In the world of a fast-paced and ever-evolving digital landscape, SEO plays a pivotal role in business success.
And, in the realm of Search Engine Optimization, no other strategy matches the power of strategic use of inbound links, also referred to as backlinks.
The two of the top three ranking factors stated by Google to determine a website's ranking and domain authority are inbound links and quality content. The inbound links account for nearly 50 percent of the website's ranking in search engines.
As surprising as it may sound, over 90 percent of web pages on the internet get almost ZERO organic traffic.
It's easy for a website to get buried deep beneath the debris of Google's search engine pages, but that can be changed with a robust and strategic inbound link-building strategy.
It is what eventually leads to higher Google ranking, increased organic traffic, more leads, and higher conversions.
In this blog, we will dive deep into the world of inbound linking, understanding various types of links, and their importance before discussing strategies to achieve higher ranking and drive more organic traffic.
What is an Inbound Link?
Inbound links are links on other websites that point back to yours. It is also the reason why they're often called 'Backlinks' as they redirect users back to your website.
The links on your website that direct to other websites are called outbound links or external links.
Types of Links
There are two different ways one website is linked to the other depending on the nature of the link.
Technically speaking, there are primarily two types of links –
- Do-follow Links
- No-follow Links
Both these types of links perform the same function of linking the origin site to the destination site. The difference in these links lies in what these links tell the search engines.
What is a Dofollow Link?
Dofollow links are good for SEO as they help pass PageRank signals, also commonly referred to as "Link Juice," to the destination site.
Having a substantial amount of Do-follow links from authority sites can help increase the website's Domain Authority, helping the website establish itself as an authoritative and trustworthy source of information in its niche.
It is also helpful in ranking higher in search engines for targeted keywords.
Links are dofollow by default, so there's no need to add a "rel=dofollow' attribute to links when linking to a website.
What are Nofollow Links?
Links that have the "rel=nofollow' HTML attribute applied are no-follow links.
It tells search engines not to pass PageRank signals to the destination website.
In essence, the nofollow HTML attribute tells search engines not to pay any attention to that link.
Google doesn't bother to crawl most of the SEO nofollow links. (Most being the keyword here but more on that later!)
For an average user, both do follow and no follow links look the same.
What does no-follow mean?
It is simply asking search engines not to follow the link to its destination website.
The origin website often links to websites that might look spammy or fishy to the search engines but do offer some value to the users. It is one of the few reasons nofollow links are often used.
However, it's important to remember that no-follow links don't typically impact search engine rankings of either the origin or the destination websites.
What is an example of a Nofollow Link?
Let us look at an example of no follow link for further clarity –
Here, the first link is a do-follow link, while the second link with a "nofollow" attribute is a no follow link.
For an average user, both the links are identical and do the same thing of linking one site to the other.
The only difference between the no-follow and dofollow links is from the search engine optimization perspective.
Let us go through some examples of when no-follow links are used –
- Paid or Sponsored Links
- When linking to blog comments, forum posts, or any other user-generated content sections.
- When linking to low-quality websites.
- When linking to websites you don't want to endorse.
- Links in Press Releases
- Links from Widgets.
- Social media links, such as in YouTube Descriptions or Facebook Posts.
What does a Nofollow Link do?
As mentioned earlier in the blog, no-follow links link one site to the other website like any other type of link.
Nofollow link meaning is it tells search engines not to follow them or pass along authority or PageRank signals to the destination site.
It is the reason it is not as useful or beneficial from the SEO point of view, but it does offer some benefits, including –
Boost Brand Awareness
Your brand gets more exposure when other websites link follow to your website. It not only enhances online visibility but helps drive organic traffic to your website, helping you reach a wider audience.
Build Relationships with Website Owners
When you embed links to other websites from your website, it shows other websites that you're interested in their content and see them as a trustworthy and authoritative source of information.
It opens doors to possibilities of future collaboration with other website owners.
Boost Your Site's Reputation
With more and more websites linking back to your website, it tells search engines that your website is a trustworthy and authoritative source of information that's valuable to the users, even if the links have a "nofollow" attribute. This is because Google has hinted towards using link no follow for discovering content.
It helps boost your website's reputation, which usually translates into higher search engine rankings.
Social Signals
No-follow links on social media platforms can help drive engagement and organic traffic to your website.
So, while no follow links may not directly contribute to higher search engine rankings, it does help with enhancing your brand exposure, driving traffic, and setting the stage for higher rankings.
User Experience
Now, you may be wondering how the no-follow links can enhance user experience, but it does.
When users engage with content on your website and find valuable links that answer their questions and help them find what they're looking for, it makes a huge difference to your site's SEO value.
It drastically improves the quality of your web pages, lowers bounce rates, increases dwell time, and boosts user experience.
Are Nofollow Links Bad for SEO?
This is a much-debated question in the world of SEO – What does nofollow mean, and is it bad for SEO?
Well, like for most things in SEO, the answer isn't a simple Yes or No!
Many SEO gurus claim that no-follow links do not help with SEO at all, while many others feel they're less powerful than dofollow links, but they do have their uses.
The real answer lies between these two extremes.
Google says – "In general, we don't follow no follow links."
This implies that Google does follow no-follow links in certain cases.
Many SEO case studies conducted by the big names in the SEO industry, including Legiit, Ahrefs, etc, have found no follow links to help web pages index faster while boosting their rankings substantially.
In many cases, the benefits reaped from no follow links looked similar to what dofollow links offer. Even if these instances are rare, they can't be ignored.
Is it Good to Have No Follow Links?
Yes, as discussed above, no follow links may not be as powerful as dofollow links but can help boost brand awareness, drive organic referral traffic, boost the site's reputation, and help build relationships with other website owners in due course.
One of the main purposes of having no follow links is it helps diversify your link profile. SEO needs to have a balanced link profile as you don't want only dofollow links on your website.
Why?
Because having only dofollow inks is deciphered as unnatural by search engines and, in many cases, may even attract penalties.
So, while link no follow cannot impact your search engine rankings directly, using them is an integral part of a comprehensive SEO strategy. Make sure to use them only when necessary in a balanced manner.
Are Nofollow Links a Google Ranking Factor?
No follow links has had a history of its own since the time Google first introduced it in 2005 in partnership with Yahoo and MSN Search.
The initiative was mainly to combat the overwhelming culture of link spam across the internet to manipulate search results.
The blog comment links, paid links, and other unnatural links suddenly lost all their value as webmasters started discouraging link spam after the Google update.
It led to the conclusion that no follow links aren't useful. This understanding prevailed largely until 2020 when Google updated the guidelines for the usage of the Nofollow tag.
On March 1, 2020, Google announced No follow links will become a hint for crawling, indexing, and discovery purposes.
However, the situation revolving around No follow links has been on status quo since then, convincing us enough to say with confidence that Nofollow links aren't a Google Ranking Factor, even with all its use cases.
So, while no-follow links are an inseparable part of a robust digital marketing strategy, there is no available evidence to support that they're a Google Ranking Factor.
Now, having discussed no follow link meaning and inbound links in general, let us discuss inbound linking strategies to drive organic traffic.
Powerful Link-Building Strategies For Higher Organic Traffic
You can only benefit from your website if it ranks high in search engine results and drives targeted organic traffic.
If not, your website has lesser value than a paperweight. #facts
So, without further ado, let's get started with inbound link-building strategies that get you on top of search engine results.
Begin with Keyword Research
As basic as it may sound, you need to focus on keyword research for others to find and link to your content. There are numerous keyword research tools you can use for keyword research and analysis.
Always remember, while it's okay to focus on high-volume and hard-to-rank keywords, it's more beneficial to focus on long-tail, low-volume keywords to rank higher, faster.
This will increase the chances of gaining backlinks from articles on other websites covering similar topics but may be going as in-depth as you.
Use Keyword-Rich Anchor Text
Once you've found a backlink opportunity for your website, it's important to use keywords you're targeting in the anchor text. (Don't overdo it though!)
It is important to build topical relevancy for your website, eventually leading to a higher ranking in the Google search results.
This is why it's important to look for inbound links from websites that are topically relevant and related to your niche. Don't just look for high-quality backlinks from authority websites; look for quality links on websites that are related to your industry/niche.
Relevancy Matters
Elaborating on the last point further, there are two primary factors you need to focus on when weighing the relevancy of a website you're gaining backlinks from.
The first factor is the topical relevancy, and the second is the Domain Authority (DA) of the website. The sites that link with you must be related to the topic/content/niche of your website.
If you have an electronic gadgets website, there's no point in having a link from an attorney's website. Similarly, you want to get inbound links, be it dofollow or no follow links, from websites with high Domain Authority.
If you can get inbound links that are do-follow from high DA websites, it passes link authority to your website. Even if the inbound link that's referring to your domain is attributed with no follow tag, it will at least help with passing referral organic traffic to your website.
Create Virtual Assets – Infographics, Videos, etc.
One of the popular ways these days to gain traffic and link-building opportunities is by creating videos, infographics, slideshow presentations, and slider image posts/threads.
Creating catchy visual assets with your links embedded and sharing them on social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Pinterest, and LinkedIn can be tremendously helpful in driving organic traffic to your website.
Why?
Because people like sharing visual assets in the world of social media. It will also help your brand get more exposure and reach a broader audience. You can create explainer videos, tutorial videos, statistics-based infographics, and more, depending on what your audience is looking for.
The attention span of the users online is just a few seconds, so make sure the visual content you create is concise, eye-catchy, and valuable at the same time. In other words, create share-worthy content.
Aim for attention, and you'll get traction!
Have an Active Blog
One of the most effective tried-and-tested ways to generate inbound links is to maintain an active blog where useful content is regularly published.
Creating content that's related to your industry/niche and useful for the readers is a great way to get natural links from other websites.
It leads to many people linking back to your website.
Also, a good portion of your audience shares your content on social media, triggering a wave of your content being shared online naturally. Google loves such websites because it is the indicator of your website having valuable content that users love.
Leverage Guest Blogging
One other effective way to get inbound links from other websites is through guest blogging. All you need to do is find websites that are related to your niche and publish content regularly. Make a list of these websites and contact their owner/administrator with your article ideas.
Some of them will answer, some of them may not, and many may deny. Don't be discouraged because this is an ongoing process, and you need to consistently look for guest blogging opportunities online.
Once you've partnered with websites that have Okayed your article idea, go ahead and write the finest copy you've ever written and wait for it to publish. They will publish your content, give you credit as the author of the article, and usually allow two backlinks per guest post.
Great content always gets traction online, especially when it's published on an already well-established, high-DA website.
You'll notice organic traffic trickling in from that content piece, and many a time, some guest blogs can turn around the traffic statistics of websites for good.
Host Giveaways & Competitions
Hosting competitions and giveaways for your audience is a great way to grab users' attention.
Give people generous gifts or incentives for sharing your links on their social media handles. This will help you increase your audience outreach efforts and gain new links as well as followers.
It is a great way to diversify your link profile while inflating it organically.
Influencer Marketing
Another great way to boost your outreach and drive more traffic to your website through the power of link-building is influencer marketing. It has become a rage these days in the content marketing world, and rightly so.
Influencer marketing helps you reach new audiences cost-effectively while gaining inbound links from websites, blogs, and social media accounts of influencers with thousands and potentially millions of followers.
Whether these inbound links come from social media accounts, from a post written by an influencer, or any other way, influencer marketing is a great way to establish yourself as a brand in a competitive world while gaining useful links (both do follow and no follow links) from active channels.
Final Thoughts
Having a robust and effective inbound link-building strategy is crucial for your SEO efforts to achieve the desired results.
However, designing and implementing an effective link-building strategy starts with understanding what is nofollow links, the importance of do-follow links, how to get links naturally, and other elements that cumulatively help your website drive the organic traffic it deserves.
It is important to remember here that while inbound links are important, focusing on the quality of links is even more important.
Don't focus on the numbers but rather on getting quality backlinks from high-authority websites that are topically relevant, and you'll see a noticeable and positive difference in your website's metrics.
In the end, it's all about staying committed to the link-building process while patiently watching your rank soar high on SERPs.
Check out our other blogs on link-building on Legiit Blog for a more in-depth understanding of the link-building realm!
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