Whether you like or not, it looks like NOFOLLOW links are here to stay.
There are still sites out there that allow links to pass link juice, but these days they are few and far between. The difficult part is identifying which sites have opted to block passing link juice and which haven’t. The only way to tell is to look at the source code or to have a plugin installed in your browser that highlights links on a page that have the nofollow tag attached. The latter is the easier option, but you have to be using the Firefox browser and the SEO for Firefox plugin created and maintained by Aaron Wall of SEO Book.
There are other features of the plugin that are very useful for people interested in search engine optimization, link building and other aspects of generating traffic, but for this post, I will just be looking at the NOFOLLOW function.
Once you have the SEO for Firefox plugin installed you have will have to restart your browser. The choose TOOLS from the options menu and SEO for Firefox > Options (see below) from the drop down menu.
The next window that opens up is the configuration window. The second option allows you to toggle between having the nofollow links on the pages you are visiting highlighted or ignored. The default colour is red, but I changed my mine to grey so I could still read the text underneath the link. If I am working and looking for links I switch this feature on, if I am just browsing I switch it off – just tick or untick the box.
I can’t tell you have much time I have saved and much I have learnt using this little feature. It comes in very handy when evaluating links and their potential benefits.
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