Rel=nofollow link to a NoFollow, NoIndex Page?
-
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!"
-
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 _
-
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)
-
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.
-
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.
-
You can use the new attributes in combination with each other. For example, rel="nofollow sponsored ugc" is valid
-
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
-
-
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?
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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.
-
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
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Will adjusted bounce rate affect avg time on page?
I recently read Rob Beirne's piece on how and why to set up an adjusted bounce rate in Google Analytics (https://moz.com/blog/adjusted-bounce-rate). I am getting myself ready to talk to our site team about why we should set up an adjusted bounce rate and am anticipating some questions I'd like to be able to answer: 1. Will an adjusted bounce rate improve the accuracy of our avg time on page metrics? 2. Are we able to keep the unadjusted bounce rate in GA as well, so we can compare the two metrics if we ever need to? Does anyone know the answers to these questions? Any help would be much appreciated!
Reporting & Analytics | | seoisfun0 -
Curious, anyone ever had over half of their indexed links drop on an e-commerce site?
In a year went from around 300k indexed pages to around >100k according to GWT. Could this be duplicate content issue, lost links, spam, aged links or all of the above? either way an audit is in order. Thanks! Chris
Reporting & Analytics | | Sundance_Kidd0 -
Buffer Link and Google Impressions
Afternoon, I noticed a spike in impressions over a couple of days in April, so I investigated Analytics to see where these were coming from. It appears these impressions were split between two URLs; one was a blog post, the other was the Buffer link to the blog post that we used on Twitter and Facebook. According to Analytics, this Buffer URL received 1000 impressions over two days, with an average SERP position of 16. This surely can't be right, can it? Is this just another Analytics quirk? After two days of a decent amount of impressions to this Buffer link, the amount of impressions dropped to pretty much zero. I know Tweets are now starting to rank, but this would be the Twitter URL, not the Buffer link to our blog post? Any ideas, Cheers, Lewis
Reporting & Analytics | | PeaSoupDigital0 -
Tracking Mailto Links Through Event Tracking
Hi I am trying to get event tracking working on some mailto links on a website using Universal Analytics. I've read various resources as nothing seems to mention mailto links. Does it not work on tracking outbound clicks on emails? Thanks in advance.
Reporting & Analytics | | Karen_Dauncey0 -
Links from PA/DA of 1
My immediate thought is that a link from a website that has a PA/DA of 1 for both or either metric would be absolutely worthless, but I just wanted to make sure. Could this also be from it being recently indexed? Also is there a rule of thumb that anybody knows, or tries to follow at least? Obliviously the higher the better, but for example; A PA/DA of 15 and below is SPAM A PA/DA of 30 and above is GOOD A PA/DA of 50 is GREAT PA/DA of 80 is AMAZING PA/DA of 100 is GODTIER
Reporting & Analytics | | HashtagHustler0 -
If Links not in GWT does that mean they havent been Indexed yet?
Hi we have had some success recently with increased rank positions, so I am trying to find our what's caused it? Am I correct in thinking that if google hasnt listed any new links in my GWT account that it hasnt indexed them yet and therefore not impacting my rankings? Thanks Ash
Reporting & Analytics | | AshShep10 -
Duicated page error
Hi, I am trying to figure out how to fix duplicated error Most of them are from wordpress "feed" Does anyone know how to fix this problem? | Wedding Photographer San Antonio | Soobumim Photography 210-863-9878 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 210-863-9878 end_of_the_skype_highlighting http://www.soobumimphotography.com/feed/?paged=11 21 1 0 Wedding Photographer San Antonio | Soobumim Photography 210-863-9878 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 210-863-9878 end_of_the_skype_highlighting http://www.soobumimphotography.com/feed/?paged=12 21 1 0 Wedding Photographer San Antonio | Soobumim Photography 210-863-9878 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 210-863-9878 end_of_the_skype_highlighting http://www.soobumimphotography.com/feed/?paged=13 |
Reporting & Analytics | | BistosAmerica0 -
How do shortened links show up in Google Analytics?
Hey, How do shortened links show up in GA? So if I tweet about something and use bitly, does twitter get the referral? I am thinking not. I have never seen bitly show up as a referrer, but we gets lots of clicks from those links. Hmmmm. Anyone? E
Reporting & Analytics | | ErinTM0