A No Follow Link

A no follow link is an HTML attribute that is usually giving commands to search engines that the hyperlink is not to influence the ranking of the search engines index. A no follow link is designed to decrease the effectiveness of search engine spam and improve the overall quality of the search engines results.

The idea of the no follow link was developed by Google in 2005 to eradicate spam that may appear in a search when using keywords in search engines. No follow links were not developed to block the access to web content but rather to avoid the content from being indexed by search engines.

The code rel=?nofollow?, when used in the syntax can block spam or sway the links that targets page rank. Though it was designed and the copyright is owned by google, other search engines like Yahoo, Windows Live Search, and Bing also started using this concept

Rather than not follow the link in a literal since, search engines are supposed to not catalog the link in their databases. The page will remain operable and still load without material being blocked. This is just away to prevent the indexing of spam that appears as a result to the search. Google suggest that the no follow link be enacted in a literal sense where the link will not be followed at all. However, in reports conducted for the SEO different information was discovered. Here it was determined that the links did work but was not indexed to the page it linked to. For Yahoo this means that link will be followed but not taken into consideration in its ranking considerations. MSN Search has yet another variation where the no follow link is neither counted nor followed. The definition of the no follow link will differ from site to site.

The majority of weblog software programs will automatically submit links with the no follow attribute and not give some options to change. There are a few programs that will allow alterations from trusted users and others will allow them to be submitted as the writer wishes and then use human editors to remove any unwanted links.

Using the no follow link, the unwanted contents can be avoided in the web. Most of the web owners have blogs or forum posting in order to increase the site ranking. Rankings can go down rapidly by an unpleasant or harmful post. The no follow link allows these posts but safeguards the webpage owner but excluding these posts to affect the ranking.

Google has began using the no follow links as a machine readable revelation for paid links and therefore keeping them from gaining any credibility in the search engines results. The web owners are still debating over whether or hurting them as many pages are paying for links to be traded on their site in hopes of raising their page rank. The no follow link has been contradicted many times over where SEO is concerned and it depends on the web owner as to if they allow them on the site or not.