nofollow and Google ranking

[CheeryFox]

Don't you think that link with nofollow atribute is still has value for ranking in Google? Especialy if it link from trusted website.

[tedster]

Google's Matt Cutts says no [webmasterworld.com]: "...for Google, nofollow'ed links are dropped out of our link graph; we don't even use such links for discovery."

Do you see evidence that nofollow links help with ranking?

[CheeryFox]

Thanks for the info, tedster.

Actualy, the idea came to me because Google Webmaster Tools shows inbound link with nofollow in list of other links to my site. So, I thought, if Google shows the link there, then it could have value.

[RibaRiva]

I've had a number of no-followed links from one of the most trusted authorities on the web. The links are to interior pages of my site. Although the page rank remains the same, these pages have started ranking VERY well in the SERPs. I can only attribute it to these incoming no-followed links.

[cangoou]

Same for me: A competitor has less link-power, but got a pr7 from a authority-blog and suddenly ranks before me. My only explanation is that this links counts very much indeed.

[julinho]

Google's Matt Cutts says no: "...for Google, nofollow'ed links are dropped out of our link graph; we don't even use such links for discovery."

But he didn't say that "are dropped out of our link graph" means the same as "will have no influence whatsoever on our rankings".
If factors other than "link graph" (like, for instance, user behavior) have influence on the algorithm, then nofollowed links may have influence on rankings.

Do you see evidence that nofollow links help with ranking?

Yes. Hint: wikipedia.

[ecmedia]

I still fail to understand if Google will suggest that everyone follow nofollow tags to either sell advertising or to discourage spammers from posting comments and then start giving weight to those. Sounds as if Google will be contradicting itself and there is no use for putting the tag.

[jomaxx]

Yes, the more people use the tag for its intended purpose, the more Google would want to throw those links in the dumpster and never look at them.

However it's conceivable that they have some custom logic in place to handle Wikipedia links, given the directory's importance and the fact that external links are not sponsored and are somewhat policed. Not that I'm suggesting they do that, but Wikipedia is big enough, and certainly prominent enough in Google's SERPs, to deserve its own if-then-else statement were Google to decide to look at those links.

[Robert Charlton]

I've had a number of no-followed links from one of the most trusted authorities on the web. The links are to interior pages of my site. Although the page rank remains the same, these pages have started ranking VERY well in the SERPs. I can only attribute it to these incoming no-followed links.

Possibly the no-follow links have produced traffic, and your pages are good enough that some of your visitors have linked to you.

[RibaRiva]

Possibly the no-follow links have produced traffic, and your pages are good enough that some of your visitors have linked to you.

They sure have produced traffic! In a few cases, I've gotten other independent links but mostly I've gotten links from scrapers that have retained the nofollow tag.