Tag: no-follow links

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SEO

New Link Attributes from Google

Google introduced new link attributes to provide more context about the nature of links. These include ‘sponsored’ for paid or sponsored links, ‘ugc’ for user-generated content, and modifications to ‘nofollow’ attribute, used when not endorsing a linked page. These changes allow for more nuanced link categorization, aiding Google’s understanding of web page relationships and improving SEO practices.

**This post was selected as one of the top digital marketing articles of the week by UpCity, a B2B ratings and review company for digital marketing agencies and other marketing service providers.**

If you’ve been involved with working with websites for any amount of time, you are familiar with the nofollow attribute.  Google first introduced it about 15 years ago as a method to help fight against comment spam. Over the years, it evolved to become one of Google’s recommended methods for tagging advertising related or sponsored links. Since it was first introduced in 2005, we’ve seen the web evolve considerably.

In response to that evolution, Google recently announced two new link attributes to provide webmasters and marketers with more ways to identify the nature of links. But before we dive into the new attributes, let’s first refresh our memory about nofollow and why it’s important.

Rel=”Nofollow” and Why It Matters

Webmasters and marketers are advised to use rel=”nofollow” when they want to link to a page but don’t want to alert Google to an endorsement that includes passing the ranking credit to another page.

In 2005, Google would not count any link with the nofollow tag as a signal for use within the search algorithms. That’s not the case today.

All link attributes, whether nofollow, sponsored, or ugc are now treated as hints how about which links to exclude or consider within the search engines results pages. The Google algorithms will use these hints alongside other signals to better understand how to appropriately analyze and use the links within their systems.

Rel=”Sponsored”

Google advises people to use the rel=”sponsored” attributes on links that were created as part of advertising, sponsorships, or any kind of compensation agreement. This link attribute is especially important for bloggers and influencers who are regularly participating in marketing campaign.

Rel=”UGC”

UGC stands for user-generated content. Tag links within user-generated content, such as those in comments and forum posts with this link attribute.

Why Did Google Make the Change?

In the past, the nofollow attribute meant that Google was completely ignoring the link. Google has since determined that links contain valuable information that can help them improve search. This includes how the words within the links describe the content they point to. Google has decided that by looking at all the links they run into, they can improve their understanding of unnatural linking patterns. Using the hint model, Google doesn’t lose the important information but still allows webmasters inside owners to indicate that certain links shouldn’t be given the weight of a first-party endorsement.

Do You Need to Change Current Nofollow Links?

If you are currently relying on nofollow as a way to block sponsored links or to let Google know that you do not endorse a page you link to, Google will continue to support that. You do not have to change any of the nofollow links you already have.

If you are using nofollow for ads or sponsored links, you can continue to use this method to flag links and avoid possible link penalties. There is no need to change any of your existing links. If you are using a system that automatically includes the nofollow attribute on new links, you can continue to do this. However, it’s a good idea to switch to see sponsored attribute when or if it is convenient for you.

It’s important to tag ads or sponsored links to be sure you avoid possible link scheme penalties. Google would rather you use the sponsored link attribute rather than nofollow, but either is fine. They will be treated as the same for this purpose.

If you’re afraid of using the wrong attribute on a link, there’s no wrong attribute except in terms of sponsored links. If you tag a UGC link or non-advertising link as a sponsored link, Google will see the hints, but there wouldn’t be much, if any, impact. At most, Google may not count the link as credit for another page, and in that situation, it’s not different than the current approach many UGC and non-ad links that are already nofollow.

That said, any link clearly sponsored or an ad should use either the nofollow or the sponsored attribute. Google would rather you use sponsored, but will still support nofollow.

Can You Use Multiple Attributes on a Single Link?

Yes, you can use more than one attribute on a single link. This is most useful for sponsored links that are also user-generated content. For instance, you can use “rel=sponsored UGC” to indicate that a link came from user-generated content that’s sponsored. You can also use the nofollow attribute with the others to ensure everything remains backward compatibility with services that don’t support the new link attributes.

These two new attributes went into effect on September 10th, the date of the official announcement on the Google Webmaster’s Blog. This allows them time to incorporate the attributes for ranking purpose. But, in terms of crawling and indexing, nofollow won’t convert to a hint until March 1, 2020.

When this happens, if you’re using a nofollow attribute to block pages from being indexed, which Google never recommended, you’ll need to use an alternative method to block URLs from Google such as:

  • Meta tags
  • Password protecting the web server files
  • Using txt

If you’re concerned about the new approach encouraging link spam, the truth is a lot of websites that allow third-party contributions to their sites are using other moderation tools you can integrate into many blogging platforms. Using UGC and nofollow attributes will continue to be a deterrent.

For the majority, moving to a hint model means there will not be a change in how Google treats those links. Google will generally treat them the same as they’ve done before by ignoring them for ranking purpose. The hint model will allow them to assess how to use links just as they’ve always done, and how they’ve acted with no attributes are used.

It’s a good idea to use the new attributes because it will help Google better understand process links for web analysis. If people apply the attributes to links to your content, this can improve Google’s understanding of your content.

Categories
SEO

Google’s Stance on No-Follow Outbound Links

Google’s stance on no-follow outbound links is clear and concise. Google’s updated guidance on no-follow outbound links indicates a shift in how these links are interpreted. While originally used to combat spam and unendorsed content, no-follow links are now treated as hints rather than directives by Google’s algorithms. This change reflects Google’s advanced understanding of link context, impacting SEO strategies and link-building practices.

Many blogs and websites use no-follow links when writing about outside sources. It’s been common practice to do so among publishers, as it allows them to remain impartial and “safe” from showing preference for one source over another. This practice has long been believed to be the most acceptable way to avoid being seen as showing preferential treatment or providing “link juice” to sites with whom publishers may have a relationship. Another common belief is that sites will be dinged in Google rankings if they use do-follow links. Recently, though, comments from Google’s own John Mueller have made it seem that past thinking may be incorrect. Let’s take a look at this new information.

About No-Follow Outbound Links

First, let’s examine what no-follow links are. No-follow outbound links are ones with a rel = “nofollow” HTML tag used for them. This particular tag lets search engines know they should ignore or bypass that link. It’s long been thought that these links don’t affect search rankings because they don’t pass PageRank.

No-Follow Vs. Do-Follow Links

This may cause you to wonder what the difference is between no-follow and do-follow links, along with why they might even matter. Readers can’t tell a difference between the two tags when browsing a site. A no-follow link can be clicked on, copied and pasted like any other link and will perform in the same way. Common thought, however, was that do-follow links help increase search engine rankings, while no-follow links do not.

Only do-follow outbound links count in Google’s algorithm. No-follow links don’t count; they don’t pass  PageRank. If the link doesn’t affect PageRank, it won’t contribute to raising rankings in Google’s search engine algorithm. The long-standing rule in link building has been to try to obtain do-follow links as frequently as possible across the web. In an attempt to seem impartial, many publishers such as bloggers or news sites often choose to use no-follow links. They don’t want to appear to be giving favor to any outside sources, particularly in cases where sponsorship or payment for service may be involved.

Why No-Follow Links Were Created

The original creator of no-follow links is Google, and the purpose was to cut down on blog comment spam. You see, spammers jumped on the bandwagon when they saw the ever-increasing popularity of blogs. They would often leave unrelated comments on blog posts with a link to their site with the intention of gaining link juice from the action. These spammers were soon starting to rank highly, pushing legitimate sites with useful content aside in the rankings. So, in 2005, Google made the no-follow tag part of their algorithm. Other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo also started using the practice.

No-Follow and Paid Links

Google Webmaster Guidelines do state that all paid links should be no-follow. They don’t want advertisements to receive increased PageRank. This makes sense, as paid content isn’t occurring naturally. Therefore, it shouldn’t be rewarded with higher rankings. Google wants backlinks to be earned, not paid for. If Google catches paid advertisements or other content with links that are do-follow, they’re apt to penalize those sites. Any attempt to manipulate PageRank is considered to be a link scheme.

Google’s New Stance

In a recent Google Webmaster Central hangout, Google’s John Mueller made some statements indicating that no-follow links may not be beneficial or necessary for some sites to use. Specifically, he was talking about sites that use all no-follow links, not just the ones that choose no-follow for paid content.

The question that prompted Mueller’s response was this:

“What do you think about the practice of some big publishers tagging all outgoing links with rel=nofollow?

From what I know, the reasoning behind this is that with follow links you would leak link juice and then rank worse.”

In his response, Mueller indicated that this belief is “definitely wrong.” He said that using no-follow on all outgoing links could even cause problems for a site, as these links appeared by Google to be unnatural.

Here’s what he had to say:

“So that’s definitely wrong. It’s definitely not the case that if you use normal links on your website that you would rank any worse than if you put no-follow on all outgoing links.

I suspect it’s even, on the contrary, that if you have normal linking on your page then you would probably rank a little bit better over time — essentially because we can see that you’re part of the normal web ecosystem.

So it’s definitely not the case that you have any kind of ranking advantage by marking all outgoing links as no-follow.”

Why Sites Use No-Follow for All Outbound Links

In additional remarks, Mueller made note of the fact that some sites use no-follow tags on all of their outbound links. He believes they do this to err on the side of caution because they’re not sure who to vouch for. Therefore, they decide to use no-follow for everything in an attempt to remain impartial. However, it’s Mueller’s belief that this is not the way to go. By doing so, it seems to indicate these publishers don’t stand behind what they write.

He states:

“I understand not knowing which links you can trust. But essentially, if you’re a news publisher, you should trust what you’re writing about.

Or you should be able to understand which part of the content that you write about is actual content that you want to have indexed — that you want to stand for.

If these are things that you want to stand for, then make sure you have normal links on there.”

As you can see, Google’s John Mueller seems quite clear in the fact that news sites and other publishers may want to discontinue the practice of using no-follow outbound links everything in the future. There doesn’t seem to be a benefit to doing so, and it could actually hurt their rankings. That’s not to say that some links, such as paid advertising, shouldn’t be attributed as no-follow. Use your best judgment when making such determinations.

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