstein View Post

            Barry, you can't be serious. You think Google created No-Follow so that people can deliberately link to untrusted content? Assuming that by putting the attribute in place they must KNOW the content is untrusted...
            It's ideal for user generated content and paid avertising where the author of the article/page doesn't directly relate that link to their content but links are still required for that feature of the site to operate correctly.
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            • Profile picture of the author Russell Barnstein
              Originally Posted by Fraggler View Post

              It's ideal for user generated content and paid avertising where the author of the article/page doesn't directly relate that link to their content but links are still required for that feature of the site to operate correctly.
              Understood, thank you. The term "untrusted" was an issue of semantics, then.
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          • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
            Originally Posted by Russell Barnstein View Post

            Barry, you can't be serious. You think Google created No-Follow so that people can deliberately link to untrusted content? Assuming that by putting the attribute in place they must KNOW the content is untrusted...

            Some of what you say is dead-on. But some of it, like this, is just in bad taste.

            Not to mention, you continually expound on the fact that there's so many metrics and variables that we can never be sure of anything, yet you categorically insist that you know FOR SURE that No-Follow links offer NO value.

            Perhaps you should loosen your stance a little before you fall down.
            Sorry, I should have been a little clearer about that point. What I mean by "untrusted" is something like a non editorial link, such as auto blog comments. Fraggler also makes a good point about "untrusted" links.

            If I'm coming across too firm on this subject, there are a few reasons for this. This subject comes up every other week and a staggering number of people will post in a thread giving advice like its fact but fail to give any reasons to back up their opinion.

            Now I answered the Ops question with my opinion and the 4 immediate replies after mine were not to share their opinion but were to directly attack what I said.

            You're talking about me categorically insisting nofollow links don't count, what about the people who are categorically insisting they do?

            Like your comment directed to me where you say "links count as a "vote" and you bet they're being counted" - like its fact!

            Matt Cutts has this to say about it:

            The nofollow tag allows a site to add a link that abstains from being an editorial vote. Using nofollow is a safe way to buy links, because it's a machine-readable way to specify that a link doesn't have to be counted as a vote by a search engine.

            So who am I to believe, you or Matt, the head of the Google webspam team?

            The WHOLE POINT in creating the nofollow tag was so that the link DOES NOT count as a vote.

            You're telling me "nofollow links are critical" like its fact, when that's completely wrong!

            And you're telling me that I'm the one talking like I know for sure!

            Technically, no one knows "for sure" but I've done quite a bit of research on this and when you put that information together and add some logic you should come to the conclusion that nofollow links don't help rankings.

            People are jumping in giving bad advice with comments like "a link is a link" or "they do count" or "they're critical" without telling anyone why they think this. I'm trying to show people why I think that they don't count with some research and logic.
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    • Profile picture of the author zeplin169
      Originally Posted by BarryOnline View Post

      Yep, Google will not follow a nofollow link, they do not pass anchor text or PR. Google drops nofollows links from their link graph, which means they are worthless.

      A link is a link and they are all worth having. Do you really think that google doesnt go past that links when its spiders are crawling? google bots follow the links even if you call it a no follow link!

      no follow links may be worth less than a do follow link but google will look at every link and see where it goes this means that those no follow links must play a role in googles ranking algorithm.

      I see increases in my rankings from nothing but no follow links, I tested it to prove a point to myself, the point was proved, I saw significant increases from high pr nofollow links!
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      • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
        Originally Posted by zeplin169 View Post

        A link is a link and they are all worth having. Do you really think that google doesnt go past that links when its spiders are crawling? google bots follow the links even if you call it a no follow link!
        A link is not a link!

        That is why I have many top rankings for competitive keywords. Because I know what valuable links are, and I can tell you that nofollow links are crap, fact!
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        • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
          You have to also factor in the traffic that you can get from a link, even if it's nofollow. And at the very least nofollow links will help your diversity.

          I wouldn't turn down a link just because it's nofollow. I've seen plenty of blog comments, forum posts, and standard links that bring in a fair amount of traffic themselves.
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  • Profile picture of the author MinecraftManiac
    I think people underestimate no-follow links. Read around, some people will say that there is really no difference, a backlink is a backlink. I somewhat agree with them. There are probably benefits to both and I thought that google treats any link as a no-follow link. Others might disagree, but that will not change my mind.

    Where did I get this? Experience
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    • Profile picture of the author TBInternetMarketing
      Originally Posted by MinecraftManiac View Post

      I think people underestimate no-follow links. Read around, some people will say that there is really no difference, a backlink is a backlink. I somewhat agree with them. There are probably benefits to both and I thought that google treats any link as a no-follow link. Others might disagree, but that will not change my mind.

      Where did I get this? Experience
      I agree with this. The debate over whether to use them or not has been going on forever. The truth is that only Google knows for sure. So my strategy is to take whatever links I can get. I also always include a no follow link going out when I setup a webpage to a related website.
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    • Profile picture of the author marianajones
      Then i don't understand the use of promoting in no-follow sites?
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      • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
        Originally Posted by marianajones View Post

        Then i don't understand the use of promoting in no-follow sites?
        Link diversity & potential traffic coming from the link itself.

        I won't turn down a nofollow link, but I don't specifically try and find them.
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  • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
    Why do you think Google created the nofollow tag?

    Quote from Google:

    "Nofollow" provides a way for webmasters to tell search engines "Don't follow links on this page" or "Don't follow this specific link." We don't follow them. This means that Google does not transfer PageRank or anchor text across these links. Essentially, using nofollow causes us to drop the target links from our overall graph of the web.

    Google does not follow or count nofollow links, hence the name NOfollow, instead of DOfollow.

    For example, if you buy a nice high PR dofollow link it will help you rank, but add the nofollow attribute and the link becomes useless. It's dropped from Googles link graph, does not pass page rank or anchor text.

    DOFOLLOW:

    Pass page rank
    Pass anchor text
    Add to link graph
    Increase SERP

    NOFOLLOW:

    Don't pass page rank
    Don't pass anchor text
    Don't add to link graph
    Don't increase SERP

    The nofollow tag was Google's answer to reduce the ability people have in gaming their algorithm.

    So are you telling me that Google created the Nofollow atribute for fun?

    There is a very clear reason, purpose and function for the nofollow tag, obviously people in this thread have no clue what they are talking about.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by BarryOnline View Post

      So are you telling me that Google created the Nofollow atribute for fun?
      Its a conspiracy I tell you! A conspiracy! Google pays these guys millions of dollars in salary to implement these technologies and tweak their algo to use them but eventually after years of spending thousands of man hours and hiring top programmers and mathematicians etc just said - Nah we waz just playing. We love you spammers and will give you credit for nofollow. Truth is our guys couldn't figure out how to identify a link marked nofollow :rolleyes:

      There is a very clear reason, purpose and function for the nofollow tag, obviously people in this thread have no clue what they are talking about.
      Get used to it. We have had one thread on this topic with people claiming a Google conspiracy just about every month. Have the stories of Big foot disappeared? Neither will these threads.. Me? I'll take a PR9 link for the traffic sure but sorry. No need for me to go looking for nofollow links or building them. I find in any robust linkbuilding setup even if you go after all followed links you will invariable get a few nofollows in there. Absolutely no reason for me to target them to "look natural". They will already be in there.

      anyway in the two years plus I have been here I have seen probably 20 threads on nofollow and not one compelling reason for me to believe the conspiracy theories.
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  • Profile picture of the author xvisionxx
    They do worthless,but no one knows really if they are completely worthless,so why not having some of them just in case,it wont hurt you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marc_L
    I'd like to test this. Lets see if we can rank a site for a super long tail keyword using only no follow. I'll post my findings.
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    • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
      Originally Posted by Marc_L View Post

      I'd like to test this. Lets see if we can rank a site for a super long tail keyword using only no follow. I'll post my findings.
      Your "test" will be worthless. You can't conduct a test with conclusive results in Google or any other search engine. Search engines are not static which means movement can happen from doing NOTHING. Google makes tweaks and changes to their algorithm every week which can cause unpredictable and sometimes dramatic increase/decrease in rankings at any time. There’s also movement through competing sites/pages which can cause a shuffle in rankings.

      If you build 1000 nofollow links to a site and a couple of days later it increases rankings, can you say conclusively that the nofollow links made it move?

      If your answer to that question is yes then you need to question your sanity.

      Show me a site targeting a moderatly competitive keyword, that's ranking #1 with a nofollow link profile.
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      • Profile picture of the author Marc_L
        Originally Posted by BarryOnline View Post

        Your "test" will be worthless. You can't conduct a test with conclusive results in Google or any other search engine. Search engines are not static which means movement can happen from doing NOTHING. Google makes tweaks and changes to their algorithm every week which can cause unpredictable and sometimes dramatic increase/decrease in rankings at any time. There's also movement through competing sites/pages which can cause a shuffle in rankings.
        There is zero competition for this keyword, in fact it doesn't exist in any site that google has in it's cache. I'll try to rank a wiki page using 100 no follow links.
        Show me a site targeting a moderatly competitive keyword, that's ranking #1 with a nofollow link profile.
        No, what I will attempt to show is that no follow links have some effect or they do not have any effect. I don't care one way or the other.
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        • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
          Originally Posted by Marc_L View Post

          There is zero competition for this keyword, in fact it doesn't exist in any site that google has in it's cache. I'll try to rank a wiki page using 100 no follow links.

          No, what I will attempt to show is that no follow links have some effect or they do not have any effect. I don't care one way or the other.
          If there is zero competition and no site exists for the keyword then the site will hit top ranking without back links.

          There's so many factors that come into play when ranking a site. Your test will have so many holes in it that it's worthless.
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          • Profile picture of the author Marc_L
            Originally Posted by BarryOnline View Post

            If there is zero competition and no site exists for the keyword then the site will hit top ranking without back links.

            There's so many factors that come into play when ranking a site. Your test will have so many holes in it that it's worthless.
            The keyword doesn't exist anywhere on the internet. How would the target page rank for the keyword? My test will show that either no follow has some ranking power or they have none.

            If the page I backlink (which won't have anything about the keyword on the site) comes up for the search term at all then no follow have some link power. If on the other hand it doesn't then the test will confirm the assumption that they carry no value.

            I have 73 targets and a wiki page ready to go.
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            • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
              Originally Posted by Marc_L View Post

              The keyword doesn't exist anywhere on the internet. How would the target page rank for the keyword? My test will show that either no follow has any ranking power or they have some.

              If the page I backlink (which won't have anything about the keyword on the site) comes up for the search term at all then no follow have some link power. If on the other hand it doesn't then the test will confirm the assumption that they carry no value.

              I have 73 targets and a wiki page ready to go.
              I understand what you're saying now, that the page will have no on page optimisation for the target keyword and that it should rank #1 just from the anchor text from the nofollow back links.

              Come back in a week or so with your findings. Give Google some time to find your nofollow links and see how it works out. Be sure to drop me a PM when the site ranks #1 and I'll have a look at what you've done
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              • Profile picture of the author Marc_L
                Originally Posted by BarryOnline View Post

                I understand what you're saying now, that the page will have no on page optimisation for the target keyword and that it should rank #1 just from the anchor text from the nofollow back links.

                Come back in a week or so with your findings. Give Google some time to find your nofollow links and see how it works out. Be sure to drop me a PM when the site ranks #1 and I'll have a look at what you've done
                Sure thing, I posted the links already. I'll make the findings public.
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                • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
                  Originally Posted by Marc_L View Post

                  Sure thing, I posted the links already. I'll make the findings public.
                  Create a NEW thread with your results and PM when thread is live, also post a link to it in this thread too.

                  Maximum exposure with this please!

                  BTW, even if this site ranks #1 for this keyword, it won't prove anything, but I'll wait for the results to explain to you and everyone else why
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                  • Profile picture of the author Marc_L
                    Originally Posted by BarryOnline View Post

                    Create a NEW thread with your results and PM when thread is live, also post a link to it in this thread too.

                    Maximum exposure with this please!

                    BTW, even if this site ranks #1 for this keyword, it won't prove anything, but I'll wait for the results to explain to you and everyone else why
                    All I want to do is see if no follow links carry any value. If this page ranks number 1 (or any ranking for that matter) then this will be proven. This test isn't going to show what relative strength these links have, if any. But it will show if they have any effect at all. I don't know how you will be able to argue otherwise. Ok, I'll update. So far nothing...
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  • Profile picture of the author awj888
    if the only search engine you are interested in is Google then nofollow links are worthless. however yahoo and bing still use nofollow links andmany other search engines do too! - so its not completely worthless - at the end of the day its worth having a mix of links anyways focus on do follow but if you have some no follow it wont hurt at all
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  • Profile picture of the author Robbie B
    I don't really pay attention to whether a link is a no follow or not. For blog comments, I know when I read a blog post, I'll read the comments below it too. Then comment and add a link. But that's my name I use for the backlink, just so it doesn't look spammy.

    I know if I see a good comment, I'll click the link to see what the persons site is like. Especially in niche blogs. I figure I'm not the only one to be investigative like that, so I put in decent comments on blogs and from there, it's more about getting the other sites traffic finding mine than it is for search engines.

    You might have heard this before and that's about getting traffic when you have it. If you have folks coming to your site and sticking around, then the search engines will see that and hopefully reward your site a bit better.

    Whether it's no follow or do follow, I don't think it matters. If it's exposing your site to people relevant to yours, then I think it should pay off. Besides everything I've heard, the one thing that keeps coming up is link velocity. I would think that would mean having a combination of both no follows and do follow links coming into your site. That's why I don't bother checking whether it is or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author ageofpwn
    A link is never worthless. If it doesn't pass on linkjuice, which is questionable, it'll at least give you some more presence on the net and likely pass on some traffic and visitors who will in turn link to you again in the future with a dofollow link.

    It's all highly speculated on, but even nofollows can serve a purpose.
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  • Profile picture of the author transcriptionservices
    hey,
    No follow links are not totally worthless as sometimes it brings traffic to some extent.
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  • Profile picture of the author epathj
    I don't really pay attention to whether a link is a no follow or not. For blog comments, I know when I read a blog post, I'll read the comments below it too. Then comment and add a link. I think nofollow backlinks are not worthless.
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  • Profile picture of the author JadeDragon
    Come on, there is value to nofollow links. Less value than dofollow for sure, but any link has the potential to bring traffic. nofollow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for a whole bunch of info on this topic.
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  • Profile picture of the author solarwarrior
    Dofollow or not, having a mixture of them always help to make your back linking efforts look more natural.
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  • Profile picture of the author spyroskoun
    From all of that I understand that do follow links are sure better but no follow are not totally worthless and to Google eyes is more natural to post to both blogs.
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  • Profile picture of the author vk3
    To me, proper link building is about appearing as natural as possible.

    In my opinion, in Google's eyes, most link building is against their TOS - people throw around white, grey, and blackh@t.. but to me, it's all about appearing natural.

    That includes having nofollow links as well, because they're natural - they balance your link profile out.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Baker
    I don't think Nofollow links were worthless. A link is a link and I think it should be counted.
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Wilson
    They give you backlink diversity and that counts for something. I also think that some no-follow links such as wikipedia backlinks are worth something. I don't see why would google ignore those.
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    • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
      Originally Posted by Daniel Wilson View Post

      They give you backlink diversity and that counts for something. I also think that some no-follow links such as wikipedia backlinks are worth something. I don't see why would google ignore those.
      Questions to Matt:

      Does links from Wikipedia mean nothing?

      Does Google take into account quality factors from "nofollow" links when the links come from well established, authority sites such as Wikipedia?

      Matt answers:

      We’re not trusting or taking into acount links from Wikipedia because they are nofollow. Links from Wikipedia are NOT going to make any difference in search engine ranking. It’s NOT going to give you any search engine ranking boost just because Wikipedia is linking to you.

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      • Profile picture of the author grexley
        Links - and their anchor text - from nofollow sites do appear in Webmaster Tools. That, of course, doesn't mean they count in the google search algorithm, but it is evidence google doesn't completely ignore them.

        That video is a great addition to the thread. But Matt Cutts knows he is talking directly to SEO people. I'm sure he throws out some misinformation from time to time. Nofollow was designed to get spammers to leave sites alone. The last thing he's going to tell spammers is that nofollow still has some value.

        My GUESS is that google doesn't assign the same weight to nofollow, but still assigns some, as there are plenty of relevant, non self-serving nofollow links out there.

        Also, as mentioned, nofollow links help build a natural link profile.

        And bing does not take nofollow into account.

        For these reasons, I still create some nofollow links.
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        • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
          Originally Posted by grexley View Post

          Links - and their anchor text - from nofollow sites do appear in Webmaster Tools. That, of course, doesn't mean they count in the google search algorithm, but it is evidence google doesn't completely ignore them.

          That video is a great addition to the thread. But Matt Cutts knows he is talking directly to SEO people. I'm sure he throws out some misinformation from time to time. Nofollow was designed to get spammers to leave sites alone. The last thing he's going to tell spammers is that nofollow still has some value.

          My GUESS is that google doesn't assign the same weight to nofollow, but still assigns some, as there are plenty of relevant, non self-serving nofollow links out there.

          Also, as mentioned, nofollow links help build a natural link profile.

          And bing does not take nofollow into account.

          For these reasons, I still create some nofollow links.
          Thanks for sharing your thoughts, great point of view. I do take what Matt says with a pinch of salt at times but it would be a pretty consistent lie he has been able to hold up over the last 7 years.

          I think a lot of the reason that people refuse to beleive that nofollow links hold no value is because of how Google is viewed.

          Google is shrouded in mystery with their secret algorithms and I think this plays into the mind when people look at the nofollow link, it's like people just have to beleive they hold some kind of unknown mystical powers.
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  • Profile picture of the author NEseO
    I agree with JSProjects that you need to take into account any traffic. Commenting on relevant blogs with good comments can help increase traffic.

    I also agree that in regards to PR/SERPS and all that stuff, they are pretty much worthless as Barry is battling out here!!

    Take into account what Matt C says in his video about the low % of links that are nofollow on the web. If you have a site with 50% nofollow links then this could look to be a red flag and may end up with a manual review. Not saying you will get a penalty here as a lot of big companies have lots of these from advert links but could just raise an alarm bell for a quick check over.
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    • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
      Originally Posted by NEseO View Post

      I agree with JSProjects that you need to take into account any traffic. Commenting on relevant blogs with good comments can help increase traffic.

      I also agree that in regards to PR/SERPS and all that stuff, they are pretty much worthless as Barry is battling out here!!

      Take into account what Matt C says in his video about the low % of links that are nofollow on the web. If you have a site with 50% nofollow links then this could look to be a red flag and may end up with a manual review. Not saying you will get a penalty here as a lot of big companies have lots of these from advert links but could just raise an alarm bell for a quick check over.
      Yeah, a lot of people tend to overlook the amount of traffic that can come from a blog comment, forum post, even a regular link. So nofollow links DO have value. Just not when it comes to ranking in Google.
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  • Profile picture of the author rtailor
    Although No-Follow links don't add in PR or SERP but still have worth because they drive a lot of traffic from high traffic sites to yours. So, if not beneficial in raising the page rank, it can fill your pocket on the other hand.
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  • Profile picture of the author acedalright
    Think about it like this:

    If a site trusts you and likes your content they dofollow a link to you.

    What does it look like when all your links come from nofollow links?

    It looks spammy, like all your links are deliberate and built and not natural.

    You are less likely to acquire a ton of nofollow links naturally, so it does not look great when you have a lot of them.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnnyS
    okay dofollow sites gives more benefit to your site. but if you want traffic you can add no follow to your list.
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  • Profile picture of the author chrislangley
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author dtpdesignservice
      no follow link not worthless because no follow link increase your traffic for little more. so i think not depended only do follow link submission try to it no follow submission and not spend more time for no follow submission.
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  • Profile picture of the author runadsonline
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author mikefifield
      I've set up a small test which should be interesting. I've just created an orphan page and linked to it using a random string of characters, which I will not post here so as not to pollute the test. The string I used does not currently return any search results and the only place I am using the string is in a blog post and a site wide nofollow link to the orphan page. Here is the post for anyone who wants to follow the results.

      www ( dot) thecirclingsky (dot) com/2011/10/11/ts-fitness/

      Edit: well it looks like i am not allowed to post links so lets try this again if you want to follow this test you will obviously have to remove the (dot) and replace with real dots.

      Please help me keep this test clean by not linking directly to my orphan page or mentioning the any of the character strings used in the test.

      The blog is a pr4 so we should have results one way or another very soon.

      Mike
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    • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
      Originally Posted by runadsonline View Post

      Comment posting on nofollow blog are meaning less for google spider as do not crawl them. Before posting must check nature of blog by using seo tools like "firefox nofollow addon". Besides , comment posting usally not stay or long time as modearator delete them.
      Depends on the comment. And if it's a moderated blog. If it's moderated your comment has to be approved in the first place. So chances are it will stick for a very long time if it's approved.
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      • Profile picture of the author puneetkgarg
        A link is a link weather it is do follow or no follow.both are used to get back links.but no follow links are not followed by google so thats is why the use of no follow links is least popular than do follow links.We can use no follow links. you can not say it is worthless.
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  • Profile picture of the author mikefifield
    Well that was fast. I just checked and now my blog is ranking for the text string.. the orphan page is still not indexed at this point.
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  • Profile picture of the author sitecontact
    THese links will bring the spider to your site, so they don't help with rankings, but help with indexing
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    largebusinessideas.blogspot.com - The stories of some big business ideas.
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  • Profile picture of the author JoeHughes
    This is one of the oldest SEO arguments out there.

    I have actually run an experiment where I got my team to build 6 high PR (PR3 to PR6) blog comments per day to one of my test sites. I ran the test for four weeks and there were no discernible increases in my rankings.

    However no follow links can even out your link profile a little but don't expect them to help you climb the SERP's.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anthony W
    Regardless of whether or not they'll boost your rankings, they're still awesome for TRAFFIC which no one really talks about.

    If you find a popular blog in your niche and leave a comment with your URL (of course write a non spammy comment), you'll be surprised how many visitors you get through that link.

    You can arouse some curiosity in your comment that makes people want to click.

    Or write something generic like, "Hey OP really interesting point.. .I've noticed that on http://www.yourdomain.com/page it mentions that... what are your thoughts?"

    YES people will click through!
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    Looking to buy Facebook accounts. PM me!
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  • Profile picture of the author mikefifield
    It's been a week now since I created the test page and links on thecirclingsky . com and so far the orphan page is still not even indexed. Pretty interesting, looks like zero effect from a site wide link on a pr4 blog if its nofollowed.
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  • Profile picture of the author ufc 143 results
    Just thought i would change my old approaches of not commenting and say hello. Been around for awhile and have loved your posts
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  • Profile picture of the author kangtj
    I read some article that even nofollow links are still carry some benefits, not sure about this
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    Kitchen Queen
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  • Profile picture of the author wabrielleSierra
    Not at all. And google spider can use it.
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  • Profile picture of the author PetGuru
    No, i understand do follow links have worth in ranking.but the technical difference between do follow or no follow is no follow links not help to increase page rank only help to increase ranking in google or others search engines....
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    • Profile picture of the author Francois du_Toit
      Interesting discussion with some strong views (and opinions :rolleyes.

      The difference between the two is very simple, the rel="nofollow" attribute does not pass PageRank. That's the only difference.

      But, PageRank is only one of many factors that Google takes into account when ranking a site. (You can easily outrank a PR 3+ page for a keyword if you know what you're doing even if your own page shows PR 0).

      Edit:

      Btw, as a matter of interest... Technically speaking even a NoFollow link on a site will leak PageRank. It does not "pass" PageRank to the page it's linking to but it will leak PageRank in the same way as a "DoFollow" link. And, one more thing... PageRank naturally deteriorates over time so there is no way you can preserve the PageRank of a site indefinitely through PageRank sculpting.
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      Destiny is not a matter of chance, it's a matter of choice.
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  • Profile picture of the author dnc104
    Not at all. They're not worthless as other seem because there are lots of blogs that are NoFollow but are indexed with. Other sites have high PageRank though they don't follow links.
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  • Profile picture of the author cardine
    nofollow links are very valuable. If your sites had absolutely 0 links besides links from Wikipedia (which are all nofollow), Google will crawl your site and you will rank for rather competitive terms. How do I know this? I have tested it.

    Nofollow links from authority sites are probably more valuable than dofollow links from regular sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author stevenukas
    this is just with social bookmarking! No follow links add greater impact then do follow,and as mentioned above link is like a vote! Creating only do follow links might give a red flag
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  • Profile picture of the author dsbusiness23
    I just created a new thread about these SEO myths. You can find it here! No-follow links are more valuable then you think, and please don't make me watch that Matt Cutts video ever again lol
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  • Profile picture of the author Lyanna
    Wikipedia links may not pass on link juice but it's still wikipedia - one of the most used and authoritative websites that real people use and trust. So the Google algo may not "count" the link but real people click on them so how is that worthless?
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