NOFOLLOW vs. DOFOLLOW Links SEO 2.0
This is the best way to pay back a community that is good to you.
So how do I share SEO 2.0 links on click-finders.com? I get this question a lot ever since my SEO vs. SEO 2.0 What is The Difference post. Well in order to better answer that, I think we should go over a brief reminder of the different kinds of links that you can give. It’s important to understand this in order to fully appreciate the benefits of SEO 2.0 and how it can help you or hurt you. Yes, you CAN hurt your site by linking out to other sites. Don’t worry, we will get into all the details in just a second. First though, let’s cover the basic categories of links.
<NOFOLLOW> Links:
<NOFOLLOW> is a value that can be assigned to the [REL] HTML attribute that tells the search engines to discount this link. It was designed originally to allow web site owners (primarily Blogs and Forums) the option to identify spam or potential spam links and assign this attribute so that the search engines would not index the link and therefore not pass any “link juice” or authority to the linked site from the source site.
Example of the <NOFOLLOW> link in action:
<a href=”http://www.example.com/” rel=”nofollow”>anchor text</a>
“There is great debate in the SEO community about whether or not the <NOFOLLOW> attribute works or not. My own personal testing indicates that the search engines still assign some value to these links, as some sites with only <NOFOLLOW> links have been known to climb and reach the top of the SERP’s. More on this in another post coming soon….”
<DOFOLLOW> Links:
There is no specific HTML attribute for this link. This is the link we as SEO’s and web site owners strive for every day for the sites we are working on. This link passes actual “link juice” from the originating site to the linked to site. For example, if you own a site that is well established, has good traffic and a decent Google PageRank your “link juice” will be much higher than a newly launched site.
Example of the <DOFOLLOW> link in action:
<a href=”http://www.example.com/”>anchor text</a>
If you, with your well established site, give a link to another site, you are telling Google you like that site and it is worthy of your link. The older and more established your site, the more “link juice” you can pass to another site.
“The <DOFOLLOW> link is hands down the BEST link you can attain for your web site or give to another site. This is what SEO 2.0 is all about. If you read the previous SEO 2.0 article you will see why.”
Can linking out to another site actually hurt my site?
The short answer is yes, it can. Let me explain. Again, Google see’s each link out from your site as a “vote” for another site. So it takes it pretty seriously when you give a link to another site. What they do not want, is trusted, reputable sites providing links out to SPAM sites. Mostly these sites are of the unwanted SPAM emails you find in your Junk Email boxes. The words are so potent, I won’t even mention them in this post for fear of affecting Google (LOL).
“In short, you should never link out to a known SPAM site or a site that is even remotely SPAMMY. Make sure your links out are quality sites that provide a relevant service or benefit to your visitor.”
Other types of links that you can get / give include:
Paid Links or Affiliate Links
Image Links
Side Bar or Blog Roll Links
Footer Links
So how do I handle links given out on this site? Simple….you get links from this site by visiting, reading and commenting on this Blog. You can also write an article and submit it for a guest post spot in which you can place multiple links back to your site (up to 3) and more in a resource box. Comment links are treated as fairly as possible. I require 3 “APPROVED” comment posts to start getting <DOFOLLOW> links. The first three comments are <NOFOLLOW>. I set this up to deter SPAMMERS. Also, pure SPAM usually gets deleted immediately. On occasion, I will strip the link and approve the comment because either the comment was good and relevant or the English was so bad it made me LOL.
I also never approve links to “bad neighborhoods”.
Good luck…and keep on Blogging!
