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Don't Be Scared of a NO FOLLOW Tag - Your Voice is Still Being Heard!

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Services for Real Estate Pros with Personal SEO - Website SEO and Real Estate Marketing

no follow signDon't be scared of a NO FOLLOW Tag -Your Voice is Still Being Heard

This blog was inspired by the Radio Broadcast of Katerina Gasset today on Bob's AR BlogRadio. She threw in a quick comment on no-follow tags and it prompted me to blog about this.

Maybe you've heard of no-follow tags and have developed your own opinion, but in case you haven't, a no-follow tag can be entered into the code of the link URL of any link on a site telling the search engine spider or bot not to follow the link to that site. It will look something like this in the code: 

<a href=www.website.com" rel="nofollow">

Whenever a search engine crawler comes across one of these, it will not leave the page it's crawling and go search that site. It will stay on the page and continue scrolling down the site. But just because it didn't follow it doesn't mean it didn't SEE it. 

There are many reasons to use a no-follow tag and most are used within the comments of blogs as in ActiveRain, WordPress sites, etc.. it's original purpose was to deter spammers that want to post a bunch of garbage on your post to get the Google Juice. Most blogs, at least Wordpress blogs, have an approval clearance by the author before the comment is live. This stops much of that spamming at the source. 

But other sites such as Wikipedia use no-follow tags for external links (meaning not linked within Wikipedia)  for the same reason. Because Wikipedia is open source for all to edit and create, having any joe blow write whatever they want for the sake of a back link was not conducive to the site's purpose.

So now you are probably thinking that all those comments you have been leaving are worthless for your SEO Google Juice. But don't worry. You're writing for humans, remember? And we read, click, link and follow any kind of link or anchor text if we feel it's beneficial to us.

Ultimately, people are going to give you business, not search engines. spammer

A no-follow link is still counted as a back link although not with as much value as one that doesn't carry the tag. Of course in a perfect world, there'd be no spammers but only genuine human beings honestly giving and receiving links out of relevant content and general association.  

There are blogs, articles and content about how no-follow tags suck, how they are not that bad and how to avoid them altogether. The biggest "take away" you can get from this post is that, yes, your comments are not allowing the search engines to follow the link back to your site or your blog BUT clients, associates, potential friends and customers all CAN. Link back to your site whenever possible in your posts, your signature, your profiles and link side panels. But don't stress over the no-follow tag. NEVER EVER EVER buy back links but take the time and effort to build them up one at a time. You will get rewarded for it.

Related Blogs to Linking:

 

PS- This is my 100th Blog post!! WHOODIFREAKINDO!! :)

 

SIDE NOTE - In case you miss it in the comments... Katerina Posts some great NEWBIE INFO:

"And to make it clear to newbies- when you comment on AR blogs, the content of that comment is being indexed and you are getting google juice for that, also, the link in your signature is a link back to your profile from that person's blog- that is a good link! That is what created mega google juice. But if you try to spam AR and add a link to your site within the body of your comment, that is a no follow. But you should not do it because it is against the rules on AR."

Coach Katerina

Posted by

Personal SEO Tim and Tammy Emineth

Personal SEO Facebook Page Personal SEO Instagram Page Tammy Emineth Pinterest Page Personal SEO Linkedin Page Linkedin Page

 

Tim and Tammy Emineth have owned Personal SEO since 2004. We focus on SEO first whether it's blogging, images, website design, IDX solutions and calls to action. We operate with a Storybrand philosophy to encourage more traffic to your site, more eyes on your content and more leads to your business. Call us or email us for a free website audit.

Tim: 425-443-8372  Tammy: 425-344-0677

Comments(85)

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Wayne B. Pruner
Oregon First - Tigard, OR
Tigard Oregon Homes for Sale, Realtor, GRI

Thanks for the no follow clarification. What a machine, 100 posts!

Jan 30, 2011 06:16 AM
Evelyn Kennedy
Alain Pinel Realtors - Alameda, CA
Alameda, Real Estate, Alameda, CA

Tammy:

Thanks for the explanation of No Follow Tags. 

Jan 30, 2011 08:04 AM
Evelyn Kennedy
Alain Pinel Realtors - Alameda, CA
Alameda, Real Estate, Alameda, CA
Tammy: Sorry for the multiple posts. My computer went crazy.
Jan 30, 2011 08:07 AM
Tammy Emineth
Personal SEO - Website SEO and Real Estate Marketing - Frenchtown, MT
Content Marketer, SEO Teacher, Website Fixer

Thanks Wayne!! Appreciate you stopping by!

~T

Jan 30, 2011 08:08 AM
Tammy Emineth
Personal SEO - Website SEO and Real Estate Marketing - Frenchtown, MT
Content Marketer, SEO Teacher, Website Fixer

HA Evelyn... that was funny... BOOM! 9 emails all at the same time! WHOA!! Thanks for fixing it up here.. I really appreciate your comments!! :)

~T

Jan 30, 2011 08:09 AM
Jason Crouch
Austin Texas Homes, LLC - Austin, TX
Broker - Austin Texas Real Estate (512-796-7653)

Tammy - Just noticed your response to my initial comment.  I wasn't trying to imply that your post wasn't valuable or different from mine.  I just thought mine was related and possibly helpful.  :)  Have a great Sunday!

Jan 30, 2011 08:35 AM
Tammy Emineth
Personal SEO - Website SEO and Real Estate Marketing - Frenchtown, MT
Content Marketer, SEO Teacher, Website Fixer

NOt at all Jason!! :) I appreciate all the feedback.. And that is a GREAT post.. very valuable... Whatever we can all share to make the process easy and less confusing!!! YOU TOO :)

~T

Jan 30, 2011 08:59 AM
Patricia Aulson
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOME SERVICES Verani Realty NH Real Estate - Exeter, NH
Realtor - Portsmouth NH Homes-Hampton NH Homes

Thanks for the post today. 

Patricia/SEacoast NH & ME

Jan 30, 2011 01:02 PM
Patricia Aulson
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOME SERVICES Verani Realty NH Real Estate - Exeter, NH
Realtor - Portsmouth NH Homes-Hampton NH Homes

Thanks for the informative post today.

 

Patricia/Seacoast NH & ME

Jan 30, 2011 01:04 PM
Kate Elim
Dockside Realty - Spotsylvania, VA
Realtor 540-226-1964, Selling Homes & Land a

Hi Tammy...Makes me feel a bit better because I tend to not think enough about SEO when writing.  I do know I should.

Thank you for explaining no follow tags in an understandable way.

Kate

Jan 30, 2011 01:51 PM
Lori Cain
Own Tulsa - Tulsa, OK
Midtown Tulsa Real Estate Top Producer

Do you use the no follow tags?

 

What is your opinion of this tag?  rel="canonical"

Jan 30, 2011 03:47 PM
Tommy Taylor
Taylor Properties & TexasForSale.net - Kerrville, TX
CNE- Texas Hill Country Realtor

Tammy- I thnk this is one I'll have to follow up with you on. I have several quesions about it and how I when to use and when not to. As always -Thanks for all the great info.

Feb 01, 2011 05:22 PM
Charita Cadenhead
eXp Realty - Birmingham, AL
Serving Jefferson and Shelby Counties (Alabama)

Sometimes I wish I understood this stuff.

Feb 02, 2011 12:14 AM
Tammy Emineth
Personal SEO - Website SEO and Real Estate Marketing - Frenchtown, MT
Content Marketer, SEO Teacher, Website Fixer

Patricia - Thanks! Glad it was helpful!

Kate - It's sometimes hard to think about both sides when writing. I just write it the way I want to say it, then go back and tweak it for search engines.

Lori - I recently did a canonical linking post with my thoughts on that. I HAVE used no follow tags on certain types of external links in websites when the link is at the top of the page and I have important links I want the SE to follow toward the end of the page. I don't want the spider to immediatly leave the page. Some I do leave though because it is important to have good quality external links at times.

Brent - Thanks Brent! Glad it was a good read for you... and as long as it was over your morning coffee and not other morning activities!LOL

Tommy - As always, thank you for your comment. I think you will get this down in no time.

Charita - HA, that's funny... Sometimes it is a little overwhelming.. I want to try and break it down in simple terms for everyone to understand. Thanks for all the comments today! :)

~T

Feb 02, 2011 12:37 AM
Brad Hornshaw
Brad Hornshaw Realtor Lynnwood, Bothell, Everett - Lynnwood, WA
Realtor, Listing Agent, Buyers Agent, Investments

Hi Tammy

I am learning so much reading your posts thank you for all the great info..........Brad

Feb 27, 2011 04:30 AM
Brian Schulman
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Lancaster PA - Lancaster, PA
Lancaster County PA RealEstate Expert 717-951-5552

Tammy, congrats on your 100th post, & thanks for the useful "no follow" information.

Feb 28, 2011 01:24 AM
Tammy Emineth
Personal SEO - Website SEO and Real Estate Marketing - Frenchtown, MT
Content Marketer, SEO Teacher, Website Fixer

Brad - Thanks Brad! Glad it's helpful

Brian - Thank you!!

~T

Feb 28, 2011 02:59 AM
Beverly Femia
BlueCoast Realty Corporation - Hampstead, NC
Broker Realtor Stager - Greater Wilmington, NC Are

I'm trying to absorb a lot today and I think I've reached the stage where the top of my head is going to come off!

Oct 20, 2011 06:20 AM
Tammy Emineth
Personal SEO - Website SEO and Real Estate Marketing - Frenchtown, MT
Content Marketer, SEO Teacher, Website Fixer

you have commented on many of my blogs today so I bet you're ready to explode! HA HA... Thanks so much and feel free to email me anytime :)

Oct 20, 2011 10:43 AM
Gene Riemenschneider
Home Point Real Estate - Brentwood, CA
Turning Houses into Homes

OK I am having a blast reading all of you post and different links.  Makes me wish I had not bothered with my new SEO Book.

Jul 07, 2012 01:56 PM