Nofollow Tags - New Nofollow Link Tag Explained

NoFollow Link Tag Overview

The new nofollow link tag provides webmasters with the chance to add a link to their website without leaking PageRank to the page they are linking to. Using the nofollow tag in an outgoing link also means that anyone who runs a blog or a forum on their site does not have to worry about culling links so regularly.

The webmasters can leave all of the posted links on their blog or forum, as they will not leak any PageRank because of the nofollow tags. If they make it clear that they are using automatic nofollow tags on their links, it also means that they reduce the number of pointless posts that appear purely to try and affect the page rank of the linking site.

Why do People post links on Blogs?

One major factor in how your site is ranked by Google is the number of links you have pointing to your site. Many webmasters are now using unethical linking techniques to secure as many inbound links as possible because of this. The most common technique used by these webmasters is to post a comment in an online blog or forum. When this link appears, it not only allows people who are reading the blog to visit the linked site, it also drains PageRank from the website which contains the blog or forum. Hopefully the use of nofollow tags will dramatically decrease the amount of webmasters who try this.

Using Nofollow Link Tags

Anyone who can write a hyperlink in HTML should be able to add nofollow tags to their links. It only takes two or three seconds and could give your site a huge boost in PageRank by not sharing it with sites that are not willing to share theirs with you.

Adding nofollow tags is as easy as typing rel="nofollow" when you are coding the link.

A hyperlink without the new nofollow tag would normally look something like this :

href="http://www.linked-site.com">Link Anchor Text

A hyperlink with the nofollow tag is not much different, it would look something like:

href="http://www.linked-site.com" rel="nofollow"> Link Anchor Text

New Nofollow Tags - Good Thing or Bad Thing?

The nofollow link tag can be seen as good or bad, depending on how you look at it. From a blog owner's point of view, the nofollow link tag could be seen as an important tool in the fight against spam links. If they are willing to spend a small amount of time each day simply adding rel="nofollow" into any spam links added to their site they will be able to save their site from leaking its valuable PageRank to any unethical webmasters. In fact, many blog companies are already adding the nofollow tags automatically to the code, when someone enters a new link, in an attempt to discourage spammers.

One problem which the new nofollow link tag brings into light is the fact that unethical SEO companies will offer link exchanges to unsuspecting or amateur webmasters who do not realise the nofollow tag even exists. This could cause problems to anyone trying to gather links to their website to earn themselves some vital PageRank.

Nofollow Link Tag - Opinion

We have not formed a full opinion on the nofollow tags as yet. Like everything else, the nofollow link tag has its good points and its bad points. The only way to see how good or bad this new link tag will be is to wait and see how many webmasters use it and how they use it.

We cannot advise you whether or not to use this nofollow link tag but we do strongly advise you to be aware of it.

Anyone who values their sites PageRank should regularly check the link code used by all of their link partners. If you find one of your link partners using the nofollow link tag on one of your links, you may want to contact the webmaster and ask them to remove it. If not, you will be sharing your PageRank with their site and getting nothing back in return! At least, with the nofollow tag explained, you will now be aware of how it can benefit, or harm your site.