Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : SEO / SEM Discussions : What is the difference between dofollow and nofollow?

[AndrewASmith]

Is PR the only difference? Will Googlebot still follow and index pages with nofollow? Does google it count as a backlink?

[Jamie Harrop]

The nofollow attribute is specifically designed to instruct search engines that a link should not influence the search engine ranking of the site it is linking to. The search engine will still follow the link and index the site, but it won't be used to boost PageRank or influence the ranking of the site in any way.

I'm not sure whether Google counts it as a back link (in terms of whether or not it shows the link in Google's list of sites linking to a page). Whether or not it counts as a back link, it won't help to boost PageRank or influence the ranking in any other way.

[christyjackson]

No follow is just like a command to say don't pass page rank. But rumour has it that even if there is a do follow link trust rank is still passed.
No follow is also the same as robots, index nofollow. But this command is directed to the entire page.

[awatson]

I believe a nofollow link is totally ignored by google - no PR, no trust, no backlink, etc.

[Jamie Harrop]

Originally Posted by awatson

I believe a nofollow link is totally ignored by google

Not true. Google will see the link and still visit the site that the link is going to and will index that site. It just won't influence the ranking of the site.

[RICK22]

Here is a quick summary of the two:

Dofollow - allows the site to pass PR on an outgoing link, thus counting as a vote for the quality of the site in the eyes of google

Nofollow - sends signal to the bot that the link is not vouched for so no PR is passed on. Even with a link being "nofollow", the bot still recognizes the link as valid.

There are tons of resources for this on the net. I suggest you search for them if you want to know more.

[zionchild]

The debate has not abated. Some would say that Google continues to give respect to link with nofollow so long as the link is found in a reputable website.

[junki]

For Google bot won't follow link with nofollow tag and doesn't count as backlink but however there are some other spider that do follow the link with nofollow tag.

[MrCat]

I have seen this same thread all over webmaster forums and the OP just keeps on abandoning it.

Already answered this thread at http://www.v7n.com/forums/seo-forum/...tml#post799616

Also at some other threads : http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...nofollow%3F%20

To the OP, its okay to post the same thread on different forums, but I just hope you don't just abandon it as we are all trying to help you out...