3 replies to this topic

[Archie]

A Website 'A' has a backlink from Website 'B' however, the backlink appears on a page using a robots meta tag with "Index, Nofollow". Google advises that Website 'B' provides a link to Website 'A' so it has indexed the URL, but what about the value of the backlink from such a page compared with one with no robot restrictions ?

That sites with backlinks from quality sites are given extra weight is well known but I wonder whether Google simply counts the backlink as a 'vote' for Website 'A' or whether, in addition, it analyzes the content of the target page (and perhaps more) for relevancy before adding weight?

Perhaps the Google technology page provides an insight: although the context is in 'searches' it states "Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines dozens of aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query."

Given that Google's algorithms are secret the above questions are perhaps rhetorical, but I guess this really begs the question why a site providing the backlink would want to try and prevent the target page being indexed in any event?

I'd be very interested to hear any views on this.

[Randy]

I'm not sure what question you'd like an answer to or opinion about Archie.

Every webmaster has the right and the ability to tell the search engines not to follow any link or any group of links. The search engines have the right and the ability to listen to these requests, or disregard them completely. Though conventional wisdom tells us the search engines do take the webmaster's wishes into account.

As far as the content on the page that links to another page goes, Yes it is part of the equation. Especially when you're talking about Anchor Text of a link. For a normal link you can think of the Anchor Text as being counted as content both of the page that is doing the linking and also of the page being linked to. So if the Anchor Text matches up with what's on the page being linked to it can reinforce the rest of the content on the page.

Whether this works the same way if a link is Nofollow'd or not is open to debate. Each search engine can and probably does treat this type of situation differently, but it would be a safe bet that nofollowing these links would have an effect.

[Archie]

I'm not sure what question you'd like an answer to or opinion about Archie.

Hi Randy,

Thanks for your response
The answers / opinions I was seeking were given in my posting i.e. why a site providing the backlink would want to try and prevent the target page being indexed.

I guess the answer to my question, therefore, is that the site owners in question must be attempting to affect negatively the value of the links (for the target site) they are providing on their website. That a webmaster has the right and the ability to tell the search engines not to follow any link or any group of links is not in question but what I find puzzling is why they would want to do this - hence my posting.

The only reason I can think of is perhaps they may regard some of the sites listed on their pages as competitors but if this is the case why include a link at all?

Best regards
Archie

[Randy]

There are a number of reasons a webmaster might choose to nofollow links to external sites Archie. If it's user contributed content without any pre-moderation is one huge reason, like with blog comments.

If it's a link they place on their site themselves, it probably comes down to them being too lazy to check out the sites they're linking to, or a complete misunderstanding of how the search engines work.