No Follow Link Explained In Basic Terms You Can Understand

by Justin Harrison | 27th February 2010

Elements of an HTML which are used to direct search engines that a hyperlink is not to affect the rank of a search engines index is known as a no follow link. No follow links are designed to help eliminate search engine spam as well as create better search engine results.

Google designed the idea of the no follow attribute value in 2005 to eliminate the spam that could come through in a search when using keywords in the search engines. The no follow link is not for blocking access to web content, only for preventing the content to be indexed by the search engines.

A links intended page rank will not be affected nor would its content be blocked by hyperlinks that include the rel=?nofollow? attribute. Though the no follow attribute was designed and copyrighted by Google, its value is being used by several others including, Bing, Yahoo, and Windows Live Search.

Rather than not follow the link in a literal since, search engines are supposed to not catalog the link in their databases. The page will remain operable and still load without material being blocked. This is just away to prevent the indexing of spam that appears as a result to the search. Google suggest that the no follow link be enacted in a literal sense where the link will not be followed at all. However, in reports conducted for the SEO different information was discovered. Here it was determined that the links did work but was not indexed to the page it linked to. For Yahoo this means that link will be followed but not taken into consideration in its ranking considerations. MSN Search has yet another variation where the no follow link is neither counted nor followed. The definition of the no follow link will differ from site to site.

Most weblog software programs will submit links as no follow by design without giving the opportunity to modify. Others allow modifications by trustworthy users. There is yet a third form of programs that permits writers to enter it exactly as they please and have the results sorted by human editors These editors then remove or discard any useless links.

Using the no follow link, the unwanted contents can be avoided in the web. Most of the web owners have blogs or forum posting in order to increase the site ranking. Rankings can go down rapidly by an unpleasant or harmful post. The no follow link allows these posts but safeguards the webpage owner but excluding these posts to affect the ranking.

Google has began using the no follow links as a machine readable revelation for paid links and therefore keeping them from gaining any credibility in the search engines results. The web owners are still debating over whether or hurting them as many pages are paying for links to be traded on their site in hopes of raising their page rank. The no follow link has been contradicted many times over where SEO is concerned and it depends on the web owner as to if they allow them on the site or not.

Justin Harrison is an internationally recognised Internet Marketing expert who provides world class Search Engine Optimization to website owners. For more information visit: http://www.seorankings.co.za

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