17 replies to this topic

[SpamHelp]

Hi,

To make sure all the sites linking to my site get listed in Google, I would like to create a page which automatically generates a page with the list of all the URLs linking to my site, ranked by number of hits. This would be linked to from the 'link to us' page. However, I don't wish that I pass on PageRank for whoever is linking, nor do I wish that this page gets indexed as it would just be a list of URLs.

So I thought about using the robots meta tag - "noindex, follow". However, I have one query. Since I'm going to use the noindex, will Google keep visiting the page to follow the links?

If not, how will I be able to achieve this? I will definitely need Google to keep revisiting the site, as new links _would_ be added.

Edited by Jill, 06 October 2003 - 05:44 PM.

[Tom Philo]

Hi,

If the page is itself linked to from other pages then it will be visited, not indexed, and the links on this page would be checked.

the http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/faq.html site explains how the robots.txt file and robot commands are followed but how Google® AltaVista® or any of the others actually handle these can, and likely, vary.

On my own site I have a few pages that have that command (outdated pages redirecting to newer pages) and it took years for them to drop out of the SERPs. Some people, though, never updated their pages to point to the newer page of mine so I left the target pages on my site, with no data and redirects to the newer and the robots have seen them, likely put them into their own "found but not displayed" type of index, and went onto the real page.


I suspect that that page exists in Google but is not in any SERP.

A Google, serach engine type of expert would have to confirm my suposition.

[Jill]

Welcome, Spamhelp!

Why do you not want to pass on the PageRank? I think you'd have to exclude the page of links all together from Google, in order for the links not to count towards the site's page rank.

Jill

[SpamHelp]

Actually, the reason is that I wouldn't want to be in the backward links of some site with content i'd rather not be linking to. (eg a site with unrelated content, a site with poor content etc)

[Scottie]

Um... so... why do you want them showing up in your backward links?

[Jill]

This whole scenario sounds fishy.

What is it you're actually trying to achieve? I think we're missing about half of the story.

Jill

[SearchRank]

Actually, the reason is that I wouldn't want to be in the backward links of some site with content i'd rather not be linking to. (eg a site with unrelated content, a site with poor content etc)

Then don't link to them.

I don't think there is any way to accomplish what you are trying to do. If someone links to you and you then link back to them, its going to get picked up. You said "To make sure all the sites linking to my site get listed in Google..." but then you said "So I thought about using the robots meta tag - "noindex, follow...".

That doesn't make any sense.

[SpamHelp]

All I want is to make sure that Google indexes every single page that links to my site. To do this, I will make a page that automatically displays links for Google to follow those links and index the pages that are linking to me.

But in return, I do not want to pass on my PageRank to a competing site, which would push me down the rankings. I know it sounds unfair, but this is what SEO is all about. Also, this page would look stupid and I wouldn't want it listed in search results.

So I thought that "noindex, follow" would be perfect for me. Google would come to the page, doesn't index it (hence doesn't pass on PageRank) and instead crawls all the URLs that are linking to my site.

But I'm wondering... will Google keep on re-entering the page to follow the links, or will it never visit again because of the noindex? I would want Google to keep on entering so that if there are new links, they would be crawled as well.

[SpamHelp]

Um... so... why do you want them showing up in your backward links?

There is nothing I can do to stop the sites from being in my backward links. If they're linking to me, they will be in my backward links.

[SpamHelp]

Then don't link to them.

If I don't link to them, Google might not know anything about them. I want Google to know about them so as to increase my rankings.

[torka]

How will having Google index your competitors help your rankings?

But in return, I do not want to pass on my PageRank to a competing site, which would push me down the rankings.

If they're your competitors, don't link to them. Why on earth would you want to help Google find your competitors?

If they're not your competitors, then why are you worried about "passing on" Page Rank to them? PageRank is merely a "vote" from your site. You don't lose PR by linking to somebody else.

If the links are useful for your site visitors, then just link to them and stop worrying about it. If the links aren't useful to your site visitors, then don't include them. Outbound links from your site aren't going to do a darned thing to increase your site's PR.

Frankly, what it sounds like is that you're trying to trick these other sites into linking to you in a supposedly "reciprocal" agreement. You'll gain the benefit of their PR "vote" but you don't want to actually reciprocate -- you want to show them a page that appears to link back to them, but you don't want them to get any PR from it. Which basically violates the spirit of a reciprocal link exchange, IMHO.

If this isn't what you're trying to do, perhaps you'd better explain more clearly what your intentions are, because what you've said so far isn't making much sense. <_<

--Torka

[Ron Carnell]

I'm guessing SH has a list of inbound links that, for some reason, he feels might not be in Google's index? If the pages linking to him aren't indexed, of course, he gets no credit for the links. So, he wants to make sure G knows about those pages, but wants to do so at the least cost to himself?

Is that a fair assessment, SpamHelp?

If so, SH, I suspect you're tilting at windmills. At the start of the Link Pop craze, a list of incoming link pages was a fairly common "trick" recommended by many, but we quickly discovered it was largely unnecessary. If you know about a page linking to you, chances are pretty darn good that Google knows about it, too. The first step I would suggest, then, is use some of Google's Advanced Operators to find out. The allinurl operator will probably tell you what you need to know and save you a whole lot of worry.

[SpamHelp]

I'm guessing SH has a list of inbound links that, for some reason, he feels might not be in Google's index? If the pages linking to him aren't indexed, of course, he gets no credit for the links. So, he wants to make sure G knows about those pages, but wants to do so at the least cost to himself?

Is that a fair assessment, SpamHelp?

If so, SH, I suspect you're tilting at windmills. At the start of the Link Pop craze, a list of incoming link pages was a fairly common "trick" recommended by many, but we quickly discovered it was largely unnecessary. If you know about a page linking to you, chances are pretty darn good that Google knows about it, too. The first step I would suggest, then, is use some of Google's Advanced Operators to find out. The allinurl operator will probably tell you what you need to know and save you a whole lot of worry.

At least someone sorts of understands me The incoming links is largely unnecessary as you say, with which I agree completely, but it's not completely unncessary. If some site is linking to your site from the template and adds a new page, chances are that it would take quite a while till the page gets indexed by Google. Linking to it yourself might speed things up a bit.

At the moment, what I'm doing is that whenever I find a new incoming URL, I submit it to Google so that it gets indexed. Even then, Google only sees 1 backward link that I submitted over a month ago, even though it has successfully cached links from other sites ... but even though the links are in its cache, it doesn't mark them as backward links, and I don't get PR votes.

Another idea I could use that might be more effective is that when an incoming link gives its 3rd hit from the same URL (useful for filtering out URLs with session IDs in them), it automatically submits it to Google... though I'm not sure if this goes against their TOS.

[Jill]

But in return, I do not want to pass on my PageRank to a competing site, which would push me down the rankings.

There's your flaw in your thinking. That's just big time incorrect.

Link to the pages or don't link to the pages, but we're not going to give you advice on how you can trick Google or subvert PageRank.

I'm sure if you do a search on Google itself for how to subvert PageRank, you can find all sorts of articles that will help you. It's not the kind of advice you'll find here, however.

Jill

[SpamHelp]

Link to the pages or don't link to the pages, but we're not going to give you advice on how you can trick Google or subvert PageRank.

If you read my previous post you will notice that I don't intend on cheating Google, but I am just trying to get Google to index the pages linking to me faster.