Many disregards using rel= “nofollow” links only because they don’t do much in helping you rank in search engines. However, they fail to realize that one can earn SEO value from nofollow domain backlinks.

But what is a nofollow link anyway? How does it differ from a dofollow link? Do rel= “nofollow” links matter to your SEO? And how you get SEO value from such links? This short guide will answer all of these questions.

What Is A Nofollow Link?

Nofollow links are those hyperlinks with the rel= “nofollow” HTML tag. Such tag tells search engines such as Google to ignore nofollow links. But why would anyone want to ignore such links? The reason is that they usually don’t impact the search engine ranks of the destination URL. Google doesn’t crawl on nofollow links and does not transfer PageRank on such links. 

Good Read: When Do You Use Nofollow on Links?

Difference Between a Nofollow link and a Dofollow link

Average web users don’t usually recognize the difference between a nofollow and dofollow links. Only when you dig into the HTML code will one see the difference.

A dofollow link’s HTML code can look like this.

<a href=”https://yocale.com”>

A nofollow link’s HTML code can look like this.

<a href=”https://ahrefs.com” rel=”nofollow”> 

The only difference between the two HTML is that nofollow links have the rel=”nofollow” tag. When a hyperlink is marked as a nofollow link, it means search engines won’t count this as passing link equity.

Google introduced the nofollow tag to fight comment and forum spam.  Shortly after the search engine giant did this, other search engines followed suit.

Why Nofollow Links Matters 

Not all links are created equal. In this case, many SEO marketers think nofollow links are a waste of time since search engines don’t count links domains with backlinks that are nofollow links. However, having diversity when it comes to using links can give your SEO efforts a boost. 

The secret is to mix your usage of dofollow and nofollow links. This means if you only focus on dofollow links, you could be missing the benefits you can get out of nofollow links. Besides, using only pure and 100% dofollow links will look unnatural. 

Indeed, nofollow links don’t make an impact on your search engine ranking. However, it has one perk. Nofollow links can help generate traffic to your page, which makes it a vital element for link building.

Types of Links That Use The Nofollow Tag

Comments

These can be blogs, forums, news articles, and other Q&A sites that promote any discussion. The links you leave here are nofollow links.

Open Submission Content

Pages such as Reddit and Quora allows its users to submit a post while Youtube allows video uploads. Other users can then interact by leaving comments with their links on the comment section. All links except your profile links are nofollow links.

Social Media Links

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn allow users to use a bunch of links. However, you won’t get to increase your search engine rank just by leaving your profile links in these sites.

Effective Ways To Get SEO Value From Nofollow Links

If you’re looking forward to getting more SEO juice from nofollow links, here are a few effective tactics to consider.

Take Advantage Of Low-Popularity Blogs

Low-popularity blogs are blogs in its infant stage.  Such blogs are still low in popularity and don’t generate much traffic yet. However, leaving a comment early on in these blogs will make your links seem more reputable and authentic. You get to add value, create intrigue, and cite in some points that will make you look like a genuine contributor. The blog owner or writer will take this as a good thing and can back your links up on your subsequent posts. 

Earn Link Citations From Instagram

Instagram allows its users to post images and videos with captions and hashtags on it. When you use hashtags that influencers, editors, writers, and publications need, these personalities can easily find the image you posted. If they find it useful enough for sharing, they will ask you permission for usage. Giving them the go signal will earn you link citations. 

Make Quora Contributions

There are tons of professionals who make contributions in Quora. Once you’ve established a high value and relevant credentials, the online press can turn to you to ask for questions that can help them with their journalism. This also applies to contributors who share unique and relevant experiences. 

Getting found by online writers, journalists and editors can give you an edge over your competitors. Some will ask you to make contributions to their page, cite you as a source, and will insert a link of your website. You’ll often give them a quote and all of your mentions will include a nofollow link which can add traffic to your site.

Republish Contents On Other Platforms

Republishing tactics allows you to increase organic traffic. For example, republishing good-quality content from your website to other platforms. If you’re thinking of republishing posts, you published in other sites, make sure that there is no claim exclusivity to avoid plagiarism. Add referring domain link on the republished posts linking back to the original post to drive traffic and promote your content. 

Make sure to check if you’ve earned quality links is with a backlink checker. This allows you to check which domains you used to republish your contents. If you happen to republish contents in now expired domains, you can then choose to fix your links or remove them.

Good Read: HOW TO USE EXPIRED DOMAINS FOR SEO

Share Your Contents On Social Media

It is not uncommon to find brands sharing their web content on their social media pages. Of course, you’ll find a nofollow link that when clicked, it will direct you to the original post. Doing the same tactic and tweaking it a bit can lead to lots of link citations. Here’s an example for link citation building on Twitter.

Follow influencers with the same niche as your business. Make engagements and share your contents that they can relate to. Making tons of engagements with those related to your niche will eventually catch their attention into checking out your materials. If they like what they see, you can expect a follow back and finally link citations. 

About the Author :

Scarlet Dy is a blogger and content writer. She enjoys creating quality articles on different niches, such as email marketing, content marketing, and social media marketing. Her latest writeups focused on the pros and cons when you buy domains with backlinks, how email marketing is still effective, and how to plan a winning SMM strategy.