When someone talks about SEO and nofollow links in the same go, it feels awkward, isn’t it? If you know precisely what are no-follow links, it might seem to be utterly useless from an SEO point of view. Chances are, you might get so biased that it might result in complete avoidance of these links. However, this is where you are going wrong. 

The question is: Are nofollow links good or bad? The answer is Yes & No, depending on the person you are asking the question. Indeed, certain characteristics make them undesirable; however, it would be foolish to ignore the good ones completely. 

Gone are the days when SEO used to be confined stream. Today, there is a need to understand and scrutinise the old and new optimisation tactics in an in-depth manner. This way, it is possible to differentiate between the good and the bad ones. The right SEO company will always understand the importance of no-follow links in the site and utilise them sparingly to get the best results. In the following paras, we will throw some light on the different ways nofollow links can be useful from an SEO point of view and also other perspectives. 

A Brief Introduction to Nofollow Link

Everyone knows that links are of great importance when it comes to ranking on Google’s top SERPs. You can even compare it to votes: linking to a website is similar to someone selecting you for quality. However, there are times when you do not wish to select a certain portion, during such times, you can add a rel=nofollow attribute inside the link’s HTML code. Therefore, a nofollow link’s purpose is to ensure that people do not vote for the website based on quality.

It was in the year 2005 when nofollow links first came into existence intending to fight spam. With its help, Google was able to differentiate between natural and paid links. It also protected sites from others that were generating unnatural backlinks or employing inappropriate anchor texts. Even at present, this attribute is used extensively to avoid web spam and the potential damage it can cause to the Google rankings. A good company always employs nofollow links by using SEO services in Melbourne.

Let’s now divert our attention to the reasons for building nofollow links for SEO.

It Assists Google to Comprehend and Build Trust Factor in Your Website

(Source: hillwebcreations.com)

A good reason to bother about nofollow links is that even if you provide these links, the information still passes about your site to Google, even if you do not permit Google to crawl it. This information can be found in the anchor text of the link. 

Even if you have a nofollow link, Google still can know what exactly exists in your content which can prove to be decisive in giving a small boost to the site’s authority on the subject. A prime example of a nofollow link is an advertisement link; however, their mere presence is enough to be of high utility to the site because of this very reason. It prompts Google to give you due credit and not treat your backlinks as unnatural, which goes a long way in ensuring trustworthiness between you and Google.

It Creates Awareness

(Source: pixoz.co)

Links are primarily utilised to raise and spread awareness of your brand amongst users. Link building is specifically useful in serving this purpose. You can even call it one form of online networking. Links are a great way to connect users with products or services. With its help, you get a boost to your web traffic. It also assists in providing an additional piece of information, and in certain cases, justify your statements with proof. 

It is possible to create brand awareness with the help of nofollow links. The peculiar thing about such links is that they can be seen and followed by audiences and not just search engines. For example, people link all types of content from reputed social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. These platforms give a chance to the followers to click on these links without ever needing them to read the posts. Even if they do not hit the link promptly, chances of coming back and rechecking the page is huge.
 

Its worth in terms of Local SEO is in Terms of Gold-dust

If you have certain unlinked brand mentions, Google considers them as “implied” links. They do not provide the same benefits as do-follow links; however, their importance cannot be undermined. In order to give the right impetus to your unlinked brand mentions and make it more relevant for your brand, we recommend you to convert it into a no-follow backlink. This can give you the right results, especially when you optimise your site for local search. 

Local SEO is more interesting; the reason being, the search intents of the users are more precisely defined compared to regular search. Chances are, if you show a specific link to the users, they will be more than willing to click on it. This can be applied to NAP citations (consisting of your business’ name, address, and phone number) for local SEO. They work even more effectively when there is a link attached to them.
 

It is Better to Have a Nofollow Link Than No Link At All

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It is always better to have your brand name or site mentioned with a nofollow link than an unlinked mention. Remember, links are the keys that unlock opportunities to connect with the target audience. A nofollow becomes more critical especially when it comes from a reputed website with a broad target audience. It might make a massive difference between the success and failure of your business goals.  

A backlink is a link nevertheless and to get it at the right time may result in driving more traffic, getting more exposure and generating brand awareness. It can open up the keys to success that can lead to the expansion of your online network and gives you ample opportunities to bond with your target audience. 

In short, backlinks are the primary assets that can result in lead generation. Remember, the prospective clients will never care if a link is a do-follow or nofollow if their expectations and needs are being met.

There are Other Metrics Apart from Google That Employs NoFollow Links

Google metrics are important, however, they are not the only ones that should be used. There are other metrics like Domain Authority and Alexa Rank that can be of great help with SEO. With the help of these metrics, it is possible to make your site rank higher on Google. And the great news is, they take into consideration nofollow backlinks! Isn’t that amazing?

This is one of the major reasons to build nofollow backlinks so that they can effectively utilise the “unofficial” SEO metrics. The important thing is to carefully research what every metric means before including them in your SEO campaign.

Parting Thoughts

All in all, link building is all about generating referral traffic. Although backlinks that you earn naturally are the most valuable ones, nofollow links are not useless, to say the least. On the contrary, they must be an integral part of your SEO strategy.