Should CARFAX Use the NOFOLLOW Tag on Dealer Websites?

I often get messages in my inbox about odd things going on in the automotive industry. The sender normally asks me to check into the story and if I find merit, I'll write about. This time I'll ask the larger SEO community to respond with their insights.

I was asked if CARFAX listings, which are growing in search strength pushing dealership listing down in organic results, are being supported by a massive linking strategy which uses dealership websites for page authority.

A recent article on SearchEngineLand.com talked about changes from a recent SEO update from Google and listed CARFAX as one of the top beneficiaries of the update. Here is the chart showing the sites that benefited:

Where are These Links to CARFAX.COM?

Dealers using the CARFAX logo on their SRPs and VDPs should know that these links do not have the recommended "nofollow" attribute. I would classify these as paid links from the co-marketing agreement they have with dealers. The links to the CARFAX website, are shown below with the red arrows:

Here is an example of a CARFAX HTML link associated with the image:

<a href="https://www.carfax.com/cfm/ccc_DisplayHistoryRpt.cfm?partner=WDB_0&VIN=2GTEC19V221115577" target="_blank">

It should look like this (see boldface) according to a Google help article because these are paid links or a dealer would not want to be endorsing a paid third-party site:

<a href="https://www.carfax.com/cfm/ccc_DisplayHistoryRpt.cfm?partner=WDB_0&VIN=2GTEC19V221115577" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">

Millions of Links

So imagine all the auto dealers that use CARFAX badges on their SRPs and VDPs and you will quickly see that this architecture generates millions of links from franchise and independent dealers. We can debate whether Google weights links anymore, but the linking strategy doesn't seem to hurt, potentially at the expense of dealers.

Not related, but its ironic that DealerInspire websites (owned by Cars.com) and Dealer.com websites (owned by Cox Automotive) haven't noticed this. They can place a master tag on SRP and VDP pages to add NO FOLLOW to all outbound links, as shown below:

 <meta name="robots" content="nofollow" />

So, are these backlinks helping CARFAX grow in organic search? I'll let the experts decide. What do you think? Should CARFAX add the suggested "nofollow" tag to all links from dealership websites?

If this helps SEO ranking, then smart move by CARFAX SEO team and bad update from Google. CARFAX is not the only company that is adding badges to dealership websites. Please check to see if the links have the "nofollow" tag, and if not, ask for the links to be updated.

2019 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference

This year DMSC will be held from May 19-21st in the Napa Valley. At the conference I will be offering by Google Analytics certification class. Make sure you register early this year because we also have special programs to cover the latest trends in marketing and sales strategies including digital retailing, conversational ecommerce, and AI. Dealership managers can get your tickets today: https://digitalmarketingstrategies.org/.