What is a No Follow Link?
A no follow link does not add value to the page in terms of boosting PageRank, and does not affect the document's placement in search engine results pages. They are used when you may want to link to something but do not want to transfer PageRank value to that target. For example, if you are being paid to display a link, or get paid commission for people that follow such a link, you do not want to add PageRank to that target, because this is viewed as spam by Google, and you could be removed from Google's database.
Additionally you might want to point to something on the internet that is poorly made, fraudulent or just generally bad for some reason, but you don't want to give PageRank to that target.
It's as simple as that.
Here's how a selection of search engines treat no follow links:
- Google: The Googlebot does not follow the link. Easy.
- Yahoo: Any found link is made available to their algorithms for finding new content, irrespective of the no follow attribute. However, Yahoo does exclude the link from ranking calculations.
- Ask.com: They do not recognise the no follow attribute, so it makes no difference either way.
- Bing: might or might not recognise no follow links depending on context, but does exclude the link from ranking calculations.
Google's Matt Cutts has weighed in about PageRank and the no follow link attribute. If you're up in the air about how to treat your links, then his advice may be useful to you.
Brett from Michigan asks Matt Cutts of Google:
“Are there negative SEO implications to having a blog with do-follow comments? What about commenting on do-follow blogs?”
Question: Can having do-follow comments on my blog affect its reputation?
Short answer: Yes.
Question: Are there negative implications to having a blog with do-follow comments?
Short Answer: Yes.
Watch the following video for more detailed information:
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