| LED Digest 2658: The Nofollow Debate |
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The LED Digest
Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom http://www.AudetteMedia.com : the LED's Publisher Boutique Internet Marketing: SEO, SEM, Social Media http://www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. June 6, 2008 Issue no. 2658 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Nofollow Directories Worth It? ==-- ~ Barry S Mills "If the directory refers some worthwhile traffic it's worth the effort." <Moderator Comment> ~ Ivan Jimenez "Don't dismiss the publicity because of a 'nofollow' tag." --== SEO Standards ==-- ~ Elliot Borin "...you may have the basis for a civil RICO suit, which awards treble damages if you win." ~ Mike Jake "Are you talking about the standard Adwords sales team?" ========= NEW ===================================== From: Nancy Schettler Subject: domain pointing vs. forwarding Greetings LED Digest readers. Once again I'm humbly requesting your help in figuring out what I'm doing. First, I would like to apologize for managing to have been muddling along in e-commerce for over five years without knowing some really basic stuff. (I can't believe I got this far knowing so very little...) Anyway, here's the scoop. I have a website, let's call it awebsite.com. I finally decided to buy a second domain name, website.com (same as my original name but without the leading "a", because sometimes people forget to put in the a. Both domains are through GoDaddy and the website is built and hosted (for now) at Homestead. Anyway, in the process of getting the new domain name set up, I've learned a little bit about the difference between domain forwarding (which is what is done with "awebsite" and it makes me look like a subdomain of Homestead) and domain pointing (which is what I have set up with the new "website" domain name, pointing to the original website awebsite.com). Ultimately, I really don't want to look like anybody's subdomain. But after five years of the SE's viewing me as awebsite.homestead.com, what are the risks I take by switching to domain pointing? I think that any links to my site that are out there already, either in a SE index or on a individual website, would still work with the .homestead in them. But am I running the risk of "diluting" my website by possibly appearing to be three different websites: awebsite.homestead.com, awebsite.com, and website.com? Since Homestead is certainly a much more important site than mine, have I enjoyed any "clout" in the SE's by my obvious association with them, even if as a subdomain? Or do you think it has hurt me? Are there any problem areas I should look for if I do the switch from forwarding to pointing? Or any preliminary steps I should take before "pulling the plug"? Or... should I have awebsite.com pointed, but website.com forwarded so that it definitely looks like just ONE website (and nobody's subdomain)? I know you readers will have some great advice, and I look forward to reading your comments! Thank you - Nancy Schettler www.awelldressedkitchen.com ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Barry Mills Subject: Nofollow > I was under the impression that Google > devalues backlinks that carry the > 'nofollow' tag. Are there still any > advantages in submitting to these > directories or should they be avoided? - Leon Simmons, LED 2657 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/2072/190/ There's a pretty good summary of what nofollow is all about on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nofollow But in a nutshell, Google will completely ignore the link for ranking purposes, so links with a nofollow tag won't help your Google rankings. The same is thought to apply to Yahoo & MSN, but some minor engines don't use the tag so you may get a little peripheral benefit. It's important not to confuse this ignoring of links with penalisation or spam. Nofollow was Google's idea, and they want you to use it when you have links that have been paid for, for example, so they can exclude them for ranking calculations. So while a link from the directory you discussed won't help your Google rankings, it certainly won't harm them either. So if the directory gets traffic then there may well be a benefit to being in it, because it may refer visitors directly. If you're not sure, try one or two articles and watch your referring sites in your stats program (assuming you have one) If the directory refers some worthwhile traffic it's worth the effort. If it doesn't, it probably isn't. Barry S Mills Chairman, Netstep, http://www.netstep.co.uk <Moderator Comment> I just spoke on a panel at SMX Advanced on Tuesday about this, and there were some interesting developments. During our panel the search engines announced their intentions to standardize on various tag attributes (including rel=nofollow) and robots.txt directives. The full skinny is on Matt Cutts's blog: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/improved-seo-documentation-galore/ I presented a set of arguments against using nofollow for sculpting internal PageRank at the link level. I treated the issue in a comprehensive blog post here: 8 Arguments Against Nofollow for Sculpting PageRank http://www.audettemedia.com/blog/arguments-against-nofollow Interested in continuing the debate, and would love to hear your feedback. Best wishes, Adam -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Ivan Jimenez Subject: Nofollow Leon, The 'nofollow' tag will devalue your links however I wouldn't stop submitting articles if the directories get good readership. Ultimately, Google will associate mentions of your URL and business name with the key terms and main topics of the sites your articles are published on. Moreover, think of how many times we've heard web addresses or company names mentioned on TV or radio and we rushed to our computers to type in the URL or "Googled" the business name. Then there's print media... I'm sure every time The New York Times prints a web address the site owners see a considerable surge in web traffic. Bottom Line: Don't dismiss the publicity because of a 'nofollow' tag. The decision to implement the policy may be a sign of the publisher trying to create a quality directory targeted to a specific audience; hopefully yours. Ivan Jimenez http://www.swisslogic.com design / development / optimization ============ Sponsor Message =========== Writerfind.com, established in 1998, specializes in connecting professional freelance writers with clients. The site caters to: * freelance business communicators who have a 'way with words' along with industry experience * freelance journalists who have substantial experience writing articles for magazines and journals There is a charge for freelancers to be listed, but no charge for clients to search the database and post jobs. Writerfind.com - http://www.writerfind.com ============ Sponsor Message =========== -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Elliot Borin Subject: There are laws... > From my repeated experiences, I have been > led to consider that the search engines, > especially Google, have not only violated > their own code of ethics by entering into > the SEO space, but they have not shown > themselves to police their own > salespersons' activities when they go > directly after our own clients, making them > believe that they will receive better SEO > results if they hire them instead of us. - Grant Crowell, LED 2657 There are laws to protect small businesses from predatory practices by the giants in their industry. While anti-trust laws almost certainly don't apply here, federal legislation like the Lanham Act and other restraint of trade and unfair competition laws may very well be applicable. And if you can establish a pattern of Goggle sales reps dangling the promise of higher rankings in exchange for signing up with them (especially is such claims are fraudulent) you may have the basis for a civil RICO suit, which awards treble damages if you win. The problem is that top-flight attorneys skilled in restraint-of-trade actions are expensive and the idea of a contentious bunch of people like those in the SEO community forming a trade organization and raising $100,000 or so to pursue a legal remedy is pretty far fetched, to use an understatement. So while Google may, in fact, be violating the law as well as its own guidelines, there's precious little anyone can do about it. Elliot Borin -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Mike Jake Subject: SEO standards Grant - Would you mind filling in the blanks about which group at Google you're talking about? Are you talking about the standard adwords sales team? Or some other are over there? Thanks Mike Jake www.webmogul.com (c) Copyright 1995-2008 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "You must do the thing you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt |
