Trying to follow the nofollow following

by Darren Ravens

The nofollow debate is not new. The “rel=nofollow” attribute for anchor tags was created as a counter to the spurge of comment spamming that had become the bane of blogs (and forums) all over the 'Net. The attribute can also be implemented at a meta tag level to affect multiple links.

While the syntax might suggest the attribute tells crawlers to ignore the link and not follow it, some empirical evidence suggests that these crawlers follow nofollow links regardless - I’m still not convinced either way. Either the spiders are following it and just ignoring the PR transfer, or they're getting there via another link that omits the tag. I suppose the lesson here is that it’s safer to use the robots noindex tag to keep the bots out of where you don't want them.

Anyway, what we know for sure is that the search engine spiders disregard the links' SEO value as a backlink for the target page.

The tag's use has evolved, and we find people using it for any link where they don't want to cast an SEO vote for the site they're linking to. There's plenty of times this'd be perfectly legit, for example if I was linking to a site I wanted to show my users a bad example of a particular practice or to show users a site that I thought was spammy. So now I don't need to worry about the “linking to bad neighbourhoods” factor.

What we've begun to see though, is what looks like an abuse of the nofollow tag. Webmasters making links nofollow as a default.

We've also had instances where people involved in link buying schemes were paying for nofollow links.

So if they're prepared to pay for a link, and are making it clear that they're only interested in the traffic generated from that link and not the PageRank value for SEO, then should that link not be considered as more relevant and legitimate than a bought link that doesn't use the tag? So if the link's more relevant, then maybe it should be counted?

Here's another issue to consider, if a website is using the nofollow tag for all of its links, then doesn't that say to a spider that the website contains content that the webmaster doesn't trust or won't vouch for? If the webmaster doesn't trust a site's content, should the Search Engines?

Of course, unless you actually scanned through the source code to check, it wouldn't be obvious that a link was a nofollow unless they're set to display differently via the CSS.

Another way to make nofollow links visible is with the SearchStatus tool's “highlight nofollow links” function. Playing around with it, you'll be surprised at how often the tag gets used.

I think nofollow gets used way too often. There seems to be an enduring SEO myth that linking out somehow dilutes a page's PR. So you get webmasters implementing nofollow all over the place to hoard their PageRank. Besides the fact that I think the PR leak paranoia is completely unjustified, I can't help feel that this stinginess with the “linklove” is contrary to the spirit of sharing and cooperation that the Internet is supposed to be all about. Then again maybe I am just being naïve...

Oh, and nofollow doesn't really seem to have deterred the link spammers anyway.

2006/08/01 | permalink | comments (1) | trackbacks (0)

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Recent Comments

Kat on Engaging as a Company

I agree with you. There are some things that should ideally not be discussed by an employee in the public sphere.
Would a communications policy have stopped the said journo from speaking out? He/she must have known a huge risk was being taken? I suppose it's also an incredibly difficult thing to predict. The lack of control can be alarming.
I'm definitely interested in seeing a more specific list, so if you find it do share.
Thank you for your comments :). Here's hoping there's a good coffee shop close to you..
vincent on Engaging as a Company

I guess the mark of a well crafted brand starts at HR policy for new recruits - ensuring that they fit the brand's/corporate's persona. So in that sense yes you could argue that left to their own devices employees would, regardless of an online communications policy, communicate in a style the sponsor would approve of. Not sure if that's always the case but I'm inclined to agree with this generalization.
I think what is also important is that the individual writing within the bounds of a sponsor's site does so in a restricted locale. You can police your own domain if you're a corporate, you can't necessarily control the individuals mouth outside of it. For instance on twitter, personal blogs and forums. Owing to the nature of niche stardom you could argue that the employee comes to represent the brand, more so than that personifies the brand in organic conversation with consumers and would carry significant weight both within corporate sites and externally. Making some individuals very wary to write for their companies at all.
For instance in our not too distant past a prominent journo got the boot for publishing his gripes with his employers and their professional ability - he was promptly fired...He would no doubt have been policed on a company blog but owing to the fact that he chose to represent the company elsewhere he took his brand and the papers brand with him - dragging both through the mud as traipsed on towards epic-failuredom...
So to come back to a point, there is definitely a sense that the policies as listed above are quite ambiguous. Even you yourself suggest that requisite legalese is absent, and I have to assume that such legalese would include a fairly long list of do's and dont's. I have a list somewhere laying about which dictates in a very bland corporate fashion how to represent the brand in public - if I find it I will share it with you.
Perhaps its worthwhile to enforce points like "don't tell secrets" and my own favourite, "for the love of god don't gripe about the boss who you've publicly named online"...
That's my mental-riff for the day, I'm afraid I veered rather uncharitably off course but such is the nature of thought.
Now if only the company I worked for had some decent coffee!!
Kat on Engaging as a Company

Transparency is a key issue - as is allowing people to carve their own niche.
My thinking is that people engage with a personality - an individual personality - in conversation more than with a collective. It's just easier. A company personality surely reflects the people who work there as well as a crafted (constructed?) image that the stakeholders choose to present. While you want engagement it's not the same as speaking to an individual.
There are definite risks involved - but I would lean towards allowing people to carve a niche.
vincent on Engaging as a Company

Couldn't have said it better. Nice post, it is most certainly something corporates are going to struggle with. How much transparency is too much? Who should be allowed to represent a brand and to what extent should the individual be given the opportunity to carve their own niche rather than extol the virtues of the mother - brand?
Who knows. We shall soon see as this year pans out and we find out how the big media players tackle the rise of the cost effective digital media channel.
Kat on Engaging as a Company

It is a tough issue, and I can understand why you've never published. I would encourage you to do so though - you probably have a feeling for when your writing reflects your voice and when it doesn't - and the rewards are worth it.
Thanks for reading Wendy. :)

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Trying to follow the nofollow following

by Darren Ravens

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