Should I switch all paid-for directory backlinks to nofollow backlinks?
-
Hello Mozzers, I'm looking at a niche party services directory (b2c), established for over 8 years. They're not using nofollow tags on backlinks from their paid entries (free entries only get phone numbers and not backlinks).
If they suddenly switch all the paid-for backlinks in their directory to nofollow backlinks, might that have some kind of negative impact. Switching sounds like the best way forward, but I want to avoid any unintended consequences. Perhaps I should only implement this change gradually?
Thanks in advance, Luke
Edited 30 minutes ago by Luke Rowland
-
Thanks Chris... they have virtually no backlinks but definitely operate within niche and quality is middling - there is some useful content on the site relevant to the niche, but not shedloads of content. Almost all outbound links (and not many of those either... perhaps 200). Finding it a tough one to call...
-
If I understand correctly, you are making changes to the directory and you're wondering if you should change all of their followed/paid links to nofollow all at once or some at a time. If that's right:
I'd first consider the quality of the directory itself. How many back links does it have and are they from authoritative sites within the niche? Is there a high percentage of low quality links? I'd next consider the quality, number, and relevance of the sites being linked to from the directory. Are they are all within a well defined niche that is consistent with that of the directory's back links. Is the scale of outbound links well beyond the scale of the directory's outbound links?
If it is a strong, editorial directory with relevant back links and outbound links to a well curated list of niche-relevant sites, you might keep the followed links and focus on building the directory's editorial value within the niche. You could do that by adding content that makes the site more valuable to visitor and more linkable to other sites within its theme.
If your directory has anything but those quality, relevant back links and/or has outbound links of a scattershot relevancy, it may not make much difference what you do, because there's likely not much intrinsic value in the site.
-
Hi,
A directory shouldn't be used for SEO purposes, only if they are relevant and used to help customers find relevant site, especially in niche industries.
The damage of a link penalty would be more of a threat that any lost link juice from the links changing to nofollow. If your site's authority is determined mainly by directory links then you may need to look at some other methods of creating quality links.
Kind Regards
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
SEO suggestions for a directory
Hi all, I am new to SEO. I work for a ratings and review website, like TripAdvisor and LinkedIn. How would one go about setting up SEO strategy for national directories that have local suggested pages? What can be a good practice. For example, Tripadvisor has many different restaurants across the UK. What would they do to improve their SEO? How do they target correct links? How do they go about building their Moz Score? Would really appreciate your thoughts and suggestions. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Eric_S
Eric0 -
Is there any ratio of dofollow and nofollow in back-links profile?
Hi, Is there any ratio between dofollow and nofollow back-links of a website? Do a website really need some nofollow back-links? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | vtmoz0 -
To nofollow or follow internal links, that is the question...
"...Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or..." Okay, I'll drop the Hamlet riff. I'm working on a site with a forum. Top pages may have 20 to 30 answers. Each answer is by a member with an image/link and a name link to their member profile. A member profile may contain alot of info or none. We've noiondexed memeber profile pages, yet we still have these links to member profile pages. Is it better to nofollow these internal links to profile pages or what? Again, with 25 answers on a page and two links per answer to each member profile (image and name), that's a ton of internal links to noindexed pages. Thanks! Best... Darcy
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | 945010 -
Do backlinks need to be clicked to pass linkjuice?
Hi all: Do backlinks need to be clicked to pass linkjuice? Is so, can someone explain how much traffic is needed from a backlink to count as linkjuice? Thanks for the help. Audrey.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Addythenurse1 -
Directory concerns - am I right to request nofollow?
A client had taken a free trial on a directory - a niche directory which only takes food related websites. They mentioned, in passing, that the directory listing was replicated across 90 food-relevant "partner" sites [alarm bells!] - some of which use nofollow - some which don't, apparently. The main directory doesn't use nofollow and offers a mix of monthly-fee based listings or free listings. I've demanded a nofollow backlink from the main site and partner sites, or no backlink... what are your thoughts?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | McTaggart0 -
Link Building, when to give up on a possible backlink provider
Hello, I'm doing content marketing, it's working but it's slow and steady. I'm looking for some wisdom here from people that have done a lot of linkbuilding. Phone calls are tending to be a great resource in our niche. But I've got about 10 sites that I've called about ten times each and they're taking up a lot of time. I've mostly narrowed down who to contact but that person won't answer the phone. My question is, when do you give up on a good lead? Do I just try to contact a good person 5?, or 10? times then leave a message, leave a message a week later, then give up? I don't think leaving a message for content marketing in this case would help much. Thanks for the advice.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BobGW0 -
Does Disallowing a directory also tell search engines to unindex?
I have a bunch of duplicate pages/duplicate title issues because of Joomla's item/category/menu structures. I want to tell search engines not to crawl, and also to unindex anything in those directories in order to solve the duplicate issues. I thought of disallowing in robots.txt, but then I realized that might not remove the URLs if they've already been indexed. Please help me figure this out.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ocularis0 -
URL Structure for Directory Site
We have a directory that we're building and we're not sure if we should try to make each page an extension of the root domain or utilize sub-directories as users narrow down their selection. What is the best practice here for maximizing your SERP authority? Choice #1 - Hyphenated Architecture (no sub-folders): State Page /state/ City Page /city-state/ Business Page /business-city-state/
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | knowyourbank
4) Location Page /locationname-city-state/ or.... Choice #2 - Using sub-folders on drill down: State Page /state/ City Page /state/city Business Page /state/city/business/
4) Location Page /locationname-city-state/ Again, just to clarify, I need help in determining what the best methodology is for achieving the greatest SEO benefits. Just by looking it would seem that choice #1 would work better because the URL's are very clear and SEF. But, at the same time it may be less intuitive for search. I'm not sure. What do you think?0