Irrelevant External Links Set to Do-Follow

Explanation & Implementation Guide

Explanation

Allowing irrelevant or low-quality external links to remain “do-follow” on your Shopify website can undermine your SEO efforts. Such links pass authority to the linked sites, potentially associating your website with poor-quality or irrelevant content. This can diminish your site’s trustworthiness and authority in the eyes of search engines, resulting in lower rankings and reduced organic traffic. While do-follow links can boost SEO when linked to reputable sites, irrelevant ones should be avoided or converted to no-follow to protect your site’s integrity.

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Implementation Guide

Use Google Search Console (GSC):

Log in to Google Search Console.
Navigate to the Links section to view a list of external sites your website links to.
Identify irrelevant or low-quality external sites with do-follow attributes.

Use Screaming Frog:

Download and install Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
Crawl your Shopify website and review the outbound links under the External tab.
Identify links to irrelevant sites (e.g., Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram) that are incorrectly set to do-follow.

Install Shopify SEO Apps:

Use apps like SEO Booster, SEO Manager, or Smart SEO.
Leverage these tools to audit your website’s external links and flag any irrelevant ones with do-follow attributes.

Fixing the Issue

Change Links to No-Follow:

Locate the irrelevant external links with do-follow attributes.
- Edit the HTML code of your Shopify website to modify these links to no-follow: html Copy code <a href=”https://irrelevant-site.com” rel=”nofollow”>External Link</a>
For Shopify:
- Go to the content editor or theme editor and locate the link.
- Change the URL option to “Open in New Window.” Shopify will automatically add the rel=”nofollow” attribute for external links.

Regularly Monitor External Links:

Periodically review your website for new external links added.
Use tools like Screaming Frog or SEO apps to ensure newly added links are relevant and appropriately set as do-follow or no-follow.

Update Internal Policies:

Educate your team or contributors about the importance of linking to high-quality and relevant sites.
Develop guidelines for external linking to ensure only reputable sites are linked to from your Shopify store.

Conduct Regular Audits:

Perform periodic audits of your website’s external links to ensure link quality and relevance.
Remove or update any links that no longer align with your SEO goals or linking standards.

Stay Current with Best Practices:

Keep up with the latest SEO guidelines and recommendations for external linking.
Regularly update your linking strategy to reflect industry best practices and protect your site’s SEO integrity.

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