This week Google announced it was making fundamental changes to the principle of how nofollow links will work and be used by Google’s search algorithms.
Previously Nofollow links were used as a directive indicating to Google that the link should not be used by any of its search algorithms, therefore meaning the link would not have an effect on the page authority or ranking of the site linked to.
The changes announced will now mean that the use of the “Nofollow” directive will now only be used as a ‘”hint” and it will be up to the algorithm to decide if it will take the link credentials into account when conducting its analysis. But does this mean??
The impact of this change is that there is now a slim chance that the authority of the link that was previously ignored by Google, will now count towards your own online authority score, if you are the receiving website, of course. This will then potentially help your organic ranking performance in the process due to any increased level of authority that you website may receive.
So, What Now??
The change in Google’s approach to nofollow links should not change your overall link building strategy though, especially as the search engine giants have clearly highlighted the fact that nofollow links will be used as a “hint” rather than a guaranteed follow. So, in short, we certainly do not recommend that you go out and gain as many “nofollow” links as possible.
Instead, just keep your link strategy the same as always and, if you are lucky to acquire additional authority as a result of Google’s change in approach then that’s a great bonus!
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