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   Sinea Piesposted 12 years ago

   My blog is a Blogger blog...which is a Google product. Today a new check box showed up in the place where we can set up hyperlinks. It is an option to make the link "no follow". 
   
   I've looked at the learning page they provide to explain it but I don't think I get what the advantage might be. Understanding it could help us a little in understanding how Google works...at least I think so .  Can anybody help me with this?  Here is the link: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bi … swer=96569

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      nightbearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

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         Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I don't think I agree with that.  If you're linking to a relevant picture,video or other websites (which you don't own), that's a positive thing.   Google takes those outgoing links as a sign that you're doing your research and adding value, by finding other online resources to help your readers.

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            lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Pics as well? Oh didn't know that thanks Marisa I'm just 6 months into writing etc so pretty new at this stuff - somewhat new
            
            Thanks again - I won't do it then

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               Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Pictures may be more debatable - but the point is, leaving them "do follow" won't do any harm, as far as I'm aware, so why waste time coding them when it's not necessary?

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                  lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Ok

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      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Nightbear has explained it perfectly. When you say no-follow the website that you link to isn't promoted by your blog. So it doesn't work as a backlink

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         jenuboukaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         So why would one want to be a no follow?  Er, when should you use no follow?

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            WryLiltposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Because if you have lots of links and you're telling Google they're all worth something to those other sites... then Google will think your blog looks spammy and that you'll give a good link to any site, instead of selected good sites. In basic terms anyway.
            
            It's also there so when people comment on your content with a link to their own site, it doesn't help their own site in Google's eyes.

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               jenuboukaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Sweet, thanks for the clarification.

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            lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            You should use no follow if you want to tell the search engines I'm not promoting this guy but just linking to him. Don't count it as a backlink.

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               Sinea Piesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               My latest blog post has 6 links to really great sites that should be a real bonus to my readers. Am I understanding it correctly that I want them to "follow" and it will enhance my post in Google's "eyes"?

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                  Sinea Piesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Another question. The two photos I used in the blog post are flickr. I should have made those links "no follow" right?  I'll have to go back and do that.

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                     lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Yes make the flickr links no-follow.
                     
                     The other  links you could keep them as follow or no-follow its upto you. No-follow doesn't mean your readers can't click the link - they see it as a normal link and everything is exactly the same only search engines don't consider it as a backlink for the site you're linking to.
                     
                     If you truly appreciate the websites you've linked to I'd suggest keeping them as a do-follow as that's a way of saying thanks to the owner of those websites. But, only if you really want to give them a backlink from your blog

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                  WryLiltposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  No, it will enhance those other site's pages in Google's eyes. You're basically telling Google "I support these sites, rank them higher in Google".
                  
                  And yes, Flickr links definitely don't need to be dofollow.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            You would also do it if you had a lot of, say, Amazon affiliate links on your site.  You don't want Google to think your site is just a landing page to sell affiliate products (even if it is!)

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               Sinea Piesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Excellent point. I wish I could "think and speak Google" more fluently. But I am learning. Thanks for adding one more great piece of knowledge.

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      bri36posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you Sinea Pies for bringing this up and helping those of us that are trying to move forward. Knowledge is power top us all iT we can understand it  right?

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   Healthy Pursuitsposted 12 years ago

   Do you think that HP will have that option at any time soon? I have gotten some hits on a couple of pictures that I don't want. It would be nice to be able to stop that.

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      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You can make them No follow if you wish. I'll be doing it for my hubs on Sunday and once I do it - I'll post the html code here. Its something like rel=nofollow
      I'll have to look it up though

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         nightbearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

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            Healthy Pursuitsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you both! Great and useful info. Voted up! 

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            lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I always use the new tab thing Thanks for the no follow code

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            Sinea Piesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Love it, Nightbear. I am the big "open in a new window" herald. Wrote a hub on it. The additional html is so good to know.  This online writing stuff has a lot more work to it than meets the eye but it's well worth the effort.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         How are you going to manage to use HTML code in your Hubs, pray?

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            WryLiltposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Have they changed the ability to use basic HTML using the HTML button in edit mode?

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            lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            U don't know? In each capsule when you edit it you can go to HTML on the top left of each capsule. I use the open in new tab thing already just have to add the no follow. I wonder if it will accept the no follow code - But, I don't see why not

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               Sinea Piesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               What I truly wish they would offer is html editing in our profiles. It bothers me that any links we add will not open in a new window.

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                  lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  That's true

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               Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I always understood that function was very limited, to prevent people adding bannners etc.  I'll be interested to hear whether the no follow code works.

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                  lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  If it doesn't HP should make it possible, anyway I'll be trying today. I checked and luckily Amazon caps are no-follow

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                     Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Can you explain why you feel the need to make your outgoing links no-follow? 
                     
                     I can understand with affiliate links, if you have a lot of them. I can't understand why you're concerned about links to any other site.
                     
                     Making those links "no follow" is telling Google to ignore them. What's the benefit in that?  As you probably know, Google likes to see outgoing links to related sites, so you could adversely affect your Google ranking if you "no follow" unnecessarily.

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                        lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        I'm talking about the flickr links and stuff. I'd definitely not make any other links no follow. Just when I use others pics. I can't get pics of my own all the time

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                           Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                           Why are links to pics a problem then?  IMO, leaving it "do follow" is part of thanking the photographer.

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                              lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                              Its not their personal website. Do you think they're benefited in any way? IF they are I'll leave them as well. Because I'd love people to give me a back link. But since it's on flickr and not their personal site I was wondering

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                                 Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                 I usually link to the photographer's photostream rather than direct to the actual photo.  If they're using their photostream to market their work, that could be a benefit to them.

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                                    lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                    I'll do that as well from the next time. Because acc to the site we're supposed to link to the photos page. But, next time I'll link to their main stream for sure Also when editing previous hubs I'll make the changes

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                                       Sinea Piesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                       I'm a novice at this (afterall, I ASKED this question in the first place) but when you look at some flickr pages they aren't stellar, though the photo you selected may be very good. I love linking (which we should anyway) to let the readers find their page but having Google follow it when the whole page isn't that good...well, maybe that's not a good idea.
                                       
                                       Am I on the right track, lobobrandon?

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                                          Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                          I don't think Google can judge the quality of photos so I don't see how that could be a concern.

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                                             lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                             Yup google can't judge the pics - at least for now (Who knows what's in-store!)

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                        nightbearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

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                           Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                           I'm not an expert, and I don't follow any particular guru, but that's not my understanding at all. 
                           
                           First, I agree - Google wants to see only relevant links.  Even a few irrelevant links are bad news. But Google's war on outgoing links is targeted specifically at penalizing landing pages and affiliate spam.  If you have a small blog (or a small HubPages sub-domain) stuffed with outgoing links, be careful - because if Google decides you've created a few token pages just to send readers elsewhere, you're in trouble.  But if you have a substantial collection of Hubs, there are advantages to linking out.
                           
                           Google actually likes relevant links to reputable sites.  It demonstrates that you've done your research, and you're being helpful to your readers.  Google doesn't like selfish websites!
                           
                           That's been well known on HubPages for a couple of years.  HubPages used to recommend 10 outgoing (related) links in a 1,500 word Hub.  Some Hubbers tried it and found that yes, adding the links improved their rank significantly.  I used to add mine below the comments in a "Further Reading" section, so Google could see them but readers wouldn't be tempted away - unfortunately we can't do that now.
                           
                           One of my friends recently tried an experiment. She added fifty - yes, fifty - outgoing links to her blog, including competing websites.  They were all do follow.  She put them on pages that readers rarely visit - things like the Contact or Privacy pages.  Her blog shot up the SERPS.  I haven't gotten around to doing the same (I know, lazy) but I know two other people who repeated the experiment with the same result.
                           
                           As for Flickr and other photo sites - I agree that Google knows what they are, but that's precisely why they're unlikely to be a problem.  Google knows  they're not spammy sites, and they're a useful resource for webmasters to source images.  So why on earth would they penalize webmasters for using them?  You'll notice even a small site like HubPages makes exceptions for Flickr in their link restrictions, so it would be easy for Google to do the same.
                           
                           Like I say, I'm not an expert, but I've found it's never a good idea to listen to just one "guru".

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                              nightbearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

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                                 Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                 Glad you found it helpful. I've also been doing some checking on Ed Dale.  I'd forgotten who he was - he and Dan Raine are behind the 30 Day Challenge (not the HP one!).    Lots of people assume Ed must be a great guy because he gives that course away free.  I'm not so convinced, because to me it looks more like a teaser to sell you his paid products. 
                                 
                                 I confess the only product I've actually tried is Wordpress Direct, and it's a rip-off (I wrote a Hub about it) - so that makes me suspicious of his other stuff.
                                 
                                 I'm wary of all the gurus these days, anyway, because they made their money pre-Panda, and most of them are still teaching the same methods - which no longer work.  You'll still see them spruiking mini-sites, auto-blogging and even keyword-stuffing.  I'm still waiting for a new guru to emerge, someone who's actually created new websites and made big money since Panda!

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                                    nightbearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

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                                       Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                       That's a great article.  MI guess first impressions stick - I still think Wordpress Direct is an over-priced service, taking advantage of newbies who don't know better (and I was under the impression it was marketed at Challengers during the Challenge).  So I made up my mind based on that alone.  Maybe I have to rethink my attitude!

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                              Sinea Piesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                              Marisa, not self promoting here but this truly WILL help you not to send those readers away no matter where you place the links. You HAVE to set them up to open in a new window. Not hard to do. My hub Readers-How to Keep them has the step by step. It's worth the little work it takes to do it.
                              <link snipped - no promotional links>

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                                 lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                 I already do it on all my hubs

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                           Sinea Piesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                           Yikes, nightbear....I am so over-social marketed that I don't have a Google + account. So I need one to help conquer Google SEO?

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                              nightbearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

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                                 Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                 Is that on your own searches, or are you using another computer or a rank checking service? 
                                 
                                 Bear in mind Google customises searches now, so what you see isn't what others see - even if you're not logged into your Google account, Google remembers your IP address.

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                                    nightbearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

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                                       Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                       I don't think pausing your history or changing the search settings on Google makes much difference, because that's to do with your Google account, not your IP address.  I guess if you're using two different IP addresses - one for writing and browsing, and one for checking ranking - that may be enough. 
                                       
                                       It would be easy enough to check - test a URL yourself, then ask a friend to check the same URL.
                                       
                                       As for Google+ - I'll be interested to see what Ed has to say about it.  He mentions it in that article:
                                       
                                       "Joe and Jane Smith “like” stuff, they “tweet” stuff, they “Pin” stuff…
                                       
                                       They don’t link stuff.
                                       
                                       They don’t +1 stuff either (but that’s an article for another day)."

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                                    nightbearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

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                                       Sinea Piesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                       Thanks so much, nightbear

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   Scribenetposted 12 years ago

   Great info on the no-follow. I haven't paid attention until now, this explains it and I like the information on the code! Thank you!

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      Sinea Piesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      me too

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