We often hear about the no-follow link being one of the most important aspects in SEO field. It usually follows with the question of “what is a no follow/follow rules?”, "what is a no follow link?"
Although it has been quite a few years since its implementation by Google, many people are still confused about the usage of a no follow or follow a link in their reference.
Understanding the usage of such rule requires us to fall back onto its history of formation.
The story behind
It all started before no follow/follow reference was created. Many people are abusing the system by spamming multiple links to their website to get more link juice.
This will, in turn, boost their site ranking as more links are referred to his/her website. What makes matter worse was that there are too many spam links that degraded the quality of the contents appeared in its search engine.
It has indirectly affected the quality of Google Search Engine which led to a twitch in its algorithm to solve this issue once and for all.
A no follow command that allows Google’s bot to ignore the reference link in a website while crawling over the entire site. Hence, there is no link juice for each no follow reference put into the content.
Even if you do put up a follow link reference, it has to be relevant and authentic; else, you will be penalized for your mistake.
This has brought spammers down to their knee while good contents can make its way to the top spot.
Using the no follow link.
Working on off-site SEO is more than just optimizing your websites and content. It is about having quality backlinks to boost your website ranking. However, misusing such feature will cost you a hefty price for your SEO work.
Google often checked your website by having bots crawling all over your website including the reference of your content.
If your reference link happens to be poor in quality or irrelevant, it will affect your ranking position.
By having a no follow command on your reference link, the bot will ignore the source.
Here is what Google recommends for using the No Follow attribute.
If no-follow does not give me link juice then why use it?
If you are boosting your content or sales landing page via paid ads, Google may treat it as spam (if your links contain irrelevant/spam follow attributes).
This is when using a no follow tag comes in handy as the bot will ignore the reference link while evaluating your website.
On having the no follow/follow tag.
Majority of the people may have thought that having a no-follow tag is a bad thing for their SEO optimization.
On the contrary, putting a no follow tag does not necessarily affect your website ranking and its conversion.
As other factors are taken into account as a ranking factor, a content with many traffic could fare equally well in conversions. A well placed no follow link could get you much traffic as well.
The rules that bring balance to the search engine.
Algorithms were built to curb the abusive behavior of black-hat SEO as search engine become sophisticated. Some algorithm were used to trace other factors as a ranking signal such as RankBrain to encourage content creators to provide quality content.
The no-follow/follow link is one of the few ways to end the exploitation of such loophole. As a result, more quality contents can appear as credible websites making its way to the top rank.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://techiebunch.com/seo/no-follow-link/