This search engine optimization (SEO) guide answers the question, “why are nofollow links for SEO?”
Below, you’ll find out why nofollow links matter for a website’s search engine rankings and get a list of the top benefits of nofollow links in SEO.
There’s also a section with additional resources that explain more about the fundamentals of nofollow links to help you create the most effective search engine optimization strategy.
Table of Contents
Why Are Nofollow Links Important for SEO?
Nofollow links are important for SEO because nofollow links generate additional traffic to your website and improve the backlink profile for off-site search engine optimization. Some nofollow links also pass PageRank value for SEO which is important for your website’s rankings in the SERPs.
Benefits of Nofollow Links In SEO
1. Can Pass PageRank for SEO
The top benefit of nofollow links in SEO is that they can pass PageRank value to other websites. In 2019, Google changed its systems to treat nofollow links as a hint; not a directive. This means that Google’s algorithms will decide on a case-by-case basis whether to use a nofollow backlink for ranking purposes or not (i.e., pass PageRank—or link equity—to the target URL).
Nofollow links are not as lightweight as they used to be for off-site SEO. Now, nofollow backlinks can directly help a web page rank higher in the SERPs, especially if those links come from high-quality, trusted sources on the Internet.
2. Creates a Natural Backlink Profile
Nofollow links are also important because they can help create a more natural backlink profile for a website. A good link profile should contain a mix of nofollow and dofollow links to appear more organic to the search engine algorithms.
For example, if a majority of your website’s backlinks are dofollow, then it could be seen as a manipulative SEO tactic by indexing and ranking algorithms. This, in turn, could lead to a penalty from Google that results in a raning demotion or deindexing of the content.
Having a large quantity of dofollow links is not a normal occurrence on the natural web and often sets off spam signals. That’s why nofollow links can be an effective way to create a natural-looking backlink profile during a link building campaign. Plus, nofollow backlinks typically come from a variety of diverse sources (e.g., blogs, forums, social media sites, and news publications, and directories), making the link profile seem even more organic.
3. Drives Traffic To Your Website
Another advantage of nofollow links for SEO is that they can bring referral traffic to your website. Most users do not know if a hyperlink is a nofollow link or dofollow link and will click on an embedded hyperlink if it seems like it can provide helpful information for their query.
This means that even though search engine algorithms like Google, Yahoo, and Bing may always count the nofollow link as an endorsement, it can still benefit your website in terms of driving quality traffic to your content.
4. Builds Brand Awareness
Nofollow links also matter for SEO because they can help build brand awareness, which is important for your business’s online reputation.
As mentioned before, nofollow links can come from a wide variety of sources and when people see your website links on a multitude of sites, they may be more likely to check out your company because the brand keeps showing up in relevant content.
This is particularly important if you’re trying to grow your business by gaining traction in competitive markets. Building brand awareness through a large quantity of nofollow links is a great way to gain visibility and attract more customers. That’s because nofollow links are much easier to generate at scale in a link building campaign.
Other business owners who are solely focused on getting dofollow backlinks for SEO purposes are severely limiting themselves. With all other factors being equal, it’s much better to have 100 nofollow links that are actively building brand awareness for your business than it is to have 10 dofollow links that only boos the off-site SEO signals. More about why it is true is explained next.
5. Nofollow Links Can Generate Dofollow Links
One of the best benefits of nofollow links is that they can generate dofollow links for your website, which increases the amount of PageRank (or link equity) your domain receives.
The more nofollow backlinks your site acquires, the more visibility it can have in your target market. That can lead to more organic opportunities for other website owners to find your content online to link to it and share it with their audiences.
As other bloggers and journalists navigate the Internet looking for relevant web pages to source in their own content, they naturally click on the links embedded in articles. And one of your nofollow links may send a content creator to a web page that they think would be beneficial for their readers to link to. As a result, this can lead to a dofollow link that you naturally acquired (known as an editorial link).
Overall, the importance of nofollow links in SEO can’t be overstated. They provide many benefits that can help a website rank higher in the search results, drive more quality traffic to the business, and build brand awareness. So don’t neglect nofollow links as part of your content marketing strategy.
Learn More About Nofollow Links
The links below explain more about nofollow links and how to use them correctly for better search engine optimization. Use these resources to expand your knowledge on the subject.
- How Do Nofollow Links Work for SEO?
- Types of Nofollow Links In SEO
- Dofollow Links vs Nofollow Links
- Nofollow Links In SEO (Complete Guide)
Nofollow Links Are Important for SEO Summary
I hope you enjoyed this guide answering the question about why are nofollow links important for SEO.
As you discovered, nofollow links matter because they generate additional traffic to your website and improve the backlink profile for off-site search engine optimization. The benefits of nofollow links in SEO also include the ability to pass PageRank value to the target URL, build more brand awareness for the website, and lead to more dofollow links which can all lead to higher rankings in the SERPs.
