Your thoughts on Google and the nofollow change

[-REECE-]

For those who haven't heard: Google Loses “Backwards Compatibility” On Paid Link Blocking & PageRank Sculpting

Just thought I'd make a thread on it here -- it's been discussed quite a bit on webmaster forums since the announcement and opinions seem pretty divided.

 

[Keral_Patel]

Yup the first half part teaches that never listen to all the things coming out. Also as .com is the king of domain world content is the king of SEO world.

 

[-REECE-]

One thing I'm particularly interested in is whether having a popular blog post now means getting your pagerank killed -- popular blogs are sure in for a nightmare if this applies to external nofollow as well. I can't seem to find any information on whether it does or not -- just a whole bunch of speculation and SEOs recommending other ways to get around the change with server side scripts or iframes (they never learn ha!)

 

[enlytend]

Regarding the nofollow changes, Virginia Nussey summed it up best on the Bruce Clay blog:

Today's announcement is another much-needed reminder for SEOs to stop chasing the algorithm. That path only leads to ulcers and extra work.

(full post here)

As far as the Javascript and links - not much of a surprise, Google's been able to pick up links in javascript for quite some time. If you have anything on your site you don't want nosy search engines to follow, you should be using a robots.txt block regardless.

 

[Keral_Patel]

I think popular blog posts will still hold the water. They cannot change the basics on which their PR formula rides. "The Links"

Best thing is to let them speculate.

Yes if we have a testing domain on testing server then testings won't hurt

But for main sites I think the advice given should be taken after giving some thoughts. Who knows maybe someday google might again change their mind. :D

---------- Post added at 10:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:29 PM ----------

Update :: Some afterthoughts ::

Lets assume this same page/thread we are discussing this issue.

Cash balance (Check) << This link gets same weightage then the links in my sig?

The donate link also gets same weightage? I don't think so The algo can't be that bad There are millions of posts on NP itself and all postbits link to Donate and Trader rating pages. Pagerank should be blocked from passing on there. But Agreed it might be a tool for someone else who might be mis-using it. This is going to be great food for thought for all bloggers for quite a while.

Further reading resources : http://www.seo-chicks.com/917/why-listening-to-matt-cutts-is-a-bad-idea.html :D

 

[-REECE-]

Haha thanks for the link Nick -- reading it right now

I always wondered myself why people would take his word as the word of the Seo God when the guy works for a company that clearly has it out for SEOs.

I think popular blog posts will still hold the water. They cannot change the basics on which their PR formula rides. "The Links"

Best thing is to let them speculate.

Yes if we have a testing domain on testing server then testings won't hurt

But for main sites I think the advice given should be taken after giving some thoughts. Who knows maybe someday google might again change their mind. :D

---------- Post added at 10:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:29 PM ----------

Update :: Some afterthoughts ::

Lets assume this same page/thread we are discussing this issue.

Cash balance (Check) << This link gets same weightage then the links in my sig?

The donate link also gets same weightage? I don't think so The algo can't be that bad There are millions of posts on NP itself and all postbits link to Donate and Trader rating pages. Pagerank should be blocked from passing on there. But Agreed it might be a tool for someone else who might be mis-using it. This is going to be great food for thought for all bloggers for quite a while.

Further reading resources : Why Listening To Matt Cutts Is A Bad Idea » SEO Chicks :D

 

[Keral_Patel]

Also checkout another blog post by same author : Lets Call This Hypocrite Day Shall We? » SEO Chicks

 

[-REECE-]

:lol:

Nick, I honestly burst out laughing reading that! :D

Also checkout another blog post by same author : Lets Call This Hypocrite Day Shall We? » SEO Chicks

 

[Keral_Patel]

:D Yes that is fact :D Sometimes that is why have to let some things go bounce.

It is becoming a joke the pulling of strings and puppet dancing

 

[whitebark]

I've always found chasing pagerank to be a tremendous waste of time. If you spent half that time creating new original content that people will want to read and naturally link to - you would ten steps further ahead anyways.

I've got at least a half dozen websites with over 100,000 unique visitors each month - all are pr1 or pr 2. They are all at the top of google for their main keywords w/extended listings and each has less than 100 backlinks. Google wants good quality original websites - that much is safe to assume.

 

[-REECE-]

I read a comment on Digg a few days ago that actually made a lot of sense -- Google does a whole lot of backwords things so almost nobody can permanently stay well ranked on competitive terms so their only alternative is to buy paid links.. Sounds paranoid but who knows :D

 

[mntor]

Google wants good quality original websites - that much is safe to assume.

Good point. Back to basics. Content is king.

 

[enlytend]

If you spent half that time creating new original content that people will want to read and naturally link to - you would ten steps further ahead anyways.

:bingo:

I've had the same results as Whitebark - pr0-pr2 pages, 1st page ranking for multiple strong keyphrases, minimal backlinks, maximum original content.

I have yet to have a problem with those pages maintaining their SERPS rankings.

 

[Mesa SEO Solutions]

I think it is a lot do to do about nothing. What I find interesting is that the last time I checked Google Knol was a Do Follow site. I always thought that was strange.

 

[AussieDomainer]

I think worrying about nofollow too much is a problem anyway. Sure you may not get the PR juice but I honestly believe, although many will disagree, that it definitely helps in the SE rankings. Who really cares about PR too much as long as you're number one in the SE results for your desired keyword/s? I have a few sites that have mainly nofollow backlinks coming to them, however these backlinks are very relevant and have good anchor text. These sites are now at the top of the Google results for their desired keywords. Their PR isn't huge but who cares?? Therefore in my eyes something like this doesn't really worry me either way.