Joomla's weblink component, do the links count as backlinks?

[mr_w]

If your using the default Joomla weblink component do the links you add to others sites count as backlinks to those sites?

example: http://www.yakangler.com/helpful-links/26-fishing-blogs-sites

[Martijn_Scheijbeler]

Hi Mark,

Yes they do, however the links get redirected by Joomla via a 303. So the link value is not that big like if you should give them a direct link.

Hope this helps!

[matbennett]

It's impossible to say definitively as only Google know for sure what Google decide to give weight to. However looking at that page there are 3 issues surrounding those links.

1. The links are no-follow
   On paper this means that you are not passing authority through those links, although many (including me) don't quite believe that is true in all cases. However it means that either less or none is likely to be passed.
2. The links are masked and redirected
   This puts a lot of people off when looking at links, but there isn't actually much problem is have a link go through a redirect script in itself. Some PR is lost, but most still passes
3. The redirects are 303 redirects
   Wow - don't see those often! Most SEO discussions revolve around 301 vs 302 redirects. Those links use a 303, which technically means "see elsewhere".  As I say, these are not that common any more so I don't have much recent experience with them. However last time I looked neither Google nor Bing seemed to be passing authority through 303 redirects.

Short answer then is "probably not". However it's always nice to understand why.  You might find that the module has settings that allow you to change some of the factors above.  follow/no follow is not an uncommon setting in such modules.  Redirect type is less so, but sometimes offered.

I hope that helps.

Slightly off-topic question: Are you involved in that Yakangler site?  If you are I'd like to drop you a message about something else.

[mr_w]

Thanks I'll see if there are any settings to adjust, I think it's retarded that Joomla would offer a built in link component that adds links like that by default.

sidenote: yes it's my site   you can pm me on the site or shoot me an email at mark (at) yakangler (dot)com

[matbennett]

Cool - I shall mail you.

[Visiblics]

No, it'll not be counted as backlink.

This is how Google crawls 303 redirects:

website example1.com 303 redirects to website example2.com, search result in search engines would be:
Title: Page Title example2.com
URI: example1.com
Meta Description: Meta description example2.com

So it is confirmed that the 303 redirect does not pass link juice, so it would not even be counted as a backlink

[mr_w]

Wow lots of different views on if they count or not...