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Discussion: Is "No Follow" tag going to HURT google?

Discussion in 'Google' started by fireboat, Feb 23, 2008.

  1. #1
    It seems that more and more sites are using the nofollow tag these days. Which, at first, may not seem like a bad thing for google. I mean, it should prevent sneaky-evil webmasters from spamming quality information sites... right?

    But the problem I see is this: The most informative sites are all using nofollow while follow-able link directories are allowing mediocre sites to thrive.

    When you look at the only places that seem to NOT be using the nofollow tag, you begin to wonder if eventually it's going to hurt the quality of the search results in the long run.

    Examples of sites that use nofollow: Wikipedia, YahooAnswers, Almost every forum

    These are the kinds of places where good, relevant links and information is posted all the time. (They obviouslly use nofollow to prevent abuse, but this is where a large portion of the web's on-topic information is.)

    Examples of sites that do NOT use nofollow: Directories, Paid links, Link exchange pages within sites

    You get these kinds of links through shrewed marketing, networking, or paying big bucks. These are not necessarily quality links that provide good information.


    It just seems to me that the information sites are using nofollow, which means the best sources of information aren't getting credit for backlinks.

    Anyone have any thoughts?
     
    fireboat, Feb 23, 2008 IP
    hotpop likes this.
  2. DLGx

    DLGx Active Member

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    #2
    Anything that hurts google makes me happy.
     
    DLGx, Feb 23, 2008 IP
  3. mercuryyy

    mercuryyy Well-Known Member

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    #3
    You are totaly right, but other then the good sites that use Nofollow there are the bad ones, the ones that without nofollow tag the Search resolts would be spammy.

    I belive goolge have dedicated time to ask review all aspects of the topic.
     
    mercuryyy, Feb 23, 2008 IP
  4. gemini181

    gemini181 Well-Known Member

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    #4
    Discussion: Is "No Follow" tag going to HURT google?

    Something needs to loosen their dominance. :)

    Anyone have any thoughts?

    I'm going to build useful, unique sites with original content, while most people keep trying to figure out how to win the 'Google game.'
    When the time is right, promoting my sites off-line (to people in the real-world) will be a great way to start.
     
    gemini181, Feb 23, 2008 IP
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  5. fireboat

    fireboat Active Member

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    #5
    Well, I'm with you Gemini. I agree that sites with unique, useful content are best. And those are the type I try to build.

    But that's when I started thinking about this problem. I noticed that more spammy sites with far less content were outranking me in the searches. So, I did some backlink checks on those "other" sites. Almost all of them had hundreds of link-farm links, paid links, links in generalized g-normous directories, etc. None of them had any "real" backlinks.

    So, I asked myself, "Well... where are the sites with "real" links? I *want* the sites linked in wikipedia to show up in my searches... and the sites that people are talking about in forums... etc. But, unfortunately, all of those types of sites are all nofollow.
     
    fireboat, Feb 23, 2008 IP
  6. astup1didiot

    astup1didiot Notable Member

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    #6
    I don't think you even understand the level of abuse and spam that was hitting Wikipedia & Yahoo! Answers. I do alot of editing on Wikipedia and spend 99% of my time remove external links.
     
    astup1didiot, Feb 23, 2008 IP
  7. trichnosis

    trichnosis Prominent Member

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    #7
    nofollow can hurt nobody. it's only a tag for search engines to ignore a link. that's all
     
    trichnosis, Feb 23, 2008 IP
  8. pipsbank

    pipsbank Banned

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    #8
    i pretty agree with all the points. nofollow can be use if the sites are popular. how bout the new sites?
    it seems that it will take forever for them to get popular and get high pr.

    btw -> google will killing himself by dictating all site without the nofollow links

    how bout "me" rel ?
     
    pipsbank, Feb 23, 2008 IP
  9. fireboat

    fireboat Active Member

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    #9
    ssandecki,

    I do understand WHY wikipedia and yahoo answers are using the nofollow tag. They're protecting themselves from spammers-- which they should do!

    But, from a big-picture point-of-view, all the main content sites are usinng nofollow these days.

    Seems like there's fewer and fewer follow-able link left for google's spiders. Their spiders seem to be following thousands of link directory sites, and giving higher SERP to sites that are mediocre at best.

    Just my thought. I don't really have a solution to the problem to propose... but I see this hurting google's search in the long-run.
     
    fireboat, Feb 23, 2008 IP
  10. hotpop

    hotpop Peon

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    #10
    Totally agreed. because mosf of article sites, blogs and forums mark outbound links with nofollow tag, it seems that google hasv't enough source to count backlinks.
    IMO, google will change arithmetic soon.
     
    hotpop, Feb 23, 2008 IP
  11. astup1didiot

    astup1didiot Notable Member

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    #11
    Well, I guess this means natural backlinks will once again provail in providing relevant searches, who would of thought! ;)
     
    astup1didiot, Feb 23, 2008 IP
  12. billybw

    billybw Peon

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    #12
    This is just another reason why Google should forget backlinks as a factor in determining their search results. The rankings should be based on on-site CONTENT, not backlinks.
     
    billybw, Feb 24, 2008 IP
  13. gr8liverpoolfan

    gr8liverpoolfan Notable Member

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    #13
    So if I had to rank for Google, should I simply put

    " Google Google Google Google..............................." on my site. ?

    In a way, the backlink algorithm takes content into consideration. It is because you have good content that people give you backlinks, and it is because of those backlinks that you rank.
     
    gr8liverpoolfan, Feb 24, 2008 IP
  14. billybw

    billybw Peon

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    #14
    Quote:
    In a way, the backlink algorithm takes content into consideration. It is because you have good content that people give you backlinks, and it is because of those backlinks that you rank.

    The problem with this is that the vast majority of backlinks aren't "natural", but are created by spammers to try to artificialy manipulate the search results and gain an undeserved high ranking for their sites.
     
    billybw, Feb 24, 2008 IP
  15. angilina

    angilina Notable Member

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    #15
    I dont know why nofollow tag is gonna hurt google, but yes, it sure hurt many site's rank
     
    angilina, Feb 24, 2008 IP
  16. gr8liverpoolfan

    gr8liverpoolfan Notable Member

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    #16
    There will always be people who will try to manipulate. The SERPS are no different. And while some people are '' spammers '', the rest belong to a category which offers something good to the end consumer, and use SEO in a greyish manner. In the end, if your site is not good enough for the consumer, artificial backlinks won't help you to make money.
     
    gr8liverpoolfan, Feb 24, 2008 IP
  17. harshakiran

    harshakiran Notable Member

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    #17
    Using no follow is great move by google to stop spammers

    but it make life tougher for google and webmasters


    what if one day come every webmaster use no follow certainly ever site will have no follow if this continue

    so no backlink is worth let it be natural or paid ones

    so there will be a day where top page in reserved for wiki,about,ebay like this jaint sites and no other site can come up as no backlink counts


    its hurts both google and us if trends set to grow using no follow for every website
     
    harshakiran, Feb 24, 2008 IP