Rel=nofollow link to a NoFollow, NoIndex Page?

[BethA]

I have a multitude of "schedule a demo" pages/forms on my site that are all identical, so I have on all of them.  My question is, should I also place on the link to the "schedule a demo" pages?

I know the generic rule is to never nofollow any internal links (per Matt Cutts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVOOB_Q0MZY), but should that still apply if the link directs to a page that is noindex, nofollow?

Thanks for your input in advance; don't want to run into, as Matt Cutts puts it, "a mini kerfuffle!"

[BlueprintMarketing]

Hi Ben,

if it is a server side nofollow do you mean they used a Robot.txt or rel=”nofollow”>Link Text

make sure if it’s your domain you should know it’s in the code or robot.txt

_I would  start __using the new  sponsored tag _

1. Link attribution can be done in three ways: "nofollow", "sponsored", and "ugc" — each signifying a different meaning. (The fourth way, default, means no value attributed)

2. Paid links must either use the nofollow or sponsored attribute (either alone or in combination.) Simply using "ugc" on paid links could presumably lead to a penalty.

3. Google continues to ignore nofollow links for crawling and indexing purposes, but this strict behavior changes March 1, 2020, at which point Google begins treating nofollow attributes as "hints", meaning they may choose to crawl them.

4. You can use the new attributes in combination with each other. For example, rel="nofollow sponsored ugc" is valid

5. Paid links must either use the nofollow or sponsored attribute (either alone or in combination.) Simply using "ugc" on paid links could presumably lead to a penalty.

See:

https://moz.com/blog/nofollow-sponsored-ugc

All the best,

Tom

[bendroid]

I have a question. If you are redirecting an affiliate link through a WordPress plugin that tells the bots not to follow on the server side, do you still need to use a nofollow tag for the on page html coding of the  a href link?

[BethA]

Thanks for the help Alan! Yes, I stay away from dodgy sites entirely as well.  Definitely ancillary factors to consider, as always, but thanks for covering my major question/issue.  Got caught up in the sale and forgot about user experience/navigation.

[AlanMosley]

Yes that is the best stucture, but as i stated there are other considerations, such as link position in page, relevancy and soon, so its not that simple.

no i would never use no-follow on a internal link, there is always a better fix.

In fact i would not use them anywhere, If i was linking to a page that was so dodgy that i needed a no-follow, i would rethink linking to them at all to be on the safe side.

[BethA]

Brad - I think Alan's point is probably the way to go, and as he points out, "it can return it thought its outlinks" -- the pagerank will spread back as the user navigates to other pages away from the privacy policy or whatever page.  And Matt Cutts seems to agree with Alan's point --- if you're linking out to another site (especially one you don't trust) then use nofollow, but never use it on internal links.

Alan - So from reading your link on pagerank, the best strategy would be as flat an architecture as possible with dofollow links sitewide?  Since page/link shaping is grey hat, is there any benefit using rel=nofollow for any links on a site, such as the dropdown navigation on a homepage, the footer, or any social media links?

Thank you

[AlanMosley]

I think the better question is why would you?

nofollow means that the link juice for that link is wasted, it goes up in smoke. you do save it, you waste it.

OK you may not want to give your policy page link juice, buit it is better to give it to your policy page, so that it can return it thought its outlinks, rather then just lose the link juice altogether thought a nofolow.

This page may explain a bit better

http://thatsit.com.au/seo/tutorials/a-simple-explanation-of-pagerank

[bradkrussell]

Marty, in relation to your video from Matt Cutts, does this still apply?

Why would you not apply nofollow links to internal pages such as privacy policy, terms and conditions, returns policy etc?

Thanks

[BethA]

Thank you Alan, don't know what I was thinking; got caught up in the point of sale and didn't even think about them navigating the site after conversion.

[AlanMosley]

I would remove the nofollow from the pages.

Haveing noindex,nofollow means that all the links poiting to them are watsing link juice, as they can not be follwed to return link juice thought the pages outlinks.

if you dont want it uindexed just use noindex,follow this way you dont lose all the link juice.

using a no follow on the links pointing to a nofollow page would make no difference as they are already nofollow. As i suggested above, unless there is some reason to nofollow(and i cant think of any) i would not do it