SEO Articles and the Ongoing Concern Over Nofollows
Sep 4th, 2007 by msdanielle
SEOMoz on Matt Cutts and NoFollows
Six questions and answers to the head of Google’s Webspam team, Matt Cutts. There’s a very interesting presentation of his answers by SEOMoz’s operator Randfish, as well as a great after discussion, with feedback from Matt Cutts himself.
What do you guys think about Google’s nofollow attribute right now? I’m mixed because the nofollow was created by Google to help control link flow, but they also want publishers to voluntarily use it for paid sponsor links to negate link credit. It seems they want publishers to use them when they want us to use them, but also apply them in a natural way. Does this become complicated for you guys?
Matt Cutts: Whitehat SEO Blog Tips
If you have a blog and you want some quick SEO blog tips from Google themselves, Matt Cutts gives a presentation on his recommendations (video here). Some tips you might already know, some you may not. At the very least, it’s a pretty entertaining presentation, with a great discussion following Matt’s post, including comments from “Thanks Matt” to “Tell me that this is a joke, please…” and everything in between.
SEO-Theory on PageRank Flow vs. Link Flow
Michael Martinez gets frustrated at the misuse of internet-related terminology and the issue of two emerging SEO myths, which is a great benefit to us because he cranks out some great articles as a result. If you’re interested, I recommend reading his distinction between PageRank flow and link flow, and the role they play (or don’t) in search engine optimization. In the article, he claims, “There are a couple of major voices in the industry spreading some absolute nonsense about PageRank and “nofollow†right now.” I’ve no idea who he’s referencing, but I did find his comment in the SEOMoz article above. But in all fairness, I do see him commenting in a lot of places. 
What do you guys think about all this talk about nofollows, link flow, pagerank and general site manipulation? I find it interesting that Google’s Matt Cutts gives “whitehat SEO tips” rather than “good webmaster tips.”
[If you enjoy reading MsDanielle.com, please feel free to subscribe via RSS or get free email updates.]
Someone should be asking Matt Cutts when is the next PageRank update! I need to check out how powerful PageRank is.
I thought for sure it would happen by Labor Day, I wonder what Google is waiting for? I actually just launced my blog last night- so I’m hoping the next update is this week. That way when Google updates again (hopefully before Christmas), I can have a nice PageRank to ring out the year.
Matt Cutts might be an employee of Google but that doesn’t necessarily mean he might know when the next update is. Although it’d be nice to find out.
i’ve read rumors that google may be getting rid of “pagerank” as we currently know it, replacing it with something similar. but i can’t find any sources at the moment. anyone else read this?
Haven’t heard of anything like that at all. Where did you hear this?
With Google, its all about profits and Matt Cutts (as a shareholder) will always tow the company line to help pad his own pockets. Its unfortunate they are so dominant on the internet so many webmasters (myself included) reluctantly follow their rules. Money talks, and Google pays me plenty.
I just leave the nofollow default to avoid thinking about it lol
I was really surprised at Matt Cuts presentation in his white hat SEO tips for bloggers post. I would have been really embarrassed to present that to anyone, let alone publish it.
The no follow tag was supposed to be anti spam, now Google want site owners to go out of their way to use it to kill off Adwords competitors…. I dont sell links, but if I did I would not use the no follow… do-follow is kind of the point in selling links is it not???
I also think its a shame that Wordpress is no longer the place to go for Wordpress themes, which I largely put down to MC’s comments that bloggers would lose all their “trust” in SE’s. Last time I looked Google did not base its logic on a single outbound link in the footer of a page…..
Did you know that Misty Look was no longer listed for download… and for what, a link to a webhosting aff site.
Check the site linked in your footer, it has has PR7… no loss of “trust” there…
Linkbacks are all that has driven the market in free templates, OSWD.org exists largely due to web designers making their templates freely available to promote their services… what is wrong with that… paid templates often have credits to the author too.
Personally I think people take far to much notice of MC.
I also think it is very un-professional of him to use his position at work to promote his personal / pseudo google blog. I am surprised his employer allows this… no company I have ever worked for would tolerate what he is doing. Surely this stuff belongs on
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
I should clarify when I said his presentation was embarrassing I was referring to his bloggers power-point thing not the one you mention in your post…
i haven’t sold any links on this site, either, but if i did i’d also just label them something other than “advertising” and not use nofollows. my blog has more worth in links than it does in traffic, and when you buy links you have to choose if you’re buying for traffic or PR, or both. my site’s outbound links have power, and you can see proof by checking the backlinks of my Featured Sites. my link appears on the first page of backlinks for all 3 sites — bankaholic, pinkdeals, and myspacegoodies. (hint hint, anyone wanna sponsor msdanielle?)
you’re right that mistylook isn’t available for download on codex.wordpress.org, but it IS available for download if you click on my footer link. see how that works out nicely for sadish?
but really, i’ve left those links there because 1. they do me no harm, 2. someone who wants to use my theme knows where to find it (especially useful now!), and 3. i give credit where credit is due for the creator of my theme, and isn’t that really what linking is about as well?? they really did come up with the theme, not me! i could remove them if i wanted to, but why? i don’t think it was wise for wp to remove the sponsored themes, bc they’ve gotten rid of some really amazing ones and they’re driving users away from their site.
as for MC, i think they’re allowing him to “represent” them in a non-official way. therefore he can speak on their behalf and give “whitehat” seo tips, but the company cannot be attacked for misinformation or misunderstanding. google is the grandmaster of avoiding confrontation with angry publishers. at least, that’s how it seems to me.
I know there were some really dodgy templates that needed to be removed but I think they went too far… Christmas came early for the other WP theme sites!!!!
this just in… verbal disagreements and clarifications between matt cutts and michael martinez here:
will be back to comment further later………….please read the articles!
http://sphinn.com/story/4432 and
http://seo-theory.com/wordpress/2007/09/04/matt-cutts-michael-martinez-pagerank-and-link-flow/
i am happy that andy beard and i both referenced the same article
I want you.