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John Mueller: Linking to relevant 'lesser' websites won't hurt SEO (and 'no search engine uses DR/DA/PA/etc')
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13 August 2021 (Edited )
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Once again, we're hearing from a Google insider who's trying to help us that it's the RELEVANCE of linked pages - the usefulness of the linked content to users - that counts in SEO

"No search engine uses DR/DA/PA/etc"

This week in a tweet, Google Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller addressed a user's question about SEO: "Do you really lose anything if you link to a low DR [Domain Rating] website?"

Mr. Mueller's answer was:

"One way to think about this is to consider the ultimate goal: provide relevant information. Does a link to a "lesser" website make a result less relevant? Do links on Wikipedia make it less useful? Not at all. (As an aside, no search engine uses DR/DA/PA/etc)"

If you want to tell Google that you don't vouch for the content of a page to which you're linking, you have your choice of 3 relationship attributes that you can include in the code of the link:

  • rel="nofollow" which Google will now take as a "hint" that you disclaim responsibility for the linked content
  • rel="sponsored" to identify links for which you have been paid
  • rel="ugc" to identify user-generated content like forum posts or comments on a blog

But really: why would you want to link to a page that has content for which you're unwilling to vouch?

Keep in mind Google's Mission Statement, some key points of which are:

  • Deliver the most relevant and reliable information available
  • Maximize access to information
  • Present information in the most useful way
  • Protect [users'] privacy

The litmus test for linking to content of others should be: Does that content help users get the information they're looking for?

Follow this link to find out more about how Search Engine Optimization SEO can deliver more converting traffic to your website.

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David Boggs MS    - David
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External Article: https://twitter.com/JohnMu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1424751670949470216%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.seroundtable.com%2Fgoogle-linking-to-lesser-websites-31905.html%3Futm_source%3Dsearch_engine_roundtableutm_campaign%3Dser_newsletter_2021-08-12utm_medium%3Demail


Subhead Once again, we're hearing from a Google insider who's trying to help us that it's the RELEVANCE of linked pages - the usefulness of the linked content to users - that counts in SEO
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