41 replies to this topic

[sufyaaan]

Makes absolutely no difference at all especially the last one.
Using no-follow on your own choice of links??? what does that say apart from "I don't trust my own judgement"

You are wrong. By 'nofollow' I meant 'nofollow' attribute in your anchor tags as in <a href="site" rel="nofollow">Site</a>. If you are linking to a possible bad neighborhood with rel="nofollow" in your anchor tags, AFAIK it will prevent your site from getting penalized by Google.

BTW, don’t loose temper for nothing. If you don’t agree with my statement, then don’t try to be too smart with comments that you made above.

[Jill]

You are wrong.

Actually, Chris is right. The nofollow attribute tells the search engines that you don't trust the links you're pointing to. It is intended for links that people might make in a comment on a blog that you don't have time to police and remove.

You can certainly use them for the purpose you mention, but it doesn't stop that fact that you're telling the engines that you don't trust the link. Why link to something you don't trust would be the question I would ask if I were an engine.

[sufyaaan]

That is what I meant by my first post. If you add 'nofollow' attribute to those links that you think are part of bad neighborhood, your site won't be penalized by SEs. What's there to disagree then?

[Randy]

Just my opinion, but you shouldn't be linking to those sites at all in the first place if they are that useless. How can the be of any value to your visitors? No need to use a nofollow if you never link to them.

[Jill]

If you add 'nofollow' attribute to those links that you think are part of bad neighborhood, your site won't be penalized by SEs. What's there to disagree then?

Why in the world would you link to a bad neighborhood? That's what there is to disagree with!

I just can't imagine the scenario:

"Hey all my site visitors! Here's some links to icky sites...have at it!"

[oneofthe3lions]

you could always add some pop ups, sound bites and a heavy flash intro to go with those links.

[sufyaaan]

Why in the world would you link to a bad neighborhood? That's what there is to disagree with!

I just can't imagine the scenario:

"Hey all my site visitors! Here's some links to icky sites...have at it!"

LOLz...

Well, when you start link exchange with 100s of sites, you don't check on DAILY basis whether some of your partner sites have now been banned by a certain SE and become a part of bad neighborhood, do you?

[Scottie]

Well, the likelihood of that happening if you are only linking to sites you would personally recommend is pretty slim.

If you simply accept every reciprocal link offer that someone sends you without bothering to look at the site (except to make sure they aren't putting [nofollow] on your link) then go ahead and put nofollow on them to tell the engines you don't trust those links.

Of course, that makes one wonder why you have a reciprocal link page in the first place...

[Jill]

Well, when you start link exchange with 100s of sites, you don't check on DAILY basis whether some of your partner sites have now been banned by a certain SE and become a part of bad neighborhood, do you?

Sorry, but anyone who would show their visitors a site that they don't truly recommend is a fool. Plain and simple.

If you have no respect for your site visitors, why should they bother with your site?

[sufyaaan]

Do you think most people create Link Exchange page(s) for their visitors or to increase their BLs today?

BTW, some do create 'voluminous' directories. Is it done in an effort to serve their visitors or to boost their PR? ;-)

[Jill]

sufyaaan, and it's all those people doing what you said above that after each Google update.

Eventually they'll get it or go out of business.

[sufyaaan]

Jill, I'm sorry about it. You're right we shouldn't link to a bad neighborhood.

[glengara]

Couple of things I have to disagree with, according to Matt Cutts the nofollow denotes a "neutrality" towards the link rather than any negative connotation, and actually uses an example of linking to a "Blackhat Spammer" as a possible use for the attribute.

As for why you might want to link to a bad neighbourhood, if you're writing about certain areas in this sector, it would be good to be able to give "live" examples without the risk of negative comebacks......

[sufyaaan]

glengara - You are correct.

[Randy]

And you guys wonder why none of the search engines have ever laid out exactly how they're going to treat the nofollow attribute... They're probably enjoying the heck out of everybody trying to figure out how to use, or possibly abuse something when no standard has yet been set.

I can see it already. Sometime in a year or so there's going to be a Google Update and some sites that have been up there on the first page suddenly drop out of sight. The site owners say they're all completely clean and they are for the most part, except for the fact that a some of the outbound links on their links.html page have a nofollow attribute.

So the theory is going to be that they're being Penalized for trying to hoard PR.