In previous posts we have talked to you about the importance of internal links to improve the web positioning of your travel agency and also about the Link Building strategy. Today we bring you an important novelty in this aspect and that is that there are new link attributes that from now on you will have to take into account to carry out the SEO strategy of your online business. Be sure to read and discover all the keys to this new introduction from Google so you don’t get left behind.
The new Google link attributes
From 2005 until now the “nofollow” links were the only alternative to the “dofollow” links, but since September 10th there are new attributes, which are the “UGC” links and the “Sponsored” links. Below, we tell you the keys to these new link attributes and also the changes in the already famous “nofollow” attribute.
Attribute rel=”nofollow”
The “nofollow” attribute was created more than 10 years ago with the intention of telling Google not to follow that link and therefore not to pass on authority to it, i.e. it did not count for ranking purposes. It was the only alternative to the “dofollow” link so far and a way to get rid of penalties for paid collaborations.
But since September 10, 2019 this has changed. Google now treats “nofollow” links as a suggestion, which means that the search engine can decide whether to follow them or not and therefore they can convey authority and count in the rankings.
Attribute rel=”UGC”
UGC stands for “User Generated Conted”, which means user generated content. The use of this attribute is recommended for web user comment links in blog posts and forum posts. Like links with the “nofollow” attribute, “ugt” links also count as a suggestion to Google, which means you can choose to follow them or not.
Rel=”Sponsored” attribute
The “Sponsored” attribute is the one that Google recommends to use to mark the paid or rewarding links, for example the links of a sponsored post. This way you will avoid penalties. These links will also be taken into account by the search engine as recommendations.
Other keys to the new link attributes
Do I need to change all the links above?
As we anticipated at the beginning, the new link attributes are a big change and as such, should be taken into account, but you don’t need to go crazy. That is, you don’t need to change all the previous links in your online travel agency if you have been using links with a “nofollow” attribute to mark sponsored links or links to which you wanted to convey authority.
Can you use more than one attribute?
The answer is yes. You can even combine all three attributes into one link if you wish.
What about nofollow in crawling and indexing?
Until now, the “nofollow” attribute has also been used to tell Google not to crawl or index some content on the web. Today, this can still be done but from March 1, 2020 this attribute will also be taken into account as a suggestion for Google and the search engine may decide to follow your directive or not.
If you have found this post interesting, we also recommend this one about structured data for your online business and what is Mobile First Index and how it affects your travel website.
