I’ve been a member of this community for 10 years, and it’s wild to see how the SEO landscape has shifted. Back in the day, everything was clear-cut, but now? It feels like we’re playing a game where Google keeps changing the rules mid-match without telling anyone. One thing that’s been on my mind lately is the whole No-follow vs. Do-follow debate. Google says No-follow is just a 'hint' now, but does anyone actually see a ranking boost from them? I’ve seen niche sites with perfect backlink profiles get crushed by big brands with mediocre content just because of 'authority.' It feels like the 'Helpful Content' updates are doing everything but helping small, dedicated niche creators. We spend weeks optimizing UI/UX and car physics for a gaming portal, only to see a Reddit thread or a 20-year-old giant site outrank us for specific keywords. Is anyone else feeling like the 'Link Juice' we used to hunt for is becoming secondary to some mysterious 'Trust' metric that only Google understands? Would love to hear from fellow old-schoolers – are you still seeing value in high-authority No-follow links, or are we just wasting our time? Let’s vent a bit. What’s the most frustrating thing you’ve noticed in the SERPs this month?
Spot on. It seems Google has pivoted from 'what others say about you' (backlinks) to 'how users interact with you.' If a visitor lands from a high-authority No-follow link and actually stays, engages, and finds what they need, that’s the ultimate 'Trust' signal today. It’s no longer about passing juice; it’s about proving relevance through real human activity. The 'hint' isn't for the link itself, but for the traffic it brings
I totally understand where you’re coming from. Yeah, it sure seems a lot more chaotic than just a few years ago. No, nofollow links haven’t become powerful overnight, but I’d be careful about discounting them entirely because they can still sometimes play a role in getting your page seen. What gets me going lately is the unpredictability. You do all the right things, and some piece of content that’s really not good comes out on top.
Interesting. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in short, Google is actually looking for conversion signals. Clicking on a CTA, sending a form or giving an email are seen as conversions for some businesses. We could also look at it as some kind of search intent achievement from Google perspective. If I type " dog collars " or " best dog collars ", click on a site, read a bit and click on an affiliated link without pogosticking, sure it's an obvious good sign. But, If I type "car for rent Amsterdam", come across a site which uses a backlink " Best Car rentals in Amsterdam " and landed on a site with questionable CTA and forms... I would obviously shut down the tab, but how does Google perceive this type of behavior ? The relevance funnel is good in the first two parts, but the final converting step lacks credibility. Monitoring-wise, how far goes Google go in a user journey ? Does that first backlink loses credibility if I didn't go all the way ?