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Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links

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Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links
Quick question. Just want to make sure I get it right.

Having major problems with Google and need to add the nofollow tag to all external links in database. Was wondering if it was as simple as adding the rel=nofollow" tag to the Title and URL area in link.html?

This is what I have now:

<h4 class="linktitle"><a href="<%URL%>"><%Title%></a>
<h4 class="linktitle"><a rel="nofollow" href="<%URL%>"><%Title%></a>

Would change it to:
<h4 class="linktitle"><a rel="nofollow" href="<%URL%>"><%Title%></a>
<p class="linkurl"> <a rel="nofollow" href="<%URL%>"><%URL%></a></p>

Thanks in Advance...
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Re: [janx] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
Yup, it just needs adding to the <a href... as in your examples) .. that simple Angelic

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk
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Re: [janx] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
Yes, it's simple as that :)

Cheers,
Boris

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Re: [Andy] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
Nothing in my life is that simple so I assumed it had be be a bit more complex... Thank you both for your quick responce.
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Re: [janx] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
Just wondering, as this might be relevant to other GLinks owners, what kind of problems did you have with Google?
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Re: [Thomas.] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
The directory was completely banned from Google (de-indexed all pages). Suspected of trying to manipulate PageRank. Basically what it comes down to is any type of paid links must have the rel="nofollow tag" or Google thinks that you are an evil site owner that is intentionally trying to pass Page rank. There is no getting around it, Google wants all directories wiped off the face of the Internet and unless you comply with their demands, eventually they will find you and de-index the entire site.

The directory had been online since 1998, started charging a submission fee about 10 years ago. Implemented the review fee to discourage spam sites from submitting to it, had no idea that I had to include the no-follow tag on all external links because I did not consider them to be paid links. Webmasters were being charged for a service, not a guaranteed listing in the Directory.

The email I received from Google was very vague, took me a while to figure out what the problem was. So if you ever receive an email from Google stating that your site is suspected of trying to manipulate Page Rank - save yourself a lot of headaches and just add the rel="nofollow tag to all external links. Yes, you will probably lose business but if you have enough traffic to the directory and charge a reasonable submission (review) fee, people will still pay to have their site listed.

Hope this helps the next person that gets targeted by Google.
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Re: [janx] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
Thanks for sharing your experiences, janx! I hope your directory has been re-indexed since.

Our directory has been online since 2000, but I have been wondering if it's still worth maintaining in the light of Google's omnipresence and dominance.
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Re: [Thomas.] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
Yes, I groveled, pleaded, gave them my first born and finally had the site re-indexed.... frustrating experience.

Whether or not to keep a Directory live in the Google era is going to be a struggle, especially if you charge for submission. It all depends on how well your Directory is doing, where the majority of your traffic is coming from and the overall revenue compared to the expenses. If you still make a profit what's the harm in keeping it active? Myself, I don't depend on the Directory to make a big profit, but it makes enough to sustain itself.

Personally, I don't want to see the big boys win and will keep the Directory active with or without traffic, haunting the Internet...... It annoys the hell out of me that we all seem to be working for Google for free, following their rules, complying with their demands, and letting them dictate what's available online.

If you decide to keep your Directory active, I wish you great success.
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Re: [janx] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
How about trying something like this:

Instead of charging money for listing sites, make it clear that you are charging money for

1) Premium listing
+
2) Editor's review
or
3) Some other reason.

Linking Structure
In your directory you can have direct link (do follow) to every site listed in your directory. However, since the premium listings are actually verified by you (or editor) you have a good reason to list them higher & also have a custom design layout for their detailed page.

Now this also means that there should be a free options for others (related sites) to get listed in your directory - however being honest to the site design, you can maintain detail page with different design - that allows users to notice that they are not premium/paid members.

In this manner, direct listing is no longer a premium feature & since this option is also available for free users, you will not be breaking any rules either.

Note: Is my idea perfect - na, I am sure there can be others who will come up with lot better ideas - but till you find them, this one might work just fine.

Vishal
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Re: [SWDevil.Com] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
Good suggestion, however from my experience all external links in Directory had to have the no-follow tag, even the unpaid ones. Google does not manually check the site so it has no idea which listing are free or paid - everything is automated and even if you explain how the system is setup they don't really care. Took me from Dec, 2012 to March, 2013 to get re-indexed.
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Re: [janx] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
After some years or running Gossamer Links we retired it. A few months ago, we re-deployed it on a limited basis to run a small directory where we include only listings that we hand-select.

I noticed that all outgoing links are Do Follow and this is bad practice in today's landscape of the evolving web.

That and a problem with TILDES, and that GLinks does not render too well on Mobile devices, made us take it down - maybe just in time from what your experience has been.

It is a pity that this nice script is not updated and revived.
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Re: [mromero] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
Hi,

I have UTF8 characters working fine in GLinks - it would have just been down to how you set it up :)

Quote:
I noticed that all outgoing links are Do Follow and this is bad practice in today's landscape of the evolving web.

All links? Thats just a case of adding rel="nofollow" into the outgoing lnks in link.html Angelic

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk
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Re: [mromero] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
Frankly, the more I read about the nofollow tag, the more confusing it gets. Crazy

Why would non-nofollow ("dofollow") links be a bad practice, in particular in a directory where the webmaster is in control over which links are included and which aren't? Wouldn't a nofollow link rather raise a red flag with Big G about a potentially spammy link environment or indicate a "paid" link?

Last edited by:

Thomas.: Jun 21, 2013, 5:59 PM
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Re: [Thomas.] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
Google has totally gone past the whole thing of what they are meant to be... a SEARCH ENGINE! It does my head in , heading day in and day out of them simply "dropping" people (or cutting their traffic in half, or less) just on a whim... yet you get the spamming sites still listed on there Mad

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk
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Re: [Andy] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
The evolving rules about what is now forbidden compared to the old days when we innocently built websites and content, are hard to keep up with.

Reason why there is a whole new and lucrative industry devoted to Website Audits.

The newer directory scripts have do-follow turned off by default.

If your site has not yet been torched, do not rest easy, it is only a matter of time - a time bomb waiting to go off.

All Gossamer Links site owners should consider disabling do-follow,

And I think Gossamer should consider releasing an updated version that does not by default have do-follow enabled by default.
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Re: [mromero] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
mromero wrote:
....... And I think Gossamer should consider releasing an updated version that does not by default have do-follow enabled by default.

Just wondering.... how many people actually use GLinks without making any changes to the template set?

Isn't it as simple as adding nofollow tag in link.html & detailed.html if one is planning to create a direct link to any site? Also, I do not think one need to worry about nofollow or dofollow if the site is using jump.cgi for the outgoing link.

Now coming back to the matter of Gossamer Links getting updated (at this point -- almost for any reason) I am all for it :)

Vishal
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Re: [SWDevil.Com] Adding Nofollow Tag to All Links In reply to
Hm...I don't have this problem with Google.

I've setup detail pages with jump.cgi link to external links and just forbid Google (robots.txt) to index my jump.cgi file as this isn't important.

Or am I missing a point here?

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