Two SEO questions (nofollow and code position)?

Question

Search Engine Optimization

Recently hired an SEO specialist. The first thing he said to do was to add nofollow to all external links and move the SEO text in the code closer to the beginning. And then I had a question, do these old methods still somehow affect the ranking? Does the position of the text in the code still matter for search engines (after all, there is css)? Really, if the site is a dump of links, then the nofollow attributes will hide all these links from Google and Yandex (and the counted number of external links will not grow)?

Answer 1

In nofollow, it makes sense to hide links to "bad" sites. But then it is better to remove such links altogether. Another option when nofollow is needed is a link from an advertising banner. The advertiser's banner is shown honestly to visitors, but we tell Google that we are not responsible for this link.
If the links inside the articles lead to thematic sites, then there is no point in hiding them, because. it's completely natural.
Wrapping text to the front can help if there's a bunch of other content on the page that comes before it. But if so, does it make sense to remove unnecessary blocks?

Answer 2

The use of nofollow is not a method of cheating the PS and influencing the ranking, but a criterion for a good and high-quality site. It is worth closing "alien" external links - links to social networks, counters and other buttons, as already mentioned above, all unwanted except for thematic links or links to your projects.
SEO text is an outdated concept and a criterion for a bad and spammy site. There should be no SEO content and SEO copywriting in principle, the site should have easy-to-read and high-quality content for people. Without any density of keywords and other things.
Both are written in the Google search engine optimization guide, if you don’t trust an employee, ask how the site is aligned with the requirements of the PS on points.

Answer 3

Does the position of the text in the code still matter for search engines (after all, there is css)

Didn't understand. What is the relationship between text on a page and CSS?
I agree with olen that it is desirable to hide links to sites that you doubt the quality of. And do not hide links to quality resources.

The first thing he said to do was add nofollow to all external links

I used such methods when it was necessary to increase and maintain the TIC. No more.

SEO text in the code near the beginning

There are rumors that the code (read the text) that is located closer to the top of the page has more weight than the code below. But I have not seen evidence of this.

Answer 4

Instead of moving divs with content, wrap everything in OpenGraph or ShemaOrg, after which it doesn’t matter where in the code you have a menu, category description, title, and navigation - the machine will sort everything out by itself)
It makes sense to move h1 and category description above the top menu of course or no.

Answer 5

If you correctly conveyed the words of the SEO specialist, then the truth is on his side.

Answer 6

I think website usability, clean code, and quality content is #1 right now. All this should contribute to reducing the failures of site visitors, the user should stay on the site as long as possible. In my opinion, the search engine is now looking at these criteria.

Answer 7

Cluttering with external links is always not good. And links are not hidden by nofollow, they are not taken into account by the PS, or rather, they are taken into account but with a lower priority.

Answer 8

The text above was moved due to the fact that when the robot enters the site, it indexes the page from top to bottom. Therefore, the higher the text is, the better, the robot eats it faster and attaches great importance to it.