[SEODude]

Hi to All...

I have a nagging question... in several parts; that I really would like some EXPERT Help with, here goes...


• I have given an outbound link, to another site, I have put the rel=”nofollow” attribute in the link to prevent my site from leaking PageRank, how does this effect my page rank and rankings of my site? Given the fact that I have placed the rel=”nofollow” tag in the link, does this protect my website from transferring the pagerank to the recipient site? And how are my rankings affected?
  
• Can I be penalized in search engines for using the rel=”nofollow” tag?
  
• Does it make a difference if I use the rel=”nofollow” inside a reciprocal link (in a link exchange)?

I appreciate ANY Help... Thanks
SEODude

[seoworkgroup]

no Its your site and its totally up to you that to whom you would like to give link as dofollow or nofollow. the nofollow link don't transfer the link juice so don't worry...

[Magreth]

Welcome, both of you and thank you for pointing out some of the issues related with the rel="nofollow" HTML attribute.
Considering the statement that your primary objective is to insert this outgoing link on your site while you make sure your website's "Keyphrase Rankings" will not be affected, I will make every effort to answer this multi-part question effectively.

What is Rel="nofollow"? - Let's start analyzing the definition of the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute and I am sure any interesting issues will come to light.
Before going any further; I want to make it clear that "rel" is an HTML attribute, not a HTML tag.

Rel="nofollow" has been inaccurately referred to as a HTML tag. It is in fact an "attribute" that can be added to HTML tags, similar to adding the attribute "width" or "height" to HTML tags such as <IMG> or <TABLE>; the attribute rel="nofollow" is used on individual anchor tags <A> for links.

Additionally, I would like to emphasize that the standard syntax for implementing this HTML attribute is: Rel="nofollow" and not rel="no follow" as many wrongly believe the latter with a space in between "NO Follow" is not correct.

Here is an example link using the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute:



In early 2005, Google announced that hyperlinks with the rel="nofollow" HTML attribute would not be crawled nor would it influence the link target's PageRank and SERPs position ranking.

Subsequently, the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute was respected by several other important search engines. It was intended to limit the effect of blog and forum comment spam on search engine indexes, thereby improving the quality of search engine results and preventing "spamdexing" from occurring.

The concept for the specification of the attribute value "nofollow" was designed by Google's head of webspam team Matt Cutts and Jason Shellen from Blogger.com in 2005.

Look at it this way: the rel="nofollow" HTML attribute is like a declaration of non endorsement of the link target's web page: Nofollow is a technique to annotate a link to tell search engines "I can't or don't want to vouch for this link." In Google, nofollow links don't pass on PageRank or anchortext.

Here is the official Google blog post announcing Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute posted back in January, 2005:


Reaching Conclusion Number One:
Google makes it clear that the destination site rankings will not be affected but it has not been written that "Your website will not be affected!"

So, what are the consequences for your site if you give that link?

Let's now study the way PageRank distribution between your website and your outbound links used to be calculated in the past, and how it is calculated now (Diagram A):




So, in the first case study we have a website (prior to January 18, 2005 not using Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute) with PageRank 6. The site has 3 outbound links. Each one of those 3 links receives an equal share of 2 PageRank points minus 15% due to PageRank Decay Factor.

In the second case study we have the same website (After January 18, 2005) and this time implementing the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute to one of the 3 outbound links, resulting in 3 PageRank points for the links without Rel="nofollow" and 0 PageRank points to the link where Rel="nofollow" has been applied. Obviously the 2 PageRank points which previously would have gone the third link now are shared between the links without Rel="nofollow" minus the 15% for PageRank Decay Factor.

In the third case we have the same website (After June 15, 2009) again; one outbound link uses the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute while the two other links don't. Now the PageRank flow calculation has changed and the 2 points which the site with the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute lost, are no longer shared by the 2 other outbound links; in fact they are not transferred at all.

While Google does not makes it clear whether those 2 PageRank points will remain on your website or will be eliminated due to an increased decay phenomenon (a well kept secret of new PageRank computation algorithm) one thing is more than certain:
Given the fact that PageRank Decay Factor of 10%-15% is applied on the total number of outbound links a 15% PageRank Decay has to be calculated on the 6 PageRank points and not on the 4 PageRank points actually transferred.

Reaching Conclusion Number Two: An increased number of outlinks "with or without" the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute will considerably contribute to an accelerated PageRank Decay phenomenon which will damage your website's overall SEO performance.

Now let's try to evaluate if using the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute could possibly reduce or totally eliminate any negative effect possibly caused by the existence of an outbound link on your website.

Some people believe that giving an outbound link with the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute, will result in a neutral SEO performance effect purely because of the existence of the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute applied in those links.

Some of you who maybe have a blog or a webpage will find it logical that you cannot be held responsible for any irrelevant and/or frustrating outbound links inserted by your visitors or even worse, common spammers, to your blog, remember that most blog software programs today insert automatically the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute in those outbound comment links so you renounce them immediately and have nothing to do with them right?

Big Mistake! You have the responsibility to read and maintain your blog every day and delete any form of spam (unrelated comments and links): YOU are 100% responsible for keeping your content or outbound links related, appropriate and tasteful. It doesn't matter if you use the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute or not! The best advice is to use common sense – making sure that your outbound links are relevant to your website's theme and contain high quality, relevant content.

Think of it this way: why should Google continue to assign you top Rankings if your website is linked to unrelated content that is not what internet searchers expected to find?

The visitor to your website, brought to you by the search engine, will leave and you will never see them again, and with them, your Google ranking as well.

My advice is that you should allow PageRank to flow freely within your site. Let both search engine spiders and internet searchers decide which information in your website or your outbound links is valuable or not.

If you are not sure what an external resource is worth or whether it is worth giving your outbound link, or you can not just refer to that resource without giving a direct outbound link. It is better to err on the side of caution and refer to the link as this in this example: "Please go to anydomain dot com" instead of: "Please go to http:// anydomain.com"
Outbound links must occur naturally inside the context as a result of necessity to indicate a resource related with the subject you are trying to explain, develop or analyze.

Such links and especially if they are inside anchor text must be highly related to your context if you have even a small doubt that they should not be included, it is better to avoid them (for example you can insert a non clickable link to indicate a website) instead of using a clickable link with the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute inside.

One thing is more than certain: When Google evaluates your outbound linking profile, much more complicated link computation algorithms are employed than the simplified scenario described in the official Google blog post announcing the Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute. Possibly the purpose of announcing Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute is to teach novice webmasters how to renounce bad outbound links, or even worse when Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute is used massively in blogs and social media sites, Google can collect data about the links which come with many Rel="nofollow" indications and downgrade those websites in the serp's – however, we have no proof about this theory.

From the selfishness which Google has generally showed we can suppose that Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute could possibly have been announced to help Google collect statistical and specific data about the links which come with Rel="nofollow" and this way to obtain considerable help to identify "spammy linking patterns" rather than simply helping webmasters keep their website outbound linking profile clean and consequently their pagerank values intact.

Reaching conclusion number three: Inserting Rel="nofollow" HTML attribute inside your context could be beneficial if you use it rarely and as an "Ultima Ratio" only when an external link cannot be avoided. Non clickable linking methods; although they are considered to be black hat SEO techniques in their basic concept, are still a far better solution to keeping your site's SEO performance untouched, rather than trusting Google’s empty and contradictory promises about how "safe, harmless and beneficial" rel=”nofollow” html attribute can be.

[RankHigher]

Admittedly, HTML attributes such as Rel="noindex", Rel="nofollow" or Rel="external nofollow" could only marginally contribute to any successful overall SEO strategy.
But I would prefer to focus only on the third part of the initial question:
"Does it make a difference if I use the Rel="nofollow" inside a reciprocal link (in a link exchange)?"
Well, It Depends Are you going to tell the webmaster you are exchanging links with that you are inserting Rel="nofollow" - yes or no?
Because if you say nothing about it, at the end of the day you could end up with an incoming link that gives you nothing in exchange if the webmaster you are exchanging links with uses the Rel="nofollow" attribute.
If the webmaster who exchanges links with you is not very well informed about Rel="nofollow" or he/she doesn't think to check your source code for the possible existence of Rel="nofollow" you could get away with this kind of action, but I think it is a little like cheating.
So all parties involved in a link exchange must be very careful: If someone asks you for a link exchange and you agree. You exchange links; if the other person is to be regarded with suspicion, about a week later they will add the nofollow code to your link. Thus, cheating you out of your link. They end up getting all the juice and you get nothing. So, be careful when you do a link exchange. Tell the webmaster you will periodically check up on the link and if they find a nofollow code then you will remove their link. When checking your inbound links, it is wise not to use automated software because most link exchange software programs do not have the functionality to check for the existence of Rel="nofollow". The best way to do this is manually; right click on the link page and check view source frequently to discover the existence of Rel="nofollow". On the other hand if you are going to get involved in a link exchange do you think it would be shrewd not to not mention anything about Rel="nofollow" and just wait one week to insert Rel="nofollow" in the outbound link?
I believe that ONLY people that read this post would fully understand what the implications are and become suspicious about the linking exchange process or more guarded on their exchanges!

[SEODude]

G'day, Magreth and RankHigher,

Excellent reply from both of you, you have answered my question over and above the standard of reply I get in any other forum, thank you both for giving me so much detail. Where one left off the other completed the answer!

I can now make better choices when it comes to adding links, and even the idea that someone could give you a link and then later add the Rel="nofollow" I will be checking my links more thoroughly in future... even after a month if necessary.

You guys are great!

By the way, I purchased the DoorwayPage software since joining the forum and I can highly recommend it to anyone who has thoughts of doubt.

The customer service and backup is quite unique.

Again Thanks for your in depth answer to my Nagging Question.

Cheers
SEODude