I never know whether to allow links to be followed or to use the Google inspired rel=”no follow” attribute to the anchor tags to links outside my websites.
My instinct is not to use nofollow for anything because I think we should give credit where credit is due. If I am quoting someone, it is legitimate to give them a link. However, letting link juice ooze from a webpage can have serious repercussions according to some in the internet marketing world. The selfish people like Wikipedia don’t allow any of their so-called link popularity flow from the site. This is, of course, ostensibly to discourage spammers, but it also hurts sites that deserve to be linked to as well.
The fact of the matter is, those who use rel=”nofollow” are thought to rank better in search engines, and after all is it not more readers that we are really after?
Well, on my own site I have come up with a way to deal with my mood swings. If on any given day I have got it so that I can change external links from one to the other. I merely have to upload a litte file in my utilities folder. I use SSI and this little scrap of code is placed in all my external links: <a href=”http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/571498/posts” target=”_blank” <!–#include virtual=”../util/nofollow.php” –>>Free Republic Report on U.S. Participation in Cavalry Attack</a>.
Notice the virtual include. If the file is empty then do follow, if not don’t follow.
Now I can freely exercize my Dr Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde paranoia and change it back and forth on a daily basis!
