Building a link takes a lot of work.
Okay, on a literal level, embedding a hyperlink isn’t much work at all.
But when it comes to writing good content, chasing down publishers, and finding good link opportunities to support your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, everything gets much trickier.
The problem is compounded by a mad scramble of competing brands all hoping to get visibility from the top publishers – and publishers raising the bar for what types of content they’ll accept.
Many publishers will be willing to host your content, provided that they include nofollow links rather than traditional authority passing links.
But is this compromise worth it?
If so, to what extent is it worth it?
Contents
What Is a Nofollow Link?
Let’s talk a little bit about nofollow links.
Traditional links on the internet primarily exist to assist with navigation. They’re meant to make it easy for a user to click on the prompt and immediately jump to some target page.
They’re also extremely useful for bots and crawlers to see how different pages relate to each other. In fact, this is the entire infrastructure on which Google Search and other search engines are built.
Back in the day, Google simply evaluated the number of links pointing to a website to determine how authoritative it was, factoring in how authoritative the sources of those links were. Since then, Google has grown much more sophisticated, but the basic idea remains intact for the most part.
If you want to rank higher in Google and other search engines, you need authority. And to gain that authority, you need at least some traditional links pointing to your website, and preferably links from highly authoritative sources.
Google had a problem with link spam in the early days, as online entities would freely exchange links as a way to game the system. Content producers would spam links anywhere they could, and publishers would make it easy to build links if it meant earning more money or getting more visibility.
Now that Google penalizes websites and actors that violate its quality guidelines, we all have to be more careful and judicious about the types of links we build and allow on our websites.
However, there is an exception to this.
It’s a kind of free pass to build a link without worrying about whether Google is going to penalize you.
The nofollow link is a link on the website that has a special meta tag that instructs web crawlers not to consider it. Essentially, it’s a way of putting blinders on Google’s bots, and therefore its evaluation systems.
This is valuable for publishers that would otherwise host these links, as it eliminates the risk of being flagged for spamming links entirely. It also filters out insincere content creators who are only searching for links that can help them build SEO authority.
But is it valuable for content creators as well?
The Prospective Benefits of Nofollow Links
The short answer is yes.
These are some of the most attractive prospective benefits of building nofollow links:
- Traffic. Even though these links aren’t going to pass authority to your website the same way traditional links would, they function as links for online user navigation nonetheless. If you can place a link in a popular piece of content on a popular publisher, you’ll likely generate thousands of visitors to your site. Even if these types of links don’t have a direct impact on your rankings in SERPs or your organic traffic, they can help your referral traffic flourish.
- Link portfolio diversification. When building nofollow links, you generally don’t need to worry about whether those links are purely organic. When building traditional links, you’ll need to keep in mind the nature of the publisher, the nature of your content, the quality of your content, and the technical ways that you embed the link in your work. You also have to balance your link portfolio to make sure you’re not pulling from the same sources or low-quality sources. But with nofollow links, the pressure is off. Your nofollow links will always be acceptable to Google, and it can help you make your link profile more organic.
- Brand exposure and visibility. Building nofollow links is an excellent way to increase your brand exposure and overall visibility. Even if you’re not getting the authority boost from Google and other search engines, people will be more likely to see your name and recognize you. This is doubly true if your links are attractive enough for people to click.
- Publisher relationships. Accepting a publisher’s terms to include only nofollow links is a way to build a better relationship with that publisher, and potentially others in the future. If your publisher sees you as a partner, they’ll be much more likely to accept your work in the future, potentially multiplying your referral traffic and reputational gains with each new piece. Also, as you begin developing your author profile and publishing works in more channels, your reputation will build, making it easier for you to find a way on to bigger platforms.
- Engagement and demand generation. Building nofollow links can help you with engagement and demand generation as well. This is a way for you to cite your most important resources, show off your brand authority, and connect with your audience directly.
- Reputational value. Assuming the quality of your links and content is on point, including nofollow links is a way of building your reputation. Publishers, readers, search engines, and other entities will get an opportunity to see and review your work, when they otherwise wouldn’t.
- Content promotion. Referral links are also a great way to promote your onsite content. Even if you’re not able to support that content with higher authority and higher search engine rankings, you’ll be able to send plenty of referral traffic its way. If there’s a keystone piece of content on your website that you want more people to see, nofollow links could be a great shortcut to generating that traffic.
Keep in mind that most of these benefits are offered by traditional links, and with traditional links, you’ll gain SEO authority.
Because of this, traditional links are strictly better than nofollow links in nearly all scenarios. We are simply making the argument that nofollow links can still be valuable, especially when compared to not building a link at all.
Key Factors to Consider When Choosing to Build Nofollow Links
So is it worth it to build a nofollow link?
There are several things you’ll want to keep in mind when making this decision, including:
- Your goals. What exactly are your goals? Obviously, you want more online visibility and traffic, but do you really care where that traffic comes from? Are you more interested in the short term or the long term? Are you willing to build some nofollow links if it means developing your reputation with publishers and getting opportunities for traditional links in the future? Or is increasing your search rankings your primary objective? Different brands are more or less interested in nofollow links based on their high-level goals.
- Your existing link portfolio. Your backlink profile should be appropriately diversified with links from many different sources, with a special emphasis on higher authority sources. If you build too many traditional links too quickly, or if your backlink profile looks suspicious in any way, it could harm your potential. If your link profile is already dense with traditional links, building nofollow links should be more attractive to you. On the other hand, if most of your links are nofollow, you might want to lean in the other direction.
- Link building opportunities. You should also think about which link building opportunities you have. If your choice is to build a traditional link or a nofollow link, you should (almost) always build the traditional link. If your choice is to build a nofollow link or no link at all, you should always choose the nofollow link. If you have lots of meaningful link opportunities, don’t go out of your way to seek a nofollow link to build. But on the other end of the spectrum, if you have a dearth of link building opportunities, nofollow links should look more attractive to you.
- Publisher relationships. You may also want to consider the quality and quantity of your publisher relationships. If you already have a strong author profile and a good reputation in your industry, nofollow links are probably going to look less attractive to you. Conversely, if you’re just starting out and you’re willing to compromise with any publisher that will have you, nofollow links become much more attractive. That’s not to say you’ll stop accepting nofollow links at a certain point; there will always be potential nofollow link building opportunities worth exploring.
- The material value of each nofollow link. When considering whether to build a nofollow link, think about the material value of that link. Estimate it as best you can. How much brand visibility is it going to get you? How much referral traffic is it going to generate? What is it going to do for your publisher relationships? How is it going to support your backlink profile? In total, what does your brand stand to gain from building this link?
- The cost of building each nofollow link. The other side of this equation requires you to estimate the cost of building each nofollow link. How much time or money is it going to take you to develop the content necessary to support this link? Are there any costs associated with this publisher? How much time will it take for you to nurture this publication to completion? When comparing the value and cost of a given nofollow link, it should be clear whether or not it’s worth building for your strategy. Keep in mind that different types of businesses will likely calculate these factors differently.
- Potential opportunity costs. You may also want to consider potential opportunity costs. If you spend the time, money, and effort to build this nofollow link, will you be giving up some other SEO opportunity? For example, are you sacrificing an opportunity to build a traditional link in favor of a nofollow link?
In Summary
For most brands, nofollow links can be worth building, even if you would rather have traditional dofollow links, all other factors being equal.
When properly incorporated, nofollow links can improve your brand visibility, traffic streams, and even your ability to build traditional links in the future.
Navigating the modern world of link building is challenging, especially when you don’t have expert help.
That’s why our link building agency is here to help simplify the process – and put you in a position to achieve your SEO and online visibility goals.
Are you ready to start the conversation? Contact us today!
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