In SEO community these 3 jargons (technical language) are quite popular – DoFollow, NoFollow and NoIndex.
Despite its popularity lots of webmasters and newbie bloggers still unclear and face difficulties while differentiating these 3 terms.
This may be due to the overlapping of certain properties between each other. Or, may be due to the laxity of knowing technical things (SEO) which they consider not so important.
Importance of DoFollow and NoFollow Links
By judicious use of these link attributes you can improve your Google Page Rank.
On the contrary, you may be penalized and even de-indexed from Google for not following proper link attributes while writing paid articles with outbound links. Because Google always considers all outbound links from paid articles as “Paid Links.”
You can also save your blog being a “SPAM Magnet” by implementing NoFollow attribute to the comment section.
History
In early 2005 Google introduces NoFollow link attribute to fight comment spam in blogs, forums and message boards etc.
If you’re a blogger (or a blog reader), you’re painfully familiar with people who try to raise their own websites’ search engine rankings by submitting linked blog comments like “Visit my discount pharmaceuticals site.” This is called comment spam, we don’t like it either, and we’ve been testing a new tag that blocks it.
From now on, when Google sees the attribute (rel=”nofollow”) on hyperlinks, those links won’t get any credit when we rank websites in our search results. This isn’t a negative vote for the site where the comment was posted; it’s just a way to make sure that spammers get no benefit from abusing public areas like blog comments, trackbacks, and referrer lists.
Merely few seconds after Google introduced this NoFollow attribute, all leading CMS and forum software packages implemented it in their database.
No wonder, Yahoo and Bing also followed Google’s new search engine standards later on.
Misuse: Wikipedia is the perfect example of misusing NoFollow link attribute, which uses it on almost every pages. It has implemented the attribute on almost all outbound links, including .Gov and .Edu links.
DoFollow Vs NoFollow
By default all regular links are DoFollow. Format of a regular link as below -
<a href=”http://www.mydomainname.com”>Anchor Text</a>
To make the link NoFollow, you have to add the rel=”nofollow” attribute. Now the link format will look like -
<a href=”http://www.mydomainname.com” rel=”nofollow” >Anchor Text</a>
DoFollow link acts as a “vote of confidence” to that particular web-page or site. It sends a “signal of trust” to the Google’s search engine ranking system. It passes link juice (a fraction of Page Rank).
Google also analyze the anchor text within the DoFollow link along with the associated content to rank that particular web-page in search results.
By adding a NoFollow attribute – You are instructing search engines “not to follow or pass any link juice” for that particular link. Because you don’t fully trust the web-page or site. It doesn’t passes link juice.
IMPORTANT: By adding a rel=”nofollow” attribute, basically you are telling the search engine bots to “not to crawl, not to pass link juice and not to pass anchor text benefits.”
But the target page may still appear in Google’s index, if other sites link to it without using NoFollow tag or the owner of the website submits the page URL to Google via a sitemap.
So, you can’t prevent indexing of a web-page in search engines by simply adding a NoFollow tag. Here, you are telling the search engines to not to crawl the site. Not crawling means not indexing.
But you don’t have much control over indexing of the site in SEs by simply using a NoFollow tag. The site owner (webmaster) has the full control on indexing the site in search engines.
If you are using NoFollow tag to your own pages (internal) then it’s up to you, whether you want to index that page or not.
Uses of NoFollow Link Attribute
1. Your blog’s commenting system: This is the grey area where users can add their links (link dump) with their comments. Spammers even add anchor text in place of their actual name to get the search engine benefits.
Fortunately most of the CMS (including WordPress) have made their commenting system NoFollow. If you really want to reward few of your trustworthy and regular commenters, then you can remove the NoFollow attribute or make them DoFollow. For doing this tedious job CommentLuv plugin is really handy.
Same thing applied for the forums also.
2. Untrusted site: If you mention a web-page or site while writing an article, with a link pointing to it, but your are not so sure about the authenticity and trustworthiness, then you should add the NoFollow attribute.
Google don’t like sites who point outbound links to spammy websites.
3. Declaring Paid editorials: If you got paid for writing an editorials with pointing a link to their website, then you have to declare it (Paid links). And the best way to declare it is – Adding a NoFollow attribute.
4. Preserving Google Page rank of your HOME Page: Google assigns Page Rank to every individual pages of a website including the Home page. That means, each pages of a website carry different PRs.
To preserve or improve the Page Rank of your Home Page, you should implement the NoFollow attribute to each outbound links. By doing this you are preserving the link juice of the main page.
If you really want to promote a web-page or content in search engines, then you may DoFollow that particular link from your Home page, in expense of a fraction of Page Rank.
5. Helping Google bot for better indexing: You should NoFollow your less important pages like Log-In, Register or Privacy Policy etc. to help SE bots.
Search engine bots always come to your site with a fixed budget. Let them index the important pages first. Instead of forcing them to index unnecessary pages first by expending their budget completely for useless work.
Always Remember: You should use NoFollow link attribute sparingly on your blog. If you know the website, if you trust the website, then DoFollow them in your content.
The sole purpose of creating a link is to cast the vote of confidence. Link juice passes via the links and help search engines to rank content in a better way. If everybody NoFollow their every outgoing links, how the search engines and how the www will function.
Nobody knows – When Google will change its SEO rules for NoFollow link attribute. To be on safe site, be conservative while using this tag.
NoIndex Meta Tags
By adding a NoIndex meta tag, you are telling search engines not to index the page. I mean, you are excluding the page from the search engine index completely.
The format for the NoIndex tag looks like -
<meta name="robots" content="noindex"/>
1. Despite adding NoIndex tag Google crawl the web-page, but don’t index in search results.
2. Link juice still passes to the Non-indexed page. If you want to don’t pass link juice, you have to add NoFollow attribute along with NoIndex tag. Like below -
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/>
3. If you have a link on your Home page which points to a Non-indexed page, then make it NoFollow to preserve the link juice and improve the Google Page Rank.
4. You can take the help of robots.txt file to prevent crawling and indexing of pages or sections of your website.
5. You can use the URL Removal Tool in your Google Webmaster Tool to remove a URL completely from search results. But the problem here is – It lasts for only 90 days. You have to take interim measures with the help of other tools or methods.
6. The strongest tool or file which can prevent the search engine bots to crawl and index is .htaccess
I hope, I’ve cleared most of your doubts about NoFollow, DoFollow and NoIndex tags and its affects on Page Rank. I know, you still have few newer doubts after reading this article.
Add your queries in the comments below and I’ll try my best to answer them.
About Nandita B.
My name is Nandita B, and I’m a SEO practitioner and part-time blogger. My sheer passion for sharing knowledge a webmaster needs drove me to create “A Webmaster’s Magazine” called SEOHour.com
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Hi Nandita B ,
Thanks for the post.. Now I can understand NoFollow, NoIndex and DoFollow.. .. U clearly explained the above said topics.
Natarajan recently posted…Cat command with examples
Yes Dofollow links are very important for websites, after lot of Dofollow links to my website I am getting huge traffic and huge earnings.
Rahul recently posted…Blogging Goals of 2013 to Make More Money
If google pagerank depends on dofollow and nofollow links, then please tell me how much dofollow and nofollow links are required to get PR 5?
And secondly if my homepage don’t have so much backlinks but internal pages like my articles have good number of backlinks then will it help to increase my Page Rank of homepage?
Technology Blog recently posted…If your Google or Gmail Account is Hacked then Get it Back Now
To achieve a Google PR 5, there is no fixed or set number of links. This is because – Quality of link weighs more than the quantity for all search engines.
Your high PR (more backlinks) of internal pages will not help your HOME Page. If you really want to increase the PR of your Home page, then you have to link your Home page from other high PR internal pages to flow the link juice.
I am playing with tags to boost keyword density.How it effects my blog? And what about tags DoFollow attribute ?
shafeeqali recently posted…5 Killer tips for twitter optimization
Adding commonly used tags on your blog’s sidebar or anywhere is Ok. But there should be a limit. You can’t just keep adding 100s of tags (keyword equivalent) for the sake of keyword density. You shouldn’t even add a new tag for each keyword (every time) for which you are writing the article.
Secondly, keyword density is only one search engine ranking signal out of almost 200 (Google). And Google is gradually discounting keyword density while ranking content, due to its abuse.
I recommend – Category DoFollow, to make your Categories link-juice-rich. This is for – Domain/category/Post type of Permalink structure.
If you are using tags in your permalink, then you can make it DoFollow by using WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin or any other SEO plugins like this.
Although it has been said that “nofollow” links are taken by Google bots to mean just that – no follow, however the links seem to be taken into consideration for total number of backlinks to your website.
I’ve checked using backlinkwatch.com and all these links add up. I’m not sure if these “nofollow” links will be dropped the next time Google crawls the website?
Don’t see the backlinks at any other site. Check your backlinks in Google Webmasters console. It is the place, where you can see all your backlinks Google knows about.
Animish recently posted…How Pirated Themes harm your blog?
@Rebecca
NoFollow links are just like any other normal links without link-juice. These types of links are always taken into consideration while counting backlinks to your blog.
A common example is – Backlinks from blog comments, which are always NoFollow, but always taken in to consideration by Search Engines.
How can you say Wikipedia is misusing the no-follow tag!
Even Matt Cutts says it helped Wiki to reduce the link spam. He just recommends Wiki to allow do-follow links to top editors and trusted ones. He never said Wiki is misusing no-follow.
Animish recently posted…How Pirated Themes harm your blog?
Hi Animish,
The answer is hidden within your comment itself
If Matt is telling Wikipedia to – Allow DoFollow links to top editors and trusted ones; it means Wiki doesn’t believe even reputed authors and don’t pass link juice (Scare to cast a vote of confidence). Which is not a sign of good netizen.
One more thing – Who is Matt Cutts? A salaried engineer of Google. Right? So, he has to advocate for Google’s interest always. He has no other option
But You and Me are free and unbiased to judge an entity or mistake. So, before following anybody blindly – Apply your own mind also.
Thanks.
What I was saying i s Wikipedia is not “Misusing” the no-follow tag. Rather there can’t be any other appropriate way to use no-follow links. Wikipedia is an Encyclopaedia; not a place to get backlinks. Wikipedia should reward its top developers, but backlinking is not the only way to do so.
Ya, if they would have used no-follow for PageRank sculpting, then I would have said it’s misuse. Wikipedia is using no-follow for defence; not to rank well in Google and it doesn’t even need to do so.
Animish recently posted…Domain name With or Without WWW. What’s better?
Thanks a Lot for explaining every details and importance of DoFollow or NoFollow. I have so much of confusion on this, but now most of it is cleared!
just wanna know, are CommentLuv links DoFollow?
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CommentLuv Plugin has an option to make a link DoFollow or NoFollow (Only for Premium users).
The FREE version has always NoFollow links. You are using the premium version, so you can checkout this option easily.
Thank you very much for the clear information about the nofollow, dofollow and noindex links. Is there is any good point if we have a lot of dofollow links? will improve our SERP in the Search Engine?
Thanks.
dinaviriya recently posted…Tradisi dalam merayakan Tahun Baru Imlek
Good classification between nofollow, dofollow and noindex. I think dofollow greatly influences the page rank. While nofolow too has some value in it to calculate the page rank.
Jason recently posted…10 Blogger Terbaik Malaysia – (List of Top 10 Bloggers in Malaysia)
I have been blogging for more than a year now, but now started learning some technical aspects of it.
The explanation for types of link was useful and I hope it helps my blog ranking.
Amit recently posted…Top 30 Personal Finance Blogs in India
Well explained, thanks for sharing such a article to understand easily.
Thank u very much for the article about the nofollow, dofollow and noindex links. And I want to know will improve our SERP in the Search Engine? please revert back with reply…
Thanks.
Really Great info I got it clear the purpose of these terms today,actually the proper use of these will surely increase Page Rank and will fetch you at the front page of search engines.
Rafaqat recently posted…How To Comment To Boost Your Traffic and Google Page Rank?
Nice explanation about the link types. Just one more question.
Link Juice and Trust are different terms right ? People go over .edu .gov website backlinks because those level of domain provide high trust than other kind of domains. Isn’t it ? So wether a do follow or no follow link from .edu or .gov site must really, provide some important factor to the linking website.
daniel spuds recently posted…Free Responsive Magento Go Theme
Very necessary post for everybody.
Dofollow links are very important for websites, and we can know that what is the different between do-follow & no-follow links.
Nice post Nandita..
Ya Dofollow , NoFollow and noIndex links make a newbie confused.But a blogger must have knwoladge about all these link types.You give a detailed information on DoFollow,NoFollow and NoIndex links.Thanks for it.
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If I have a page that has “nofollow, noindex” will the links on that page still get crawled? Example being, I have a page that essentially serves as an index or table of contents but I don’t want that page showing up in search results, but I do want the pages that are linked to from that page to be indexed.
Thanks. Insightful article.
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