Is rel="nofollow" killing search results?

[xtempore]

I have a relatively new site, which I am trying to optimise for search engines.

There's lots of good content, and I've been working my fingers to the bones, submitting to directories, posting in blogs, asking for links.

There are now quite a few sites/pages that do link to the site, but when I search Google for "link:mysite.com", it only lists TWO and one of those is an internal one!

What's killing me here is that on almost every site where I managed to get a link, the link has a rel="nofollow" attribute.


So what do you think about "nofollow" links...?

• Why are so many site-owners doing this? (It seems like more all the time) Do you think they are overreacting?
• Is this bad for the web?
• Are there ways around it?
• Is it out of control and killing search results?
• Should Google reconsider the way they handle "nofollow"?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

[thefandango]

There are ways to ensure backlinks are rel=nofollow....

[dburdon]

xtempore,

I wouldn't say nofollow is killing search, simply because search carries on with or with nofollow. Obviously nofollows are difficult to work with. If link based PageRank is what you're after check for nofollow status before you bother going for a link.
Remember a nofollow link for you is also a nofollow link for your competitors. So it levels the playing field.

[Niche]

I think it's obvious why people are adding no follow attribute to outbound links from their sites. So many people trying to post comments for the link rather than for the purpose of adding useful contributions to a conversation. Called spam I believe

With regards to the links for your site listed in Google, this is not unusual. For reasons I think related to server space, google only displays a small number of backlinks to a site when the links query is made

[genewell]

Sites are doing this because Google has diminished the value of link exchanges in favor of one way links. That said, Google may not be telling you everything. Check your backlinks in Yahoo (same search command) and see if you have more links.

[deepsand]

... when I search Google for "link:mysite.com", it only lists TWO and one of those is an internal one!

If you are not logged on under the Webmaster account for the site in question, then you will see but a very small sub-set of the total no. of IBLs.

If you are so logged on, you will see a greater portion of such, but still not all.

In neither case has Google revealed what percentage of the total are displayed.

[ron angel]

I have a relatively new site, which I am trying to optimise for search engines.

There's lots of good content, and I've been working my fingers to the bones, submitting to directories, posting in blogs, asking for links.

There are now quite a few sites/pages that do link to the site, but when I search Google for "link:mysite.com", it only lists TWO and one of those is an internal one!

What's killing me here is that on almost every site where I managed to get a link, the link has a rel="nofollow" attribute.


So what do you think about "nofollow" links...?

• Why are so many site-owners doing this? (It seems like more all the time) Do you think they are overreacting?
• Is this bad for the web?
• Are there ways around it?
• Is it out of control and killing search results?
• Should Google reconsider the way they handle "nofollow"?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

I never use no follow links when linking to other sites defeats the point. more importantly I do not link to a site that links to me with a no follow link. If everybody followed these simple rules people would stop using no follow links very quickly.

[deepsand]

Not even when such link might be to the benefit of your own user base, in a manner that does not diminish such?

[subhzash]

I have a relatively new site, which I am trying to optimise for search engines.

There's lots of good content, and I've been working my fingers to the bones, submitting to directories, posting in blogs, asking for links.

There are now quite a few sites/pages that do link to the site, but when I search Google for "link:mysite.com", it only lists TWO and one of those is an internal one!

What's killing me here is that on almost every site where I managed to get a link, the link has a rel="nofollow" attribute.


So what do you think about "nofollow" links...?

• Why are so many site-owners doing this? (It seems like more all the time) Do you think they are overreacting?
• Is this bad for the web?
• Are there ways around it?
• Is it out of control and killing search results?
• Should Google reconsider the way they handle "nofollow"?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

rel="nofollow" is the attribute which can stops the search engine bots to crawl. If you have link back from the other website with rel="nofollow" then search engines will not consider that as back link.


Regards,
Subhzash

[Jucick]

Guys, wait a sec.

Wikipedia gives the following definition of "nofollow" tag:

"nofollow is an HTML attribute value used to instruct some search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target's ranking in the search engine's index."

The core point of it is that your link IS indexed by Google but the tag doesn't let to pass link juice thus having a link with nofollow attribute can't influence your rankings.

Besides,

"There are now quite a few sites/pages that do link to the site, but when I search Google for "link:mysite.com", it only lists TWO and one of those is an internal one!"

>> google shows you the results from the indexed pages only, that's not because of your links are closed with "nofollow".