Nofollow Internal Links To (Possibly) Penguinized Page?

[Planet13]

Hi there, Everyone:

Should I nofollow INTERNAL links to one of my pages if I suspect that target page has been Penguinized / Pandalized?

I would like to create "banner ads" from some of my information pages to one of my INTERNAL ecommerce pages (same site).

The only thing is that target page appears to have dropped out of the index for the keywords "blue widgets" (instead the home page is ranking in it's place). There is no manual penalty on the page (according to the response to a reconsideration request), but it appears to have been decimated by a recent algo change (Penguin or Panda - take your pick - not sure which).

Thanks in advance.

_{(Yes, I understand that this question almost seems comical, but when dealing with the "new and improved" google, one must be prepared to deal with the farcical nature of google rankings.)}

[netmeg]

I never ever ever would put a nofollow on an internal link, no matter what Google is doing.

And I don't think it would do you any good if you did.

except in the case of a 301'd affiliate link, forgot about those

[Planet13]

Thanks for your input, netmeg.

[JamesWt]

I don't think that it can help anymore because nofollow internal linking can't do anything for penalized pages.

[Lame_Wolf]

I never ever ever would put a nofollow on an internal link, no matter what Google is doing.

I do, but only to my privacy policy page.

[crobb305]

Should I nofollow INTERNAL links to one of my pages if I suspect that target page has been Penguinized / Pandalized?

I have given thought to this as well, primarily where the penalized phrase is used sitewide in navigation. I've considered nofollow on the link or noindexing the page. I haven't done either of those yet, because I rank very well in Bing. So, I tried using a different phrase in the navigation, but it had a slightly negative impact in Bing and my ranking in Google fell even further. So I reverted it back and will leave it alone.

[Hoople]

But don't these efforts seem like Page Rank Sculpting which if I recall correctly Matt C said doesn't work/they ignore it?

[Simsi]

Personally I would either significantly improve the content on the penguinised page or NOINDEX it rather than start using nofollow on internal links.

[Sand]

If the page is potentially valuable to your business, go ahead and noindex it until you can make it better. It may or may not help, but it's not ranking anyway right now so there's no harm in trying.

If it's not valuable page and never will be, go ahead and delete it.

[Planet13]

If the page is potentially valuable to your business, go ahead and noindex it until you can make it better.

Aye... there's the rub. For google to like that page, I apparently have to make it WORSE...

It actually has the LOWEST bounce rate and LONGEST time on page for any of the pages on my site. It ranks pretty well for the SINGULAR version of the keywords (blue widget) but lost rankings for the plural version (blue widgets).

It has a lot of content on the page, so there is the possibility that google thinks I am overusing the search term.

When I look at other pages that rank, aside from a wikipedia page, they all have SIGNIFICANTLY less content (oh, and the ehow article basically paraphrased and cited my page).

So to me it seems like I need to do an Anti-Panda Solution and make it thinner.

[Planet13]

@ Hoople

But don't these efforts seem like Page Rank Sculpting which if I recall correctly Matt C said doesn't work/they ignore it?

I don't think Lame_Wolf is attempting to sculpt page rank by doing this. I think that basically he just doesn't want his Privacy Policy to rank in lieu of a meatier page.

But you are correct; google counts a nofollow link as a "black hole" where the page rank is just lost instead of redistributed amongst the remaining do-follow links.

[Lame_Wolf]

I don't think Lame_Wolf is attempting to sculpt page rank by doing this. I think that basically he just doesn't want his Privacy Policy to rank in lieu of a meatier page.

Correct, Planet13. I have just checked that page, and it is showing a greyed out toolbar, which is good.

[Robert Charlton]

I don't think Lame_Wolf is attempting to sculpt page rank by doing this. I think that basically he just doesn't want his Privacy Policy to rank in lieu of a meatier page.

I don't know why Lame_Wolf is nofollowing the link to his privacy policy page, but if he doesn't want it to rank, I'd suggest he use a meta noindex,follow on the page and then linking from the page back to home... not a rel="nofollow" attribute on the link to the page. I'm basically with netmeg in not putting rel="nofollow" on internal links.

With regard to the original question, I can't see how rel="nofollow" in this situation would be accomplishing anything except throwing away some link juice. I've had global "dofollow" buy buttons on a site, all linking to a single page on a site. You might consider this setup to be the equivalent of the "banner ads" you want to put up. There was no problem whatsoever.

The page wasn't Pandalized, though. What makes you think that your page is Pandalized, particularly if the rest of the site appears to be doing OK?

[Lame_Wolf]

I don't know why Lame_Wolf is nofollowing the link to his privacy policy page, but if he doesn't want it to rank, I'd suggest he use a meta noindex,follow on the page and then linking from the page back to home... not a rel="nofollow" attribute on the link to the page. I'm basically with netmeg in not putting rel="nofollow" on internal links.

Thanks, but I won't be altering anything. I've no need to. I haven't been penalized in any shape or form. Panda, Penguin ? Pah!

I am happy the way things are with my site. Each to their own I guess.

[Planet13]

@ Robert Charlton:

What makes you think that your page is Pandalized, particularly if the rest of the site appears to be doing OK?

Actually, the rest of the site is NOT doing very well... Down about 35% from February of THIS year, and down about 5% from this time LAST year. (I seemed to skate through all the other Panda iterations unharmed.)

There was a sharp traffic drop on March 23rd, which I believe corresponds with a Panda rollout.

Also, there was a sharp drop on April 26th, which isn't an exact date for Penguin here in the US. There was a minor drop on April 24th, but much bigger drop on the 26th. Don't know exactly what this means.

Add to the fact that the page in question stopped ranking for the plural version of the keyword blue widgets and was replaced by the home page for that plural version, yet still ranks for the singular version blue widget.

I submitted a reinclusion request and received a response that mo manual action had been applied to this page, so I am left with the conclusion that it is a Penguin victim.

[Robert Charlton]

Actually, the rest of the site is NOT doing very well...

Then, I'd look at how Google might be looking at the entire site in light of Panda factors that have been discussed here.

Offhand, trying to lure visitors to a particular page in the site by using nofollowed internal banner ads doesn't feel like an approach that would be addressing overall quality issues. It feels more like the kind of thing that I believe Panda was trying to combat.

Panda wants visitors to be engaged with a site's content, not shunted through it.

Clarity and prioritization of basic navigation, depth of content that's of interest to visitors and appropriate to the type of page, placement of images on a page, etc... all leading to greater visitor engagement within the site... are much more likely to be factors that would help site performance.

Trying to force a visitor's attention to a conversion area, which is what I'm assuming you're doing (based on many questions you've posted on the issue), is, IMO, likely to create more Panda problems, not reduce them.

PS: I'm not saying don't have a prominent "buy" page button on every page, btw. I am suggesting that if you do, you shouldn't try to hide what it is from Google, and you shouldn't make it unnaturally large for a buy button.