The follow/no-follow issue...

1. 76

   DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years ago

   I am confused.
   
   I don't really understand:
   
   1) the full reason why a follow or no-follow may be automatically assigned to any link
   
   2) when inserting a link via the "link" tool within the  body text of the hub, whether or not to select 'follow' or 'no-follow' and why, for each case
   
   3) what are the full implications for the entire hub for each case
   
   Thank you, anyone who can explain this in non-technical terms. 

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   1. 99

      Susana Sposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      1. Links on HP are only automatically assigned nofollow when:
      
      -  hubber score is under 85 or to hubs that have a score under 40
      -  it's an amazon or ebay link (ie: an affiliate link)
      
      The first reason is to discourage people from writing crappy little hubs just to get a link to their website, blog or whatever else. So basically it's about preventing spam. The second reason is explained below.
      
      2. You should nearly always be using "follow". The only times you don't want to follow a link on HP is if:
      
      -  it's an affiliate link
      -  it's to an unrelated site
      -  or if it's to an untrustworthy site, like Psycheskinner said.
      
      3. The implications. If you link out using follow links to good, reliable sources/related webpages to help your readers then that's good both for search rankings and readers. There are other implications of using nofollow, but none that are really relevant to you.

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   2. 45

      Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      When you post a link in a text capsule on HubPages:
      1) Google Webmaster Guidelines requires that the link be NoFollow if it is an advertisement, advertorial or affiliate link;
      2) NoFollow all links which are unrelated to the content of your Hub (like photo credits).Best practices are to NEVER have a link (followed or not) which is unrelated to the content of your Hub;
      3) NoFollow all links to sites or webpages which you do not personally recommend or endorse.
      
      For followed links on a Hub, don't have more than 100 – and that includes all of the links which HP puts on your Hub. Google will value your Hub more if you do have a few followed links to other good webpages (outside of HubPages.com). Google engineer in charge of Search Quality says: "Parts of our system encourage links to good sites." The translation is that your Hub will rank higher in search results.
      
      (There is another long list of links to NoFollow on your personal website or blog.)

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2. 86

   NateB11posted 11 years ago

   My understanding is that too many do-follow links could be seen as spam by Google bots or whatever; they can be seen as a way to manipulate to get traffic or link juice to another site. If it's no-follow, it is no longer used for link juice or indexing so it isn't seen as a manipulation.

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3. 64

   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   There are a bunch of reasons.  One is if you are linking to a site to explain how it is a scam--you don't want to give them Google juice and so can make it no follow.

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4. 76

   DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years ago

   Thank you so very much, everyone, for your clear explanations.
   I think I get it now.  ;-)
   
   Just one more question--if, because I did not understand this before, I made all such links 'no-follow,' can they now be edited, or do I have to delete and start over?

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   1. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I think the bottom line for you is - it's unlikely to be an issue.
      
      The number of 'do follow' or 'no follow' links in your Hubs doesn't matter that much, unless you're linking to disreputable sites, which I'm sure you're not, or you have a large number of links in a Hub, which you probably don't.
      
      It's absolutely fine to have all your links "no follow".   If they are links to your own blogs, then it is worth going back and making them "do follow" because that will help those blogs - but otherwise don't worry about it. You're not going to get any benefit from changing the others.
      
      The reason the do follow/no follow rule was added was to discourage people from writing low quality Hubs with the sole purpose of getting a 'do follow' link to their blog or site.  It has little relevance if that's not your goal.

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      1. 76

         DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, Marisa.  Much appreciated.

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5. 81

   tillsontitanposted 11 years ago

   You alwasy ask the most topical questions Lizzy.  I love following your forums especially when I don't have answers but I do get them!

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   1. 76

      DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, Mary.... ;-)

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6. 74

   Marie Flintposted 11 years ago

   I confess, I haven't paid much attention to this feature, Lizzy. For me, though, (and I'm not sure it's correct), I only check the "no follow" if I don't want that website (the one being linked) to get additional ranking through search engines. Maybe it's something like Wikipedia, which is already a household site.

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