Precedence of nofollow tags?

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by Tim_Myth, Dec 31, 2006.

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  1. #1
    I have a page that allows users to enter html/text including a tags in their own custom myspace style page (for example tims_page.html). Obviously, I don't want robots to follow any links entered by users, but at the top of each page will be a navigational bar that has a link to the website root (that is index.html).

    If a user gets inbound links to their page, and I have a generic nofollow meta tag in the head of the document, will I gain any PR from links to their page? I'm thinking not, so I'm also wondering what the precedence of nofollow tags is. Can I countermand the nofollow meta tag with a rel="follow" tag for all the links in my top navigational bar? How can I keep any inbound link gains to user pages while avoiding penalties for any links entered by the user?
     
    Tim_Myth, Dec 31, 2006 IP
  2. Cryogenius

    Cryogenius Peon

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    #2
    Here are my answers:
    • You can't gain (or lose) PageRank via out going links.
    • The generic robots meta tag "nofollow" doesn't affect PageRank.
    • Only rel="nofollow" can influence if PageRank is passed another page.
    • There's nothing a user can do to hurt your PageRank (unless they link to "Bad Neighbood").
    I recommend that you tag all user added links with rel="nofollow".

    Cryo.
     
    Cryogenius, Jan 2, 2007 IP
    Tim_Myth likes this.
  3. Tim_Myth

    Tim_Myth Peon

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    #3
    Tagging all user added links with rel="nofollow" will be difficult...I was hoping for an easier way. :) It is the linking to bad neighbors I am trying to avoid because I will be allowing my users to create a page of links.

    I know that I don't lose PR via outgoing links, but I can gain PR from inbound links. For example, if someone links to their personal page from another site, I would get PR from that unless (I think) I use the broad nofollow in a robots metatag (in which case I think that page gets PR, but none of that PR gets passed back to the main site). In this sense I "lose" PR by not getting any passed to the rest of the site.

    I wasn't sure if there was such a thing as rel="follow" and my searching has proven there isn't. Pity. It appears I will have to figure out how to parse the user created content for anchor tags and then ensure each one has rel="nofollow".

    Thanks for your input Cryo.
     
    Tim_Myth, Jan 2, 2007 IP