7 Things More Important Than Dofollow Links
Awesome Content: Set Up For Online SuccessOur host today is Keith Bloemendaal. If you're interested in getting in front of the readers of Site Sketch 101, check out our guest posting invitation here.
As you can see from the video, it is very early in the morning when I recorded this. 6:30 AM to be exact. The sun was just coming up, the birds were singing, and my hair was a mess.
When Nick asked me to do a video this week on things that are more important than dofollow links (comment links), I was a little skeptical to do it. This is a touchy subject with some people but here goes:
- Content: Get some good content on your site so people will link to you from their sites. One content link is probably worth 1,000 dofollow comment links. So instead of chasing dofollow comment links, go write something great!
- Conversation: Having a conversation with someone is better than a dofollow comment link. Learning from someone, bouncing ideas off each other, even disagreements can become learning experiences which are far more important to your progress than a dofollow comment link.
- Real Community: Building a real community on your site is more important than always being somewhere else looking for the next do-follow comment link.
- Digg/Stumble/Reddit Traffic: Nick and I have some different ideas about the quality of traffic from these sites, but it is still better than chasing dofollow comment links. Go spend some time building your reputation on these sites and it will pay off more than those dofollow comment links!
Note: Join us for Traffic Jam on Friday night at 8pm EST for more about traffic from these sources. - Traffic That Converts: Traffic that converts into sales, clicks, opt ins, etc.. is better than chasing dofollow comment links. Test different ad placements, test opt in boxes, create a free product to give away, there are many things you could be doing rather than spending time chasing dofollow links.
- Quality Design: If you have a site that makes people’s eyes bleed, then you probably should work on that before you chase a dofollow link.
- A Good Cup Of Coffee: A good cup of coffee is better than a lot of things to me, and a do-follow comment link is one of them.
My main objective here is to encourage you to do other things that will help you more than chasing a dofollow comment link. The jury is still out on whether or not comment links have ANY weight at all. I am actually running some tests right now with a clients site where that will be the only links we get for the site, but he is paying me to to so, I would never do that on my own sites.
These are just a few of the things I could think of that are more important than a dofollow comment link, and of course this is all just my opinion. Some of you may disagree with me, so I would love to hear why.
Special Note: Traffic Jam (which I mentioned above) is a live show Nick and I will be doing. You can join in by simply coming back to the home page ofSite Sketch 101 on Friday night at 8:00 PM EST. Hope to see you there, we will be discussing Digg/Reddit/Stumble traffic this week.
Rhys said:
Great list, though a lot of the above will lead to quality links (not sure about the coffee’s).
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Nicholas Cardot said:
I completely agree with you except that these things will lead to in-content links which Matt Cutts (The Google Exec Guru) has made very clear are much more important than comment links whether they are dofollow or nofollow. I stopped chasing dofollow links a long time ago and I’ve noticed a huge increase in trackbacks since I did. My content has transformed since I left that crowd and I have more visitors, more conversation, more LEGIT conversation than ever before and I get more search engine traffic than I ever used to get.
What do you think are more important? The dofollow comment links or the dofollow in-content links?
Rhys said:
In Content definitely! Whether they’re from guest posts, article marketing, hell even directory submissions are better in my eyes than dofollow comment links.
Not a big fan of chasing dofollow, even as an SEO’er. Link profiles that are 100% dofollow look unnatural, and unnatural link profiles will be found by Google, damaging your SEO
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Nicholas Cardot said:
That’s actually a really good point that I hadn’t thought much about. Google can see the overall pattern of links and they use that to determine if the site is being promoted through black hat or gray hat means and that could very well be one of the triggers that they look for.
I didn’t realize that you were an SEO’er, as you call it. what do you think about the notion that people actually say that they use dofollow links because they “care” about you? Doesn’t that essentially imply that if you don’t use them then you must not be a caring person? I actually had someone tell me that it tells a lot about our character whether or not we use dofollow links.
I’m reminded of the Emperor in that movie Gladiator, “Am I not merciful?” even though he’s brutal. They say things like “Don’t you understand that I care?” even though they don’t care enough to improve their content, build real conversations, and build communities that rally around passion and not around freebie links.
Now I’m rambling…but it’s your fault. You got me started.
Rhys said:
I think that, outside of the SEO/Metablogging community, the average linker doesn’t really know (or probably doesn’t care) about nofollow links. I don’t mind if – for example – the BBC give me a nofollow link, as it’ll have two other benefits:-
a) They will send me a shed load of traffic
b) The traffic may have their own site, they may mention my site, and link to me in a dofollow way
This helps grow your community, relevant traffic, and most of the above points Keith raised.
I think people who don’t link out to you with dofollow within content (comments are a different matter), are not malicious, just that they are misinformed.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
You really bring up a great point. I don’t think that people outside of this niche really care about it all. They care about rallying together in conversation around subjects that they are passionate about whether that is racing, garage doors, coin collecting, or anything else. And I think that when that is our focus, our efforts to connect, engage and promote become far more effective.
Keith Bloemendaal said:
Of course coffee will get you more links! It keeps me awake so I can write more content!
Nicholas Cardot said:
By the way, Keith, awesome article. I think that you nailed it right on. Too many people are chasing these links but compared to the items that you mentioned, dofollow links are worthless. Great content will always trump comment links in terms of SEO, creting a buzz in the community, pumping up a great first impression, etc.
The key is to really improve yourself and not just to chase self-made links around the blogosphere.
Keith Bloemendaal said:
Thanks Nick, I really think so many people get wrapped up ion this fallacy that they have to spend more time chasing these links than they do creating great content, it just doesn’t work that way…
Dev @ TechnShare said:
Hey Keith,
Another awesome post here. Those are some awesome tips.
Thanks for the brilliant post keith.
~Dev
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Steve @Erraticblog said:
Great video Keith, although I’d have to go with a nice hot cup of tea.
I agree with Nicholas and Rhys… outside of the niche, I think a lot of people just don’t know or care about a link being dofollow or nofollow. Inside the niche, I’m with you. People need to stop worrying about always chasing the links. Write interesting and helpful content and then join in on the conversations that you find interesting and have something to comment about. Don’t get in on a conversation just to try to a link.
Nicholas Cardot said:
Exactly. People get so caught up about it too. I’ve heard people make statements like, “Only comment on dofollow blogs because they are the only bloggers that care about their communities” and that is just a pile of hogwash. The ones who care about community are the ones who are writing great things and truly communicating.
Onibalusi Bamidele said:
Wow! Really great post!
You are absolutely right, a lot of things are more important than dofollow links and one of such great things is content and traffic that converts is what makes the sales, not dofollow links.
Thanks so much for the great post,
-Onibalusi
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Nicholas Cardot said:
That’s exactly right. Don’t get caught up in the dofollow movement. If you choose to have dofollow links on your blog, that’s great. If you choose not to have them, that’s great too. The decision is yours and don’t let anyone else tell you what you have to decide to be “Morally right.”
Jasmine Henry from J Station X said:
I don’t think that DoFollow links are very good in the long-term and other methods of traffic are better for that. For example if I build a community on my blog and if I communicate with lots of other people via Twitter, I’m going to be remembered as more than just ‘the girl who left a comment with a link that one time’ and people might actually keep visiting my site.
Nicholas Cardot said:
You’re exactly right, Jasmine.
Ron Leyba said:
In my humble opinion, a good cup of coffee should be on the top of the list (since, its the first thing I do/take before work. lol).
I agree with Rhys, all of the above suggestions or tips can generate vast number of links (may it be nofollow or dofollow).
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Ha ha. I talk to Keith every morning and he should have put it at the top of his list also. He is a coffee addict. He goes to Alcoholics Anonymous just for the free coffee. JK
Keith said:
Actually a good combination is recommended for links (do-follow and no-follow)
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Murlu said:
The community aspect is the way to go for sure. When you have blogging friends and fanatical followers they will often write about your site, linking over and help to promote.
Be that great person on the net and you’ll see quite a bit of success – bonus points too because you no longer have to seek out do-follow links
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Nicholas Cardot said:
That’s exactly right, Murlu. Building community is absolutely powerful and people fail to realize how great it can be.
Patrick@Reverse Phone Lookup said:
Hey Keith!!The list is quite good(I even agree with the 7th point).From SEO perspective,a good unique 500 words content is better than a do follow backlink.I agree that traffic from Digg and Reddit are more important than a dofollow backlink.But sometimes a nofollow backlink from a high autority website is better than a dofollow link.
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Keith said:
That is actually a great point, a no-follow link form a high authority site is ten times better than a do-follow link from a nobody site!
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Blog Angel a.k.a. Joella said:
I think all your points are valid. And every one of them should be a part of any good blogging strategy.
Commenting should definitely be a part of that strategy. As for “chasing” do follow links, well I figure it can’t hurt at this point.
But your primary objective in commenting should not be link juice from do follow. Commenting is about getting yourself out there, being seen and building a reputation.
I comment on a lot of blogs, some are do follow and some are not. It seems though that most high quality blogs are.
It’s probably a good strategy for any blogger to extend the gesture of do follow links and CommentLuv to encourage the believers to keep coming back and leave comments.
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Keith said:
Gonna disagree that most high quality blogs are do-follow, there are tons of great sites that are not, probably many more are not actually.
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Blog Angel a.k.a. Joella said:
Well I can’t really make an intelligent argument one way or the other without some sound statistics to back me up. So I won’t argue, much…
Maybe I just do too much slumming.:p
After all not everybody defines quality by the same parameters.
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April Ondis said:
Keith, I really enjoyed having that morning cup of coffee with you. Thanks for the good tips on making a blog more valuable by adding valuable info and people, instead of trying to game Google.
Keith said:
That seems to be a huge “fad” though, build a site then figure out how to game the system. Why not just provide value that people want/need?
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April Ondis said:
A mix of value and do follow, got it. Much for me to learn. Looking forward to chatting tonight at 8 Eastern on Traffic Jam http://bit.ly/9cTaAs
Keith said:
Looking forward to having you with us tonight!
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Jorgen @ Social Media Marketing said:
I think it’s better to build up strong relationship with a few influencers in your field than trying to comment on every dang blog out there. Same thing goes for Twitter and the rest of the social media platforms.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Plus if you’re convinced that the only way to build relationships…or that it’s even the most effective way…is to leave comments then you are mistaken. Some of the best relationships I’ve built with bloggers is simply because we’ve taken our relationships outside of our blogs. Real conversation will go beyond comments.
Jorgen @ Personal Branding said:
Yes indeed, meeting in person really cements online relationships. I have noticed that from going to Meetups – really useful.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
I’ve met up with several other blogger’s and it’s been great. It really takes it to a whole new level.
Kok Siong @ Cancer Research said:
I agree with you that building up a real community is more important than link building. I wish to have constant flow of traffic. Only the real community will always visit my blog.
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Andrew @ Blogging Guide said:
Great discussion going on right here…all because of the great content post and the community this blog has built up.
Commenting is one of my many daily tasks (after adding a blog post) and I don’t care if it’s do follow or not.
Andrew
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ah hong said:
Great sharing. I truly believe writing good content and attract quality backlink
Reza Winandar said:
Jeez, for bloggers, do follow aren’t important. But, for those who plays adsense, it’s still very important. How about you?
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Internetador said:
It was nice to have found this post.