Member Avatar for safestudent

Hello,

I have been trying to build my link popularity by gaining links from blogs, articles, directories etc.

I recently heard something about no follow links, where google and yahoo etc don't count these links towards your link popularity. Is this the case for most fourums and sites such as this one?

Thanks alot for any help regarding this,

Mike

Edited by happygeek because: spam magnet thread closed
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A short, up-to-date note to add to this older thread: search engines no longer treat a rel="nofollow" link as an absolute “no value” stamp the way they did in 2010. In September 2019 Google introduced rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc" and said those attributes (plus nofollow) are treated as hints for ranking; in March 2020 the nofollow change was extended to crawling/indexing as a hint as well. That means forum/comments links tagged nofollow or ugc may still be seen, discovered, or used as signals—although untagged editorial links remain the clearest way to pass authority. (developers.google.com)

The practical takeaway complements earlier replies from , and : do not dismiss nofollow links. Nofollow/UGC/sponsored links can drive referral traffic, brand exposure, and sometimes lead to natural editorial links that do pass authority. Case studies and analyses show sites with many nofollow mentions can still enjoy improved visibility when the mentions attract real users or earned citations. Still, actively buying “dofollow” links or participating in link schemes is risky—quality, relevance and a natural mix of link types are what matter most. (searchenginejournal.com)

Quick checks and workflow for forum links (follow these instead of guessing): inspect page source or open DevTools and run a quick selector to list links with rel values:

[...document.querySelectorAll('a[rel~="nofollow"], a[rel~="ugc"], a[rel~="sponsored"]')]
  .forEach(a => console.log(a.href, '->', a.rel));

Or from the command line: curl -s 'https://example.com/thread' | grep -i 'rel='. For backlink auditing, use the Search Console Links report to see Google-discovered links and supplement that with third-party crawlers (Ahrefs, SEMrush, etc.) for broader coverage. ()

Best practices summary: mark paid placements with rel="sponsored", mark user-generated links with rel="ugc" (or nofollow if needed), do not rely on nofollow to block indexing (use robots/meta directives instead), and avoid manipulative link schemes—monitor backlink patterns and focus on earning relevant editorial links. (developers.google.com)

Recommended Answers

All 13 Replies

Member Avatar for CoffeeCupBreak

You have to verify links, no forum will tell you if he is nofollow or not ;) Just check the source code and if you find rel="nofollow" after links (in <a href> tags) it means that the forum is a no follow. Yes, they are not counted as backlinks and neither in link popularity counters. Many forums are dofollow, and making your link in your signature can make you earn many visits if it's a nofollow forum :)

Edited by canadafred because: removed fake signature
Member Avatar for safestudent

Thats great, thanks alot!

Mike

Member Avatar for SCarlisle

I have heard that it is OK to have a few no follow links. I guess you don't want all follow links. I'm not sure why.

Member Avatar for jay 11

I have heard that it is OK to have a few no follow links. I guess you don't want all follow links. I'm not sure why.

well because a link is a link is a link. :) Link citations from relevant resources have better potential for driving qualified traffic to your website regardless of nofollow attributes.

Member Avatar for jennypitts

well because a link is a link is a link. :) Link citations from relevant resources have better potential for driving qualified traffic to your website regardless of nofollow attributes.

I could not agree more!!! I think including some NoFollow link sources can bring in an incredible amount of traffic, especially if that site or forum itself has a lot of traffic. In addition it looks a lot more natural than just concentrating on DoFollow sites.

Member Avatar for almostbob

I find bots tend to ignore same-domain nofollow links
but cross-domain links get logged and spidered, a link is a link

Member Avatar for quicktpgo

Yes, nowadays most blogs and forums are using no follow tags. However, there are still some do follow authority sites you can find.

Here are just a few:


http://chillimovies.blogspot.com/
http://chillimusic.blogspot.com/
http://chillitechnology.blogspot.com/
http://www.scratch99.com/
http://blog.vinceliu.com/

http://www.ulove-tech.com/
http://www.themadhat.com/
Edited by jay 11 because: wrapped CODE tags around the links ;)
Member Avatar for Mark121

Hi,
No follow link are not count in back links by google but it can be useful for increased website traffic but you should try getting do follow back links for your site.

Member Avatar for NickleHantage

NOFOLLOW links will not carry the value of the backlink however, that is still being counted as a vote to your site

Member Avatar for mustufa_1

Suggest me some high page rank dofollow blog.

Edited by mustufa_1 because: mistake
Member Avatar for Kelly Burby

Well, excatly nofollows forums doesn't pass link juice and as Google has started pennalizing sites, most of the forums and blog owner have changed to no follow.

Member Avatar for James_28

Nice info thanks.

Member Avatar for Rakesh456

Try to comment on do follow blogs,articles,forums as no follow links don't allow you to pass their link juice.

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