“Focusing on quality [backlinks] over quantity is what can help to protect your site as Google updates,” – Adam Reimer, SEJ.
If your website or page is not viewed by users, then instead of hitting the panic button you should figure out the ways to increase its search ranking. And one of the ways to go about it is by creating quality backlinks. So, how do backlinks matter in the SEO scheme of things? Before coming to that let us first understand what is a backlink. It is an inbound link (read a hyperlink) that your website or webpage receives from another site. In case your site has more number of links directed to it, then a search engine like Google assumes your webpage or site must be a good one and gives it preference over other sites having a similar content.
According to Google, this way users can be provided with the best search pages. However, this does not mean that receiving links from any number of sites would work. In fact, to gain Google’s approval in terms of gaining a higher ranking in the SERP, the backlinks that your site receives should be mainly from reputed sites. For example, if your site deals with eCommerce, then having a link from say, Amazon, Flipkart, or Walmart or even WordPress would make your day. So, build links with sites that carry a certain weightage and see your site gain a high visibility in the SERPs. With backlinks, you also get to hear terms such as ‘no follow’ or ‘do follow’ links. Let us find out what are these all about.
What are Do-follow or No-follow Links? – Learn the Differences
Do-follow links: Do-follow links are utilized to help search engine crawlers reach other relevant websites. The crawler programs crawl the source page and also the page that is linked. The linked page may or may not get a higher crawl rate. By taking note of the Do-follow links the Google algorithm finds out the number of users visiting your page or site and figures out its importance. Thus, the more quality Do-follow links you have, the more link juice your site or page gets thereby helping it to garner a top ranking in the SERP. To give an example, if you want to create a Do-follow link to Webguru Infosystems for the anchor text, SEO services India, then the syntax would be
<a href=”https://www.webguru-india.com”>SEO services India</a>
No-follow links: No-follow links, on the other hand, enable visitors to follow through to linked pages and at the same time, prevent the search engine crawler programs from indexing them. This is especially relevant if you are linking to an external website but have nothing to gain if it is crawled. Since these links do not pass any link juice, they do not impact your SEO rankings. However, these can help your site or page to gain user traffic. The nofollow tag is usually followed by SEO experts to prevent the following of untrusted sites or content.
For example, to create a No-follow link to Webguru Infosystems, use the following syntax.
<a href=”https//www.webguru-india.com” rel=”nofollow”>
By now, we assume that you have got a clear idea about the Do-follow and No-follow links. Now, have a look at their recommended usage below.
Norms for Using No-follow Links
* If you own a website that posts articles or blogs with reference to third-party/external websites, then using no-follow links would make perfect sense. This is because having search engine bots scan somebody else’s site (which you obviously do not own) is simply not necessary.
* If you own an educational or research website and want it to be linked to the external resources for the benefit of your users, then try using the no-follow code.
* To maintain ethical business practices, Google recommends that you use no-follow attributes if you are including a paid link.
The frequency of using no-follow links –
Speaking from a numerical point of view, there isn’t a specific number range to abide by. However, you should always include only relevant/credible links, which are in no way spammy. For instance, your portfolio website is bound to have links based on how many client websites you want to exhibit. If they are genuine quality links, you have nothing to worry about.
Norms for Using Do-follow Links
* If you have a business with multiple websites, interlinking them with a Do-follow link is a good idea. Note that any link you post without the ‘No-follow’ attribute code is a ‘Do-follow’ link.
* If you have a primary website, but want to help a secondary website get a higher rank, then creating a No-follow link is recommended. This is one strategy that is followed widely by businesses and even non-profit organizations.
* Do-follow links are used by a lot of digital marketing services to enable better crawling of their client websites. Remember, frequent linking from different sources (but not spamming) is a great way of improving search engine ranks.
* These links are useful if you want a healthy flow of traffic simultaneously with quality backlinks.
The frequency of using do-follow links –
Just like the No-follow links, there are no rules guiding the number of Do-follow links you must use. However, if you are posting in third-party blogs or forums, just make sure that those sites have a good reputation. Try not to inject too many do-follow links within a single page or piece of content.
Conclusion
In the highly competitive digital landscape, ranking your site higher on the SERPs requires the smart use of SEO techniques such as a judicious blend of Do-follow and No-follow links. However, should you want your site to garner better leads and high visibility by using backlinks and other techniques, then engaging a professional digital marketing agency would be a good idea.
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