You’ve spent years dreaming, been saving your pounds, pennies at a time and eventually you take the plunge. You get in touch with that special person.
A few weeks pass and what do you know there it is – a link on Forbes.
But………horror of horrors – it’s nofollow!!!
As you probably know, a lot of the big ticket editorial sites – Inc, Forbes, Entrepreneur and a few more have gone nofollow. It’s a shame, but can you blame them.
Reasons why Forbes Went No Follow:
- Google’s watching
- They’re being battered with crap tier 2s
- Bought links to John’s auto body on an international business site doesn’t create the most trusted of editorials.
However, it’s not all bad
There are a number of reasons why a back link from any big publication can still work well for your brand, even if it’s a nofollow link.
It’s also worth mentioning that every SEO service’s success is determined by the laws of supply and demand. Nofollow means less demand and in turn prices should fall – not a bad thing and something you can benefit from if you’re willing to put the following into action.
So, how do you get bang for your buck from a nofollow premium site?
The Forbes Badge
Forbes is a world brand – go into any newsagents and the magazine is there on the shelf, Google any business or finance related query and it’s on page one with a comprehensive answer. We know the name, we know the logo – it’s a quality publication. In essence, you need to be doing something right to get a mention in it.
So, needless to say a mention on there can be leveraged to the high hilt. If you’re a new visitor on a website or to a brand’s online presence and you see a badge for Forbes, what do you think?
A badge like this with a mention to back it up creates trust, it creates positivity and it’s a serious boost for your brands image.
So, add it to your site, add it to your emails, add it to your social media, add it to your cake mixes and shout it from the rooftops.
No Follow Doesn’t Mean No Traffic
According to Ahrefs. Forbes receives around 43m visitors a month, Entrepreneur.com around 5m and Inc.com a paltry 3m – that’s a lot of traffic and a lot of potential eyes for any business.
A link on any of these sites provides a direct gateway to your site and that can be killer in terms of referrals and traffic. If you were to pay for a mention in a paper publication with even close to that sort of a circulation I can assure you it would cost a lot more than you’ll pay for a nofollow link. This is especially effective due to EEAT for medical professionals in delivering expertise, authority and trust
No Follow and Rep Management
I’ve already mentioned how you can leverage a link on these sites on your own site, but if you’re smart you can also use it to make the most of the SERPs and fill up the first page with some nice brand searches from top notch publications. Ideally you want a few brand mentions in the piece to do so. Needless to say the holy grail here is a brand mention in the H1 header and the URL – if you can it’s worth its weight in gold for rep management. It’s perfect for pushing down negative crap about your site – Ripoff Reports etc.
Syndication
Other sites syndicate these huge sites all the time, meaning lots of smaller sites providing mentions, shares, likes, backlinks and guest posts etc for the cost of the initial post. That’s lots more love right there and plenty of the additional benefits that go with it, including improving a personal rep.
Use it Offline
Your marketing is likely as much offline as online and you can use the fact you got a mention on offline literature as much as in online.
Possible Power of Nofollow
Nofollow links may not pass link juice, but they do likely have benefits in terms of trust and are of notable value. This post from Tommy McDonald at Serplogic deals with the issue well.
More and more of these big sites are going to go no follow, it’s just a reality that’s caused by the reasons above. However, there’s heaps of value to be leveraged if you look beyond the dofollow link that used to be on offer. The post above hopefully helps provide some greater insight.