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Blog linking can be tricky if you’re new to it. If you’ve been digging into your blogs and investing some time in your search engine optimization, then you have probably heard about follow and no follow links. However, what follow and no follow really mean for your blog or website, and which you should choose, may not be so clear. We’ll break down each one so that you can make the right choice for you.
Blog Linking Basics
Linking, whether you are linking to another site or your site, it is extremely important in the SEO (search engine optimization) world. Any time that your blog gets an inbound link, that means a boost in your SEO. The more boosts, the better. The higher ranking the page is that links to your blog, the more boosting power it has to offer.
If you ever wonder if there is a reason for the order of your results after a Google search, now you know. It’s all about the boosting power. The more links your blog gets, the higher it’s going to be in the search results (well, unless you pay, of course).
Follow Links
Follow links are links that are recognized by search engines so that you CAN get that boost from them. You want to boost your blog or website exposure so that it will boost subscribers and start the domino effect you want. However, it’s also helpful for you to give as well as receive.
Sharing follow links from other blogs within your own, or in the comments, can help boost them and encourage them to return the favor. The downside is that by enabling follow tags on your blog you are also opening yourself up for spamming in your comment section. This may be a small price to pay for the overall gain that you’ll receive in the long run, however.
No Follow Links
No follow links have an HTML value that tells the search engine that the link should NOT influence the ranking. This may lead you to think at first that there is simply no benefit to using a no follow link. You want as many links as possible, right? You want as much boost as you can get, right? Maybe not. Not all sites, and therefore not all links, are created the same.
It’s wise to use the no follow tag for sites that may have untrusted content, paid links, or “sign in” links as suggested by Google. It’s also not true that no follow links don’t have as much value as a follow link. They may not provide you that SEO boost but there are a lot of other ways that they can boost your blog. Twitter, for example, is a no follow but a great way to interact with your audience and build connections.
Which Is Best?
Both! Both, follow and no follow links are important. You should be smart and put SEO to work for you but you shouldn’t only go for quick boosts. Building connections, being active, building your brand, and being reliable are all just as important and beneficial. The important thing is to make sure you know when to use follow and when to use no follow.