SEOs use “noindex” tags to prevent a search engine robot from indexing a particular page on a site. We use “nofollow” tags to prevent the passing of page rank through a particular link to the linked-to page (aka “bot herding”, “page rank sculpting”, etc.). Nothing wrong with either of these techniques, but I often see them used in a less than subtle manner that can often do as much harm as good.
For some reason, most people use a “noindex, nofollow” tag as the default “noindex” tag when just using the “noindex” tag alone would be more appropriate. When you add the “nofollow” tag to a meta robots tag on a page, it causes all links on that page to be tagged as “nofollow”. This can be the equivalent of using a bazooka when a paint brush will do.
Sometimes you want to tag all links on a page as “nofollow”. Typically this is the case when the page links to only pages that are causing you SEO problems (e.g. duplicate content issues) or you are trying to stop the page from passing any page rank for some strategic reason.
That said, most of the time when you want to noindex a page, you still want it to pass page rank. For example if you have a page 2 of a list you may want to noindex it to avoid a duplication issue with page 1, but you still may want it to pass page rank through the links in the list.
So next time you pick up the bazooka, take a look at the pages in question and consider using your paint brush instead.
28 responses so far ↓
1 Puppy’s Picks - SES Coverage 12/01/08 | Seo Services, LLC - Indiana based search engine optimization consultant // Dec 1, 2008 at 5:49 pm
[...] be. That’s what Andrew Shotland points out in a short and sweet post titled “NoIndex, NoFollow SEO Overkill” over at Local SEO Guide. While these two tags are often paired up, they shouldn’t be [...]
2 Hobo // Dec 3, 2008 at 5:16 pm
“When you add the “nofollow” tag to a meta robots tag on a page, it causes all links on that page to be tagged as “nofollow”.”
Shouldn’t that be ‘all external links’ counted as nofollow in case folks think they are creating dangling pages?
Get what you mean though. I’m forever testing out various nofollow methods on internal structures.
Probably better off link building but hey it’s not called optimisation for nothing
3 Andrew Shotland // Dec 3, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Actually Hobo nofollow in a meta robots tag (not a “rel” tag) causes all links on the tagged page to be tagged as nofollow.
4 Hobo // Dec 4, 2008 at 7:48 am
The reason I mention it is I am getting strange results with meta nofollow tests on a few sites.
And perhaps I am misunderstanding the idea of dangling pages.
5 Experiments in Cyberspace // Dec 4, 2008 at 9:41 am
As a matter of fact I consider use of meta nofollow dangerous (you can later add a link, etc and forget the meta tag). Using it at the link level is always more comfortable.
Thanks for the article, nice and to the point.
6 Andrew Shotland // Dec 4, 2008 at 9:47 am
Note to all commenters - I am leaving the above comment on despite the spammy profile name because:
1. It’s a good comment with the appropriate degree of flattery
2. I love the profile name and it’s my blog, so there.
7 Pagination for SEO - is javascript the answer? // Dec 4, 2008 at 5:11 pm
[...] worth reiterating that noindex and nofollow are differet things entirely and need to be deployed strategically. But, continuing the thread in the previous paragraph, should [...]
8 Marty // Dec 4, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Of course, Google would like us to never noFollow ACCEPT when it fucks with their algorithm, as in castrating you if you fail to NoFollow paid adverts.
In reality, the siloing concept purveyed, initially by Bruce Clay years past, is a good one–herding bots into SEO funnels.
Rand Fishkin advocates not spending PR on useless pages, which is what I subscribe to. The point is to not overkill. Google does a pretty good job of figuring out what is what. We like simple things like deciding that the bots will crawl a keyword rich category name as opposed to say a date archive.
Thanks for the post Andrew…make sure you delete my SPAMMY PROFILE NAME
9 5 Well Known Websites Sabotaging Themselves in Google Mistakenly or on Purpose | SEOptimise // Dec 5, 2008 at 10:10 am
[...] Noindex and nofollow for pages has been around in HTML for ages. You could mark a page not to show up in search results with this meta tag attributes. Nofollow for links has been added by search engines and blog software makers just a few years ago to combat comment and trackback spam as the official explanation was. [...]
10 Social Media and Internet Marketing Week in Review : WebSuccessDiva Social Internet Marketing Blog // Dec 13, 2008 at 10:02 am
[...] NoIndex and NoFollow Overkill from Local SEO Guide [...]
11 Radu // Dec 26, 2008 at 11:28 am
So you are saying we should add nofollow to all links we don’t need to appear in search? I’ve seen this done in some sites and I think it’s overkill. People nofollow their contact pages, register, about, TOS, …
Do you really think google falls for this? Does this actualy help in the SERPS? I mean I’ve checked your links and they are not nofollow…. why?
12 Andrew Shotland // Dec 26, 2008 at 2:22 pm
On large sites I generally recommend strategically using nofollow to try to influence the flow of pagerank, but I rarely make it a high priority tactic. It’s something to be experimented with.
Re my site, please don’t try to read any tea leaves based on what I do or don’t do here.
13 Social Media Blog Marketing Resources from the Net // Jan 12, 2009 at 3:54 am
[...] NoIndex and NoFollow Overkill from Local SEO Guide [...]
14 How To Optimise A Flickr Account // Jan 15, 2009 at 9:08 am
[...] be noted that you use highly specific anchor text for the links, however links on Flickr are ‘no followed’. This means search engines will not use them to gauge link popularity. We would recommend that [...]
15 Arthur // Jan 22, 2009 at 7:30 am
So, Andrew, I am using both NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW in meta for avoiding duplicate content issues. Do you think only NOINDEX will do? As well, if I am using both tags on a certain page, and some other site links back to me on that particular page, the rank from that site will still be passed on to my page?
16 Al Mack // May 4, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Its easy to control it “off-page” as well, making using the rel=”nofollow” tag on internal links. I wouldnt recommend using both methods, as it can easily look like overkill.
17 John S. Britsios (aka Webnauts) // May 17, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Excellent article Andrew. I recently published an article at Search Engine Land which I thought it is worth sharing: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/bot-herding-pagerank-sculpting/10352/
18 Tanzy // Jun 7, 2009 at 3:21 am
Hello Andrew,
I have a website which has been blocked from google search because of duplicate content issue. I have made some changes since then (I am not a pro) Can you please enlighten me by your views if Google will index my website ever again.
P.s The website I’m talking about is not the one which I have entered here.
Thanks. This may be not an appropriate place to ask but I need help. Thank you for reading!
Thanks Andrew!!!
T.
19 Andrew Shotland // Jun 7, 2009 at 8:31 am
Hey Tanzy, the quickest way to solve this is to get some legitimate links to your site.
20 Tanzy // Jun 7, 2009 at 8:42 am
Hi Andew,
Thanks for your reply. Do you mean getting backlinks? can you please elaborate. I would really appreciate if you can provide with more info.
P.s You’re Awesome!!
T.
21 Andrew Shotland // Jun 7, 2009 at 8:59 am
Yes getting backlinks from other sites. Flattery will get you everwhere Tanzy.
22 Tanzy // Jul 16, 2009 at 11:34 am
Oh and I apologize for such a long comment .
Cheers!
T.
23 Danielle // Oct 5, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Ok, good advice, I have my TOS page with no index nofollow, but I didn’t have a real reason to do it. The bazooka is dangerous.
24 Andrew Shotland // Oct 5, 2009 at 1:26 pm
The fact that GOOG has publicly announced that internal nofollows are no longer honored makes this post a bit of a moot point. Still might be a factor in Bing & Yahoo though.
25 Goweb99 // Oct 13, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I used it on my website but as google already crawled that pages it is taking time to remove my secured pages from google search listings…
26 Richard Cummings // Oct 14, 2009 at 9:01 am
Andrew,
So true! Most people seem to assume that “nofollow” and “noindex” go together.
While people try to use some SEO creativity with these tags, they often inadvertently block out pages that they want indexed.
People should use them with care…and if they are doing it too often, they may want to rethink the sites to which they link
–Richard
27 Jean // Feb 1, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Overkilling the nofollow tag can actually waste page rank, Google still counts it as a link off the page in question so the algorithm counts it as a dispersal but if it’s not followed then down the drain it goes.
Im sure that Google will be cracking down on page rank sculpting very soon, if a page is not to be indexed, use noindex, follow.
28 John S. Britsios (aka Webnauts) // Feb 2, 2010 at 1:52 am
@Jean,
1. Overkilling the nofollow tag does not waste page PageRank. If you would attribute an internal link with nofollow, and if Google sees that as a link, then due to the nofollow, your link cannot pass PR, and will be perceived as pointing to a dead end, so you will obviously leak PR. In other words, you are going into nodes or dangling pages trouble.
2. It is already a year since Google cracked down the PageRank Sculpting, but they announced that on the 15th of June last year. So no worries. If you have fun using the nofollow for internal links, go for it.
3. You can use the noindex meta tag if you do not want bots to index a page, maybe also adding the nosnippet , just in case someone is linking to the page and you do not want Google to show snippets in the search results. The follow is redundant since sarch engines follow by default.
Take care,
John
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