Use NoFollow Tag, Still Penalized?

[bbott]

I'm starting a new referal system on my forum where users will be able to receive free banner advertising if they refer a certain amount of new members. My concern is that some of their sites may not be related to my sites content and also they may be a shady site to link to depending on their SEO techniques, etc. My question is, by adding the NoFollow tag to a link - will google ignore the link and not penalize me ?

rel="nofollow"

I read this article (http://www.researchbuzz.org/the_nofo...hoo_etc_.shtml) and think I'm fine, but I'd like to confirm this. Thanks :)

[jestep]

From how I understand the nofollow tag, if you place it on a link, it will be completely ignored. So, your site is going to be OK.

[jimmie1_us]

Just read this:
http://www.google.com/googleblog/200...ment-spam.html

Originally Posted by bbott

I'm starting a new referal system on my forum where users will be able to receive free banner advertising if they refer a certain amount of new members. My concern is that some of their sites may not be related to my sites content and also they may be a shady site to link to depending on their SEO techniques, etc. My question is, by adding the NoFollow tag to a link - will google ignore the link and not penalize me ?

rel="nofollow"

I read this article (http://www.researchbuzz.org/the_nofo...hoo_etc_.shtml) and think I'm fine, but I'd like to confirm this. Thanks :)

[jlknauff]

IMO you don't need to worry about it unless you're talking about text links.

Just my .02 though