No-Follow Web Links-When is Search Engine Rank not the only Reason!
It's not a secret that "No-Follow" and "Do-Follow links can affect the Search Engine Rank of a web page or blog, but are there times when Page Rank is not the determining factor in an Online Marketing plan?
How Do You Know if Your Links are going to be "No-Follow" on any given Website?
Knowing whether or not your links are Follow or not can be very important when making decisions to expand your business in a certain direction. Take for example HubPages. A perfect site to expand your marketing message by creating lens's about your expertise, business, passions or hobbies. Like any other part of your marketing plan, Squidoo can be used to drive targeted traffic to your site, blog, lead capture pages or other material, but most don't realize that Squidoo's content is mostly made up of "Do-Follow" web links. This gives you a great venue, not only to share your message and further the branding process, but to take full advantage of the positive Search Engine Rank capabilities with "Do-Follow" web links.
Squidoo is just one of many sites that a marketer can take advantage of positive link following to share their message, but if you use sites like Facebook and Twitter, your "Link Love", as some call it, is not so positive. Many social networking sites, like these two, use the "No-Follow" rule, but how do you know which is which?
If you use the Free web browser, Mozilla Firefox, you can install an extension that allows you to see if a website uses "No-Follow" or "Do-Follow" links. If you only use Internet Explorer, you might be missing some excellent benefits that Mozilla offers Internet Marketers including the extension Mozilla Search Results. This extension allows you to see many things about a site you visit, including the following of links and how they are structured.
Why would your Internet Marketing Strategy need to include Site's that use "No-Follow" Links?
I recently read a post by a prominent Internet Marketer who talked about these two link following scenarios and "Why you Shouldn't use any Marketing of Links unless they were Do-Follow." I understand the relation to Search Engine Rank, but if you cut out all the avenues and connections that can be made, soley on the reason that "No-Follow" links might hurt you, will you miss the chance for more targeted traffic?
One area that was discussed in detail from this prominent marketer referred to "Leaving Comments on Blogs" and how he only leaves comments when the site allows "Do-Follow" links. But what if that site is appealing to you? What if the post is compelling and you want to share that with the author? More importantly, what if you want to connect with that author and their readers?
Attracting targeted visitors requires a level of connection with people. When you provide value in your message, whether it is a HubPage, Squidoo Lens, Blog Post, Ezine Article or Twitter Tweet, people recognize it and will want more. Commenting on a person's Blog is no different. Providing a valuable note by letting the author know they did a great job, or interjecting a new thought, or even sharing a similar experience that you related with, shows that author and their readers what you are all about. When you leave your link, it gives those people a way to find YOU. Should it matter if it is "No-Follow" or not?
Internet Marketing is about blending what you offer across many fronts. Leave one piece of the puzzle out and you might miss that next sale, Opt-In Lead, Business partner, or life long friend. By focusing your efforts on Attracting your visitors through value instead of only worrying about Page Rank, might just move your site or blog to the top of the Search engines naturally.
To Your Success,
Mike Witt
Mike Witt
Reader Comments (34)
Just when you think page rank and SEO means everything.
Another great post filled with information.
Keep It Up!
Hi Mitch,
Thank you for your great comment, very much appreciated. Page Rank and SEO are very important to a person's overall plan, I know what you meant :-), but sometimes I think folks go a little overboard and focus on just those two things and miss the connections that can be made by interacting with people.
Commenting on a blog should be a natural thing, especially when the content is valued. Worrying about Follow links to me is second to connecting with that author and their readers. That's where true attraction comes from.
Thanks Mitch, great to see you again,
Mike Witt
I think that like most things, it's all about balance. Use do-follow when appropriate. I wouldn't not comment on a site just because it was no follow. I think that view is rigid and non-productive
Cheers!
George
Hi George,
Thank you for the comment, you are exactly right, it is all about balance. Sometimes folks walk down a road that only has one entrance and one exit. Personally, I like my road to have as many fork as possible.
Thanks for sharing your comment, nice to meet you,
Mike Witt
Good information Mike
No follow, Do follow I never did pay much attention to it. As you say, I need to reach all kinds of people. The formula I learned at Site Build It, has worked great for me. I just wrote a new hub about it today. Thanks for the toolbar extension information it will come in handy
Luv your stuff
Grant logan
Grant, thank you for the great comment, I appreciate that very much. Reaching your target market is the key and search engine rank is extremely important, but not if it leaves out potential connections.
Grant, I love your stuff as well, you have inspired me many times. Thanks for stopping by.
Mike Witt
Hi, thanks for useful tips. I'm not into SEO but your article does make a good reading for not so IT savvy guy like me. Keep up the good works.
Hi Ismail,
Thank you for your comment I appreciate that a lot. SEO is not all that Techy, there are some basic fundamentals that a person should know, but anyone can learn those, just need the right teacher :-).
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts, nice to meet you,
Mike Witt
Google has cleaved the bloggers with the nofollow-tag.
Sure, when my comment has the nofollow the traffic is good for my site. But when the traffic goes away, there is nothing left and the search engine rank has not increase.
If the same blogger comes to my blog, he gets the traffic and the link jiuce, also both. I think that is better ;-)
Sorry about my bad english, I'm still learning.
I pay no attention to "do-follow" "no-follow" when I am deciding whether or not to comment on a blog post. If the post is interesting, or if I have some insight to share then I post a comment. If I don't feel I have much to add to the conversation, I don't comment. Simple as that in my world.
Matt
Wow, I never paid attention to the do/no follow rules before. While it won't change my blog commenting behavior, I'll definitely look into sites like Squidoo and see if I can build my brand and get traffic over there.
Thanks for a very informative article!
~ Diana
http://www.ustandout.com
Hi trendscout,
Thank you for your comment, very much appreciated and nice to meet you. My hopes for this post is to share with people that it isn't all about Search Engine Rank and that a solid marketing plan requires balance and blend.
Commenting shouldn't always be about back links, it's more important to connect with people and visitors, at least if you want highly targeted traffic. Search Engine Rank is important, just not at the expense of providing value and connection with people.
Thanks again,
Mike Witt
Hi Matt,
Thank you also for taking the time to comment and share your insight. I agree with you, that is the kind of commenting that works.
Thanks again, nice to meet you as well,
Mike Witt
Hi Diana,
Great comment, thank you for taking the time to share it. Yes, sites like Squidoo and HubPages are great sites to share your expertise and drive targeted traffic to your other content, plus the "Link Love" is on your side, so it's a win win situation.
Nice to meet you,
Mike Witt
Hi Mike,
Great post. I agree with your view regarding Do follow and No follow links. With the whole web 2.0 revolution exploding right before our eyes, the opportunity to extend your brand and market reach are more abundant than ever before.
To post a comment to a blog, lens or hub based on whether they have Do follow or No follow links, is the equivalent of painting yourself into a corner in terms of communication with other marketers and consumers.
The long and short of it is: Search engines don't buy products, people do.
Thanks for sharing such great content,
Cheers,
Fernando
Hi Fernando,
Excellent comment, I couldn't have said it better myself. You pretty much summed up the point of my post, people are what drive our business, not the products or services, those are the end result.
Thank you for sharing your insight, I appreciate that very much, nice to meet you,
Mike Witt
Hi-
I use a firefox plugin called NoDoFollow. It's pretty nice.
It will highlight links in blue if they are do-follow and in red if they are no-follow.
I don't hold back comments from sites that don't follow, but I do appreciate those sites that choose to link back.
Hi Real Estate Investor,
Thank you for the great comment and the link to the FireFox Ad-On, I will definately check that out and hopefully my visitors will as well :-).
I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment, nice to meet you,
Mike Witt
Excellent points! I would have to agree that it is all about balance.
Hi Online Handyman,
Thank you for the great comment, I appreciate that a lot. Balance is something that is hard to control if you don't work on it constantly. It is easy to spend your time with things that don't bring Return on Investment, but if your time is balanced evenly, better productivity is always the end result.
Thanks again for your comment, great to see a return visitor :-)
Mike Witt