As we’ve mentioned here and in our SEO knowledge center, links are one of the most fundamental things to building high search engine rankings.
Links give a site more value in the eyes of the search engines but not all links count for SEO purposes. Some links may be totally invisible to the search engines and in other instances Google may reduce the value of links for whatever reason. So…
How do you know whether a link on a page passes SEO value or not? What are cases in which links do not count?
These are important questions to answer to prevent yourself from wasting valuable time on links that won’t do anything for you. Basically, there are two requirements links need to possess to count for SEO purposes:
1. Link must be coded in HTML
To be certain you see benefits in your rankings from links, code them in HTML. As long as the link uses something like <a href=http://www.seo-advantage.com/> then you’re okay. Google has also started counting Javascript links but HTML is still the preferred method.
2. Be sure the page the link is on is indexed in Google
A link can only benefit your rankings if Google knows about the page it’s on. You can see if a page is indexed in Google by going to the main search bar and typing “site:” and then the URL. New pages usually take a few days to be crawled and indexed so be patient.
But even if your links meet the above conditions that doesn’t mean they’re automatically counted. Technical conditions that would prevent a link from being counted include:
1. Nofollow tag
Google ignores links that use the rel=”nofollow” tag and does not pass any SEO value along. Many blogs use the nofollow feature in their comment areas to prevent spamming and Google requires the nofollow attribute for advertisements and paid links.
2. Robots nofollow
The meta robots nofollow tag found in the header of a page is similar to the regular nofollow and leads to all links on that page being nofollowed.
3. Redirect links
Unless a permanent 301 redirect is used, any time a link goes through some intermediary page to track clicks or sales or display a disclaimer page, the link will not pass any SEO value.
4. Javascript links
As I mentioned above, Google is starting to crawl Javascript links but there is much debate as to whether these links pass any value or not. Use HTML whenever possible.
So you’ve built a bunch of links on your website using the basic outline mentioned above. They are technically sound but you’re not seeing the benefits you should. Read on for symptoms of a link that Google has devalued.
1. Strangely low PageRank
While toolbar PageRank is not that reliable of a metric, it can point to problem areas in respect to your SEO links. If a site is obviously selling paid links, Google will often penalize its PageRank and stop the flow of link value from the site.
2. Slow crawl rate, old cache date
If Google trusts a page and considers it important, it will crawl and index the page quickly and often. If the cache date of the page your links are on is over a month old, that’s a sign Google doesn’t trust that page and as a result, links do not pass any value.
3. Link location
Links in the sidebar or footer of a page are often devalued since Google views these as being used as advertisements to manipulate search results. Editorial links embedded in content are much more valuable so Google gives the most weight to these links.
After all this, you’re probably asking “How do I check to see if a link is passing value?”
There is a way to check but it’s not always easy. What you do is create a link on the target location with unique anchor text. For example, on our search engine optimization firm website, we could create a link in the content saying “jabberwocky SEO”. This is an obscure but related term to what we do. Then, we go to Google and type that phrase in the search bar. If our page comes up in the search results containing that keyphrase, the process worked.
Read more about developing SEO link building strategies that deliver link value in this article from Winning the Web. And if you have any questions about link building, feel free to contact SEO Advantage and get quick answers to your questions from one of our experienced SEO engineers.