When building backlinks, do we need “no-follow” or “do-follow” links?
Introduction
Building backlinks is a really important part of the organic SEO process, that’s for sure. However, the links must be built in accordance with Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, plus must always be top quality links.
Yet, another question is often asked by businesses, that is, do they need “do-follow” or “no-follow” backlinks?
In this article, we will explain why a business needs top-quality backlinks, which are always built using white hat methods, but also, that the links need to be a good mixture of do-follow and no-follow backlinks.
Do I need no-follow or do-follow backlinks in order to improve my businesses SEO?
The answer to this is rather simple, that is your backlinks profile, that’s the links leading to your website need to be a mixture of do-follow and also no-follow links. But we can’t stress enough this point, every link needs to be quality! That’s, so when Googlebot indexes the link, it will know its from a high-quality website.
Now, it’s at this point you might be scratching your head thinking, well I have read on another blog that in order to improve a business’s organic SEO, do-follow backlinks are needed. So, with that said, why even bother building no-follow backlinks?
This blog post will therefore explain that it is indeed, do-follow backlinks, which are the links that pass what is called “link equity”. However, with that said our SEO consultants will also explain why it is a good idea to also have no-follow backlinks as well.
So, to recap, all of the backlinks your business needs must always be top-quality, plus, it’s a good idea to have a mixture of do-follow and no-follow backlinks.
Quality is what you need
This is the golden rule of link building, that is whether the links do follow, or the no follow, every single link that you build must be “white hat” and also it must be quality.
If it’s not quality, then you run the risk of incurring a penalty. A lot of companies have incurred “link penalties” that’s through a Google Manual Action penalty and also via the algorithm issuing a penalty, so, to avoid such issues, you must only build good quality links.
Link building, is therefore most definitely not a fast process, you need to gain links from high-quality sources, this often is a very slow process.
Will having more quality backlinks mean that my website moves up the SERPS?
If your website has a good backlink profile, in it has a mixture of do follow and no follow backlinks, and every single link has been built in a white hat way, then this can positively impact your organic SEO.
If on the other hand however, you must also remember that there are a lot of businesses which will have failed to build the links correctly.
Failing to build the links correctly simply means that the business could then incur a penalty.
Remember this also, it’s not all about quantity, it’s always about quality when it comes to earning links.
So therefore, you might get one really high-powered backlink, let’s say from the BBC, and that might be a link that’s helps improve your SEO, so as you can see its all about obtaining quality links.
So, what’s the main differences between the do-follow and no-follow backlinks?
Do-follow backlinks simply passes “link equity”, so let’s say that you own a cookery blog.
The cookery blog is aimed at Vegans, and offers advice on how to cook meals as well as where to source quality ingredients, as well as offering advice for those that are short on time how to cook a healthy meal.
Let’s say that a well-known supermarket chain notices how popular your cookery blog is on social media, and they decide to link to you, therefore that is a business which sells food, and you own a cookery website, so the link is relevant.
As it is a food retailer, and they have linked to your blog, if they use a do-follow backlink then this could pass “link equity” through to your website.
However, on the other hand, a no-follow backlink will not pass link equity, however it is still beneficial to have, because as all good SEO companies know, it’s a good idea to have a mixture of do-follow and no-follow backlinks.
Are no-follow backlinks absolutely useless then?
No, they’re not, because let’s say your seo agency is looking at your backlink profile, and you have over 1000 links in total, this can look really artificial, if you have all 1000 of them as all “do follow backlinks”.
As often there is a mixture of do follow and no follow in most backlinks’ profiles.
So therefore, is perfectly normal to have no-follow and do-follow backlinks, and most agencies want mixture of these, if they are good quality.