Rel= tags are SEO elements that when used properly, can help you provide important information to search engine crawlers. Unfortunately, rel= tags are often forgotten, creating missed opportunities in terms of taking control of a site’s pages.
In this post, I will share with you what rel= tags are and how they can be used in specific situations to benefit your SEO campaign.
What are Rel= Tags?
Rel= tags are components of HTML that describe a relationship between pages of a site. These components affect the site’s linking structure. Because links are a huge contributing factor to search engine algorithms, taking advantage of rel= tags will only help one’s ranking potential.
Rel= tags live in the backend of a site, attached to the links they are providing “instructions” for. That way, when search engines crawl the site, they are able to identify your intentions regarding particular links.
Rel= tags look a little something like this:
<a href=”link” rel=”attribute”>
There is a wide variety of rel attributes that you can use to provide “instructions” for a site’s links to search engines. Below are a few examples of rel attributes that can be used to accomplish different goals.
Rel Attribute Examples
- Canonical| This rel attribute is used for content purposes. The canonical attribute can minimize the amount of duplicate content a site is considered to possess. By using canonical attributes, you are able to designate a particular page within a series as the main focus. Because of this, canonical attributes are often used in sites that contain multiple pages within the same category, like e-commerce sites.
For example, e-commerce sites often have a category devoted to “Best Sellers.” In this case, a canonical attribute can be used to designate the “Best Sellers” page as the main focus, eliminating the possibility of “Best Sellers Page 2” and so on to be considered by search engines as the original source.
Additionally, the canonical attribute is a wonderful tool to use for preserving your own content. Apply a canonical attribute to the content you develop in order to maintain its originality in an instance where it may get swiped.
<a href=”best sellers link” rel=”canonical”>
- Previous, Next | These rel attributes are used in conjunction with canonical attributes. Where categories with multiple pages exist, previous and next attributes can help point search engine crawlers in the direction of the canonical URL, or the original source. These attributes help with pagination. What this means is, previous and next attributes inform search engine crawlers of where they are located in relation to the canonical URL.
For example, page 3 in a series of “Best Sellers” would look like this:
<a href=”best sellers link” rel=”canonical”>
<a href=”best sellers page 2 link” rel=”prev”>
<a href=”best sellers page 4 link” rel=”next”>
- Nofollow | This rel attribute is used when informing search engine crawlers which links on a page you don’t want to “endorse.” Again, links are a large component of search engine algorithms so using this attribute is helpful in providing information to search engine crawlers. You may have situations in which you don’t want to pass credit to a link in order to avoid penalizations or spammy content.
These situations might include:
- paid ads
- guest comments
- embeds
Use the nofollow attribute when linking to sites that you may not necessarily trust.
<a href=”link” rel=”nofollow”>
- Alternate | This rel attribute is particularly useful in situations where you have multiple versions of the same page. For example, a site may have a page that contains a printer-friendly version of the same content. Additionally, a site may have pages that also exist in another language. Use the alternate attribute to inform search engine crawlers of the fact that multiple versions of the same content exist for a good reason.
<a href=”link” rel=”alternate”>
Rel= Takeaways
Rel= tags describe relationships of links and pages within a site. The attributes that are used in conjunction with rel= tags provide “instructions” to search engines in order to obtain specific goals. Together, rel= tags and their attributes are extremely useful tools, especially for an SEO campaign. Remember your rel= tags!