There’s no greater feeling than another site linking to your content. These backlinks are the stitching that string together the vastness of webpages online. To the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) expert, they’re the bread and butter that will boost your site’s visibility and increase conversion.
Other sites linking to your page is a testament to the quality of your content and user experience. However, not all links are created equal. There is a noticeable difference between a Follow and No Follow Link. The term “No Follow” can send a SEO expert crawling up the wall in frustration. This is simply a misunderstanding of the intention behind building a portfolio of links.
What’s the difference between Follow and No Follow?
The difference between a Follow Link and a No Follow Link is in how a search engine read them. In the early days of search engines, a page gets a search ranking boost when another page links to it. To the search engine, a page with many other sites linking to it was interpreted as authoritative and credible. As a result, search engines would boost the search ranking of the linked site.
With so much value backing a link, people would spam links to their site across all corners of the internet for this boost in authority. This lead to the comment sections of forums and blogs drowning in an ocean of unrelated links.
To curb the spamming of backlinks, a change in the search engine algorithms allowed webmasters to turn their pages into “no follow” pages. This led to two types of links: Follow and No Follow. Put simply:
- Follow Link: Links that are accessible and search engines, directly boosting the authority of the linked site.
- No Follow Link: Links that are skipped by search engines through a rel=”nofollow” HTML tag embedded by the webmaster.
While a Follow Link is highly preferred over a No Follow Link for their influence to a site’s authority, this doesn’t the value of No Follow. So long as the link is still active, the benefits of having a link on another site carries opportunities for referral traffic and more link building.
- No Follow Links are Still Links
A link to your site is still worth celebrating. The purpose of building a portfolio of links is create opportunities for traffic. Search engines view a site that has been linked multiple times by other reputable sites as having quality information for users. The search engine ranking boost is an additional incentive for those webmasters to create high quality content that will generate more organic links.
Earning Follow Links can be resource intensive. Having a link on another reputable site is still an opportunity for their visitors to visit your site.
- Brand Credibility to Your Funnel
If word-of-mouth marketing had a digital counterpart, it would be in the form of referral traffic. People are more responsive to a site that they trust like the New York Times and Yahoo! Finance. A link on reputable sites are more likely to convert because people trust the link will be of value.
Having links on traditionally No Follow sites like a social media post or embedded in a blog can bring value to your sites conversion funnel. The key is in understanding how your landing page is relevant to the content from the referred page.
- No Follow Link Can Grow a Follow Link
Naturally, when the information on your site is clear and concise, people are more likely to link the page as a reference. Bloggers, content developers, and columnist are in constant need of data, testimonies, and visual aids. In return, they will gladly cite the page for reference.
Other sites linking to your page will increases the likelihood that your information packed content will be seen, regardless of it being a No Follow link. Your page may even get a Follow link after it was referenced on a No Follow page!
The value in No Follow links are in their opportunities for referral traffic and organic link building. Although Follow links are preferred for their extra boost in search ranking, this doesn’t discount the value of other sites linking to your content. The key is to make sure that the only reputable and relevant sites link to your content for a higher quality of traffic.
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