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Outbound No follow Links Question

by alextuder
14 replies
  • SEO
    • |
For instance, the homepage of my website points to 50 different affiliate websites "outbound", "no follow".

Does if affect PR of a page if the page have "no follow" links to different sites?
#follow #links #no follow #outbound #page rank #question
  • Profile picture of the author sparrow
    You will have to test for this

    some niches no and others yes

    if you are trying to sculpture the page rank to a page, I don't think it matters anymore

    it is perfectly natural for having outbound links but if all the links are affiliate offers good idea

    Ed

    Originally Posted by alextuder View Post

    For instance, the homepage of my website points to 50 different affiliate websites "outbound", "no follow".

    Does if affect PR of a page if the page have "no follow" links to different sites?
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  • Profile picture of the author Marx Vergel Melencio
    Originally Posted by alextuder View Post

    For instance, the homepage of my website points to 50 different affiliate websites "outbound", "no follow". Does if affect PR of a page if the page have "no follow" links to different sites
    First, I think this belongs to the SEO section of the forum... With that out of the way, let's see... If you meant to ask: Is the Google PR of a page positively or negatively affected by having lots of outbound nofollow links pointing to affiliate sites or any site "type" for that matter... An inference, based on what Google said about nofollow links: No. The nofollow tag tells Google robots, when crawling a page, that it should not share Google PR juice of a page to a page linked using a nofollow link nor even go to the linked page and crawl it... That's most likely why it's called "nofollow"...
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    • Profile picture of the author SamirSM
      Hi Alex!

      This is a very debatable point, since in one of his blog posts, Matt Cutts has written that Google Bots may or may not use the originally intended directions of the "nofollow" tag based on certain factors.

      I do not know what those factors are, but he said it was to counter the rapidly increasing usage of the "nofollow" tag for Page Rank sculpting, ie. intentionally directing the PR Juice to specific URLs for commercial purposes.

      As far as I know outbound links do not impact the PR of the same page. However, when you consider the fact that:

      1.Page A links to Page B on the same domain
      2.Page A links to Page C on another domain

      and thus the total PR of Page A is divided in two.

      Now if Page B links back to Page A, some PR Juice is given back to Page A.

      However, Page C doesn't link back to Page A, and thus the part of the PR Juice given to Page C is lost completely.

      In that sense, outbound links may decrease the PR Juice flowing within the domain.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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        Originally Posted by indihow View Post

        This is a very debatable point, since in one of his blog posts, Matt Cutts has written that Google Bots may or may not use the originally intended directions of the "nofollow" tag based on certain factors.
        Yes indeed - that's definitely so, but it doesn't make the point in any way "debatable", as it actually has nothing to do with the question asked here, which was about whether having outbound no-follow links on a page can affect the page's page-rank.

        Here's Alex's question, again, in his own words:
        Originally Posted by alextuder View Post

        Does if affect PR of a page if the page have "no follow" links to different sites?
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        • Profile picture of the author SamirSM
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          Yes indeed - that's definitely so, but it doesn't make the point in any way "debatable", as it actually has nothing to do with the question asked here, which was about whether having outbound no-follow links on a page can affect the page's page-rank.

          Here's Alex's question, again, in his own words:
          Hi Alexa!

          Please read my entire post
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          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
            Banned
            Originally Posted by indihow View Post

            Hi Alexa!

            Please read my entire post
            I did - thanks. I agree with it, apart from the "debatable" bit. It was only its relevance to the question asked I was questioning, not its accuracy. The answer to the question asked is not in any way "debatable". I was simply trying to avoid Alex being confused about a very straightforward, black-and-white question.
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            • Profile picture of the author SamirSM
              Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

              I did - thanks. I agree with it, apart from the "debatable" bit. It was only its relevance to the question asked I was questioning, not its accuracy. The answer to the question asked is not in any way "debatable". I was simply trying to avoid Alex being confused about a very straightforward, black-and-white question.

              1.Page A links to Page B on the same domain
              2.Page A links to Page C on another domain

              and thus the total PR of Page A is divided in two.

              Now if Page B links back to Page A, some PR Juice is given back to Page A.

              However, Page C doesn't link back to Page A, and thus the part of the PR Juice given to Page C is lost completely.

              In that sense, outbound links may decrease the PR Juice flowing within the domain.
              So, the PR given back to PAGE A by the various pages of the same domain is reduced if the number of outbound links increases.
              Since "nofollow" policy may not be observed by the bot, even "nofollow" links may reduce the PR from the maximum possible value.
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              • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
                Banned
                I totally agree with you.

                But it doesn't make Alex's question in any way "debatable" because he's asking about the page on which the links appear, not the page(s) linked to.
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                • Profile picture of the author SamirSM
                  Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

                  I totally agree with you.

                  But it doesn't make Alex's question in any way "debatable" because he's asking about the page on which the links appear, not the page(s) linked to.
                  OK lemme try one last time.

                  PR of A is P
                  Page A has 2 links, one to B, in the same domain, and a nofollow link to C, on another domain.

                  Approximate PR of A transferred to B is P/2 and that to C is P/2.

                  Now, suppose the PR of B is Q, including the PR transferred by A to B.

                  Page B links back to A, and thus transfers approximately PR Q.

                  Page C, on another domain has no links to A's domain.

                  Had there been only one link from A to B, the PR transferred to B would have been P instead of P/2.

                  So, Q would have been Q+(P/2).

                  Thus B would have given more PR back to A.

                  So, P, the page rank of A would have been higher.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
                    Banned
                    All I can do here is keep saying that I completely agree with what you're pointing out, and that Alex wasn't asking that, and that it doesn't make his actual question debatable at all. I was simply trying to avoid Alex being confused about the very straightforward, black-and-white issue he raised with his question.

                    Never mind: if you'll excuse the observation, I think the discussion's outgrown its usefulness now. Good luck, and good wishes to you.
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                    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
                      Remember that using nofollow like that is not what is was intended for.

                      Nofollow does not mean it is invisible.

                      IMHO, 50 affiliate links is just crazy.

                      It won't affect PR, but it sure may affect a lot of other things.

                      PR is most affected by incoming links.

                      Authority, trustworthiness, etc. are in direct proportion to content and
                      user experience. What does a page with 50 affiliate links say?

                      Kind of like asking a doctor if drinking 2 six packs will affect a broken leg.

                      Paul
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                      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
                        Banned
                        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

                        Kind of like asking a doctor if drinking 2 six packs will affect a broken leg.
                        Could be beneficial: if they're tall enough cans, you might manage to glue them together to make a crutch?
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by alextuder View Post

    Does if affect PR of a page if the page have "no follow" links to different sites?
    No, and it doesn't affect it if it has "do-follow" links, either.

    Outbound links on a page can't normally affect that page's page-rank.

    Outbound links on a page can't normally adversely affect the pages linked to, either (for obvious reasons).

    I may be wrong, but I suspect that what you're thinking of is that the number of outbound links on a page dilutes the benefit/power of each of those links? This is certainly so. Which is why receiving backlinks from pages which contains hundreds of outbound links is of such small SEO value.

    Originally Posted by sparrow View Post

    You will have to test for this

    some niches no and others yes
    Not wanting to start an argument, here, but this comment makes absolutely no sense to me at all. :confused:
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    • Profile picture of the author alextuder
      [quote=Marx Vergel Melencio;3167615]First, I think this belongs to the SEO section of the forum... With that out of the way, let's see... If you meant to ask: /QUOTE]

      Thanks for correcting me.

      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      No, and it doesn't affect it if it has "do-follow" links, either.

      Outbound links on a page can't normally affect that page's page-rank.

      Outbound links on a page can't normally adversely affect the pages linked to, either (for obvious reasons).

      I may be wrong, but I suspect that what you're thinking of is that the number of outbound links on a page dilutes the benefit/power of each of those links?
      This is certainly so.

      Which is why receiving backlinks from pages which contains hundreds of outbound links is of such small SEO value.
      Based on my observation & experiences , You are very much right.
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