(Entry was posted by Nick Ratterman on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 06/21/2018).

Could this potentially hurt us if I were to suddenly `nofollow` all of backlinks?

We have a web application that is a CMS that hosts over 1000 domains. Each page on each domain has links in the header and footer pointing back to our brochure site (website powered by `blah`). According to SEMRush, we have tens of thousands of backlinks to the site... but the vast majority are coming from pages on our own server. In your guys opinion, should I `nofollow` or `alternate` these links? Could this potentially hurt us if I were to suddenly `nofollow` all of these backlinks?

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Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

Yigit Kocak: No. of backlinks isn`t relevant anymore. Do a comparison between backlinks and referring domains. If there is a huge gap, Google could penalize you for that if it sees a shady practice.Test out by using the "nofollow" attribute. If that doesn`t work, erase some of the links and see if that helps. Experimenting with different linking methods might help you too (analyze how others are using a linking strategy similar to your business).In the end, ask yourself if it truly is natural to use self-referring links. I`d compare the risks and advantages of using these links. If risks weight a lot more than its advantages, I`d change the strategy right away.
Nick Rattermann: +Yigit Kocak Thanks for your reply. Very helpful! I`ll experiment with nofollow links right away.

View original question in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 06/21/2018).

Could this potentially hurt us if I were to suddenly `nofollow` all of backlinks?

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

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