The Power of Nofollow Links

In the world of digital marketing, a link to your website can be a goldmine of potential customers. But what about “no-follow links”?

What is a Nofollow Link?

A no-follow link is an HTML attribute value telling search engine crawl bots that this hyperlink should not influence the link’s source’s ranking in the search engine’s index. In effect, you aren’t receiving an authoritative boost to your own site’s web presence or giving a boost to another site’s authority from a link with this attribute.

Why No-Follow Links are More Useful Than You Think

A traditional link can be an excellent source of authority and potentially lead you to new business. For example, imagine you’re a personal injury law firm in Delaware, and an online news publication links to your law firm in a news story. The traffic and exposure from this are significant, and because they’re a news company, they are an authoritative site giving more validation and a better reputation to your firm in the eyes of search engines. These search engines then rank you higher in searches.

A no-follow can do nearly the same thing, but more subtly. While you don’t get the boost from the more significant, authoritative site, if they’re linking to you, there’s still the power of exposure. If your site is included in the center of a widely dispersed piece of content, then there’s still something to be gained.  

A no-follow link can still lead to profit just by its mere presence. If someone sees a link to your personal injury law firm on an online news publication, another firm’s website, or a popular law blog, then you’re still creating awareness about your firm. That awareness may come in the form of retweets with your link in them, shares of your site, or increased public awareness and chatter about you. As long as you have the content to keep that traffic on your website, then people frequenting your site increases your overall authority and ranks you higher in search engines.

Should I No-Follow My Links to Other Sites?

If you’re linking to sites that have powerful presences on the web already, there’s nothing to be gained from following them. They’re not going to help your website rank higher unless they link to you. If you know the site or work in some way with them and they’re willing to link back to you in some capacity, then a follow tag makes sense as it’s a mutually beneficial relationship. In this way, you both benefiting by giving power to each other and just as importantly, you’re helping your traffic find the resources they need.

No-Follow Links

No-follow links are another tool you can use to control your traffic better. Understanding their uses and the when you should and shouldn’t use them can help draw the right attention to your firm and expand your client base. For more information about growing your online presence, contact the Performance First marketing team right away to learn more!