Link building FAQs with Ken McGaffin

Posted by Ken McGaffin on 18 November 2010

What’s the deal with nofollow links? Do they count? Can it hurt your site if you have lots of links from low quality directories? Do your links really have to come from relevant sites? Ken McGaffin answers some of the questions frequently asked in his link building seminars.

1. Nofollow links

I am confused by 'nofollow' links. I thought they brought no search engine benefit but I’ve also read that this is not the case. Can you explain? (Nick)

Our own SEO guy Mark Nunney maintains that nofollows have been proven to increase rankings. And others agree with him - there’s a great 'discussion of the week’ over on Sphinn.com about this very topic - Do you think nofollow links are worth more than Google says?

The main conclusion is that 'nofollow links' are worthwhile. As Danny Sullivan says, "I'll take a link, any link, regardless if it's nofollow or not. It's a potential visit.

As for whether Google counts nofollow links, I tend to think it does in some cases. I think Google figures out ways on its own to decide if it wants to trust a link. Some links that are "follow" might still get discounted. Some that are "nofollow" might get counted, if Google decides to trust them."

So Nick, this means that the nofollow links you get are worthwhile and they’re worth chasing.

You should use nofollow links on your own site when:

• Your outbound links are paid-for advertisements (if you want to keep Google happy, that is).
• The links are in your comments. This is a personal choice but if your comment links are follow, spam bots will find them and auto-submit spam comments.
• You’re linking out to a site that you’re not quite sure of – but of course, we believe that you should link freely to sites that you like – and linking out to quality content will also bring you benefit.

2. Can it hurt you if you have lots of links from low quality directories?

If a new (or unestablished site) gets low quality links like these then it might be penalized in some way by Google.

Established sites are unlikely to be harmed. Indeed, they may benefit from them.

However, most of these links will be ignored by Google and you can probably get a better return for your efforts.

3. Is there a number of links per day that I should not exceed?

We recommend building quality links gradually – it is a slow process. If you get a huge number of links in a single day, you may well be drawing attention to yourself.

If you’ve bought those links, you may not get the benefit you expect. However, there are legitimate ways in which you can get a large number of links in a day – a breaking news story for example can result in hundreds of links in a day. So, I wouldn’t worry about that at all.

4. What do you consider the top directories?

Yahoo.com
dmoz.org
Business.com
JoeAnt.com
Skaffe.com
WebBeacon.com
Gimpsy.com
GoGuides.org
Jayde.com
BankoftheWest.com

5. How closely relevant does a site have to be?

You want relevance but that does not mean that useful links need to be from your own industry. For example, an accountancy firm might have links from a small business website as well as a link from a non-profit website. As long as the context is relevant then it’s fine.

So the small business website might link in the context of filing your tax return, while the non-profit website might link in the context of fundraising or sponsorship.

Today, links from non-relevant sites will still deliver some benefit.

Today, it’s possible that (all things being equal) links from relevant sites will deliver more benefit. Sometimes.

Tomorrow, it’s probable that (all things being equal) links from relevant sites will deliver more benefit a lot of the time.

Links from relevant sites can bring relevant visitors and, when seen, lead to more links from relevant sites.

So getting links from relevant sites is a good idea now and wise 'future proofing'.

More link building with Ken McGaffin

In his next live seminar on link building Ken McGaffin will show you to find your competitors' keyword rich links using powerful new features on Wordtracker's Link Builder tool. Find details here:

You can also see a video of Ken's most recent link building webinar now and learn how to:

1) Find relevant link prospects – sites that could link to yours.

2) Prioritize your prospects to get the best possible results quickest.

3) Plan link building campaigns using proven tactics.

4) Track contact with your prospects.

Ken McGaffin’s link building course

Folowing are links to the first three parts of Ken McGaffin’s excellent link building course:

Part 1: How to find great link prospects
Part 2: Finding link building prospects by analyzing links to ‘personality websites’
Part 3: Discover your competitors' link building secrets