Noindex tag. Nofollow attribute. Secrets of use. How to use an attribute correctly - SEO secrets
Let's start by outlining the different ways to use noindex and nofollow:
- Tag
- Meta tags And
Tag
Tag
Misconception #1. The main mistake people make when using this tag is to believe that if some text is placed between the opening and closing tags
The only thing this tag prohibits is placing the content in the index database, but this content will be read and analyzed by the robot in any case.
Example: There is some text on a page on your site that uses direct occurrences of sentences from other third-party sources. Therefore, these sentences reduce the uniqueness of your text, and you need 100% uniqueness. You decide to close these sentences with the tag
Absolutely all the text on your page will be read and processed by the robot, and it will know that the text on your page is not unique.
The very essence of the tag
Let's assume that a search robot has visited your page and started crawling the content. At some point the robot finds the opening of the tag
Why then do you need a tag?
It is needed directly in order to prohibit the robot from providing any information in its search engine results. These could be, for example, contacts that for some reason should not be displayed in the search results.
Misconception No. 2. Another misconception that is often found among website owners is the opinion that a link placed in a tag
To the aid of webmasters who need the robot to still not take into account links from pages, the attribute comes to the rescue, which works for both Yandex and Google. When using this attribute, the link will still be studied by the robot and a click will be made on it, but without nofollow the weight will be transferred to the recipient, and with nofollow the weight will be burned.
Example 1:
Yandex does not index the anchor, but takes into account the link to the site and transfers weight to it
Example 2:
Yandex does not index the anchor and does not transfer weight via the link to the site
There are two ways to write a tag
1.
2. Text prohibited from indexing
The second option is more correct. Since the tag
Meta tags And
Using the noindex meta tag in the page code prohibits Yandex (Google, again, is not involved in this case) from indexing all the text content of the page, while the links will be fully analyzed. That is, the presence of this meta tag in the page code is not equivalent to closing the page from the index in robots.txt.
The presence of the nofollow meta tag in the page code prevents search engines from indexing links on the pages. Robots will also not follow links from the page if this meta tag is present. But here is what is written in Yandex help:
“The robot will not visit documents if they are linked from a page containing a meta tag with a nofollow value, however, they can be indexed if there are links to them in other sources without nofollow.”
Let's sum it up
Tag
If we want the weight of the link not to be transferred to the recipient, then we use the nofollow attribute. At the same time, do not forget that the robot can still follow the link (if information about it is obtained from other sources: site map, links) and analyze the page to which it links. The method works for both Yandex and Google.
Hello everyone! Today I want to talk about the noindex tags and the nofollow attribute.
noindex tag – what is it?
In short, then No index prevents search robots from indexing any element on the site. This tag is not valid, so many html editors do not accept it. For example, in order for the Wordpress editor to take into account the tag, you need to write:
If you write it in this format, the tag will not disappear. You also need to understand that the tag noindex relevant only for the Yandex search engine. Google doesn't take it into account at all.
Don't confuse the tag noindex with attribute noindex, which is written once in the site header.
Let's look at the noindex example:
Also, nesting is not so important, and the tag can be located anywhere in the html code.
Do not forget! If there is an opening tag tags. Example:
As for the meta tag, it prohibits indexing the entire page (the prohibition is written in the file) - Yandex does not index such a page at all.
By the way, he is mistaken when he advises closing all links with nofollow noindex tags, but more on that below.
The tag works flawlessly: all text information inside it does not fall into the Yandex index. However, some optimizers claim that sometimes the text inside the noindex is indexed - alas, this really happens. The fact is that Yandex initially indexes all html code, even the one inside the tag, but then filters it. Therefore, at first the text inside the noindex can indeed be indexed, but soon the tag is triggered and “everything unnecessary” flies out of the index.
By the way, it is absolutely not necessary to observe the nesting of noindex tags - the tag will work even if the nesting is incorrect (this is written in the Yandex help):
Attention!!!Using the opening tag () , do not forget to put a locking one - ( ) , otherwise all text following will not be indexed.
When to use noindex and when not to
This tag should be used in cases where we want to hide an unnecessary part of the page’s html code from Yandex, so that “dirt” does not creep into the index of the robot of this search engine. Based on this, we can say that noindex costs use to:
- hide the codes of various counters (liveinternet, rambler100, TCI and PR counters, etc.);
- hide a bad word or obscene speech, although it is better not to use “such” at all;
- hide duplicate or non-unique content (quote, copy-paste, etc.);
- block content that is too frequent or constantly changing from indexing - indexing such information is pointless;
- do not allow Yandex to see forms of mailing lists, subscriptions to mail and Rss, etc.;
- do not index unnecessary information in sidebars (banner, unnecessary text information).
But the noindex tag is not needed in some cases.
- There is no need to block advertising from Yandex.Direct, Google.Adsense, Begun from indexing.
- You should not place external or internal links inside the tag - the tag does not work on them anyway. Look at the links on my site, none of them are enclosed in a noindex tag - it makes no sense!
- There is no need to put links in blog comments in the noindex tag - again, it doesn't work!
Tag nofollow
The nofollow attribute is intended to block links from indexing for both Google and Yandex. It is used to avoid transferring weight from the linking site to the linking site. The fact that Yandex does not know about nofollow is a myth, see for yourself - link . By the way, the nofollow tag does not save weight on the page - if some link is “nofollow”, then the weight does not flow over it, but burns out, or, if there are other links on the page that are not closed by this tag, it is redistributed between them. By the way, it follows that if you have at least one active external hyperlink on your page, then the weight goes away from the page - therefore Do not close all external links with the nofollow tag. You won’t save the weight anyway (it will burn if you close all external links with nofollow).
The fundamental difference between noindex nofollow: noindex is a tag that blocks text from indexing, nofollow is an attribute of the tag , which prohibits passing weight by reference. Example of using nofollow:
< a href= "http://example.ru" rel= "nofollow" >anchorUsing nofollow
You need to use the nofollow attribute if there is no need to transfer weight from the linking site to the web resource to which the link leads. Therefore, we use the tag to:
- do not transfer weight to links leading to a “bad” site from the point of view of search engines or just some “left” site that means nothing to you;
- block a link to a non-thematic site from transferring weight - such a link is undesirable;
- redistribute the weight between links on the page (useful if you sell links from the site through exchanges);
- reduce the number of links originating from the page - this is done if there are too many external or internal links on the page;
- do not give weight to the link leading to a mega-popular resource (Yandex, Google, subscrube and all sites that have a very large number of pages);
- close the links in the comments - there is no need to transfer weight through them (but only if your blog is not).
Using the noindex nofollow tag and attribute together
Both tags and noindex, And nofollow They feel great when placed next to each other. An example of their use together:
< noindex>< a href= "http://example.ru" rel= "nofollow" >anchorBut as mentioned above, it is not at all necessary to close links with the noindex tag, it is pointless. This way you can prevent the anchor from being indexed, but not the link itself. The link itself needs a nofollow tag. But despite this, many optimizers (mostly beginners), to be on the safe side, close the link with both tags - nofollow noindex. They just do extra work - there is no point in it, the tasks of these tags are different. Look at any of my articles (for example this one), not a single link there is closed with the noindex tag. If you don’t trust me, take a look at the blog of an experienced optimizer. And the Start Up school, which teaches its students to close all links with noindex, is mistaken.
For dessert: SEO mania and seomarass of modern optimizers
Exclusively for those who have read this strictly, I am sharing exclusive information, which, however, is known to experienced optimizers; they do not hide it, but do not particularly advertise it.
Beginner optimizers are engaged in real insanity: they hide all external links from the site inside a tag and attribute noindex, nofollow. Or worse: there is not a single external link on the page at all, for fear of losing the “precious” TCI. The question is, why do this, why be so afraid of losing a little weight from the page? What, this action will cause a significant drop in the TCI of the website or PR page? Or will it be impossible to bring the page to the top for mid-range or low-frequency queries? Nonsense. There is no need to be greedy: 1-2 external links from a page will only improve its credibility with search engines, and now I will prove it to you.
Any text written by anyone must contain links to the sources that were used in its writing, otherwise doubts will arise about the reliability of the material presented. Judge for yourself, would you trust a book that had 1-2 sources in its bibliography? Think about it, even a small brochure contains 10-20 materials in its sources.
How can you generally determine whether you can trust the information in an article? If the thoughts in the text are supported by an authoritative opinion, then you can trust. Remember about Wikipedia, any article on it contains a sea of links, and if there are not enough of them, the moderators delete the material. The same goes for any article on your website: if you don’t have enough links to third-party AUTHORITATIVE resources, then the price for such material is zero! First and foremost, you have to take care of your readers, so follow two rules:
- links are the basis of the Internet, so by recommending (with the help of links) a good site/article/information to your visitors, you thereby make your site more useful, because it was from you that the reader learned about another good site. Takeaway: Don't be afraid to add links that will actually be useful to your readers.
- a link cannot appear on the site by itself, therefore, the link is placed by the site owner, and if he links to a “bad”, non-authoritative resource banned by Yandex, then in the future the site of such a would-be webmaster will become non-authoritative. Takeaway: Link to AUTHENTIC, useful resources.
Search engines will always help a site that is made for people get to the top, so link to good resources, don’t be afraid - 1-2 useful links will not only not hurt, but will also strengthen the site’s position. And don’t forget, you shouldn’t nofollow all external links, don’t be afraid to share your weight, it will still leave the page. The opinion “not for me, not for others” is fundamentally wrong; now you share an open link, and then someone will link to you for free.
And one more thing: actively redistribute the weight between links, closing some nofollows (but not noindex - again, I remind you, this is pointless). Leave the necessary external links open, and close the unnecessary ones, so that only the first ones get the weight.
SEO optimization in case of noindex nofollow must be correct. I hope from my article it became clear how to use it correctly and incorrectly. noindex and nofollow.
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Noindex is an indicator tag for search engines (Yandex and Rambler), warning that part of the web page does not need to be indexed.
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What is the difference between noindex and nofollow
Their first significant difference is that the first was previously visible for Google, and the second was only visible for Yandex and Rambler. Currently, Yandex has also learned to recognize Nofollow, which works only for links, and Nouindex - for any site code.
Using Nofollow does not make the link invisible, but simply indicates that you do not need to follow it and index the document to which it leads. The search robot indexes this hyperlink, but weight is not transferred from the site if it leads to someone else's resource. This attribute works for all search engines.
As for the Noindex tag, only Yandex works with it. Google will simply ignore it. You need to use it in cases where you want to block some part of the page - text, image or link - from indexing. The search engine recognizes the content, but subsequently removes it from the index. This measure is established for a complete analysis of the page and the procedure for imposing possible sanctions for violations.
What is Noindex for?
- Unnecessary/non-unique information is closed, which improves the relevance of the page because the density of key phrases, relevance to the topic, and uniqueness increases.
- End-to-end blocks and hyperlinks are hidden, the presence of which can lead to pessimization.
- Personal and business information is hidden if you do not want it to be easily found through search.
What is Nofollow for?
- Closing unnecessary web links.
- Keeping page weight unchanged.
- Distribution of a certain weight across links.
How to use noindex and nofollow
The Noindex tag for any content is applied like this::
text to hide , and further text.
When working with Noindex, there is a possibility that the validity of the code will decrease, since only the Russian search engine knows this tag. Therefore, the following spelling is recommended:
.
All text that needs to be hidden.
In this case, other search engines will simply miss it, and the validity of the code will remain unchanged.
The Nofollow attribute is applied to links
In this case, the anchor gets into the index, but the search engine does not follow the web link, the weight on the page remains.
If there is too much Nofollow on a page, this can negatively affect search engine loyalty.
Sharing
In order to close both the text part and the hyperlink, you should adhere to the following spelling:
All text that needs to be hidden anchor, and more text
Variants of correct use of Noindex and Nofollow to prohibit indexing of a document as a whole
The tag and the attribute always go hand in hand and are often used together. They can be used in the meta name=robots of a document to indicate recommendations for indexing and following web links. An indication to prohibit indexing is necessary if duplicate pages are found, or if confidential or outdated information has appeared on the network, and pages cannot be removed in any other way.
If you want to block the entire page from indexing and prohibit the registration of links located on it, you must indicate the following in the page metadata:
Nowindex creates a command for Yandex not to index the content on the page, but the robot follows its web links. Therefore, additional Nofollow indicates not to walk on them. This instruction is accepted by both Yandex and Google.
As for removing a document from the Google index, the search engine provides an alternative method: writing X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow. This indication is fixed in http headers, which are not visible in the page code.
We talk about the difference between Nofollow and Noindex, how to use them correctly for links and hiding content on the site.
Always make sure that the tags and attributes discussed in the article are present in the right places to get exactly the result you expect.
Lately, when analyzing problematic client sites, I often come across the fact that many of them actively use the tag
It is worth noting that the documentation indicates the answer to the question “how to use this tag,” but does not say at all “why it was introduced.” In part, this is the reason for many questions from webmasters.
If we search on Google for the answer to the question what is the use of the noindex tag or any recommendations from Yandex employees on this matter, then the expected answer to the questions why it was introduced and in what cases is it recommended use, we won't get it. Yandex employees do not take responsibility for such recommendations, but at the same time they do not prohibit using noindex for their own purposes.
What were the benefits of this tag?
1. It was possible to block the block of external links from indexing(as, for example, Artemy Lebedev’s studio does in the legendary emoticon).
Indeed, it was convenient to close unmoderated links in this way, including in comments. But after Yandex introduced the ability to use rel=nofollow, as other major search engines do, you can safely abandon the noindex tag if it was only used to close external links.
2. You can manage the snippet (site description) in search results.
Since Yandex does not always know how to generate good snippets from page content for its search results, optimizers have found a way to use
3. Show one thing for Google, another for Yandex!
Tag
4. Select the optimal density of key phrases.
It comes to the point that optimizers cover unnecessary phrases in the text with this tag so that Yandex does not consider this text spam. At the same time, for visitors it often remains spammy :) This is where most of the troubles in SEO come from, but all that was needed was to give the optimizers this tag. On the other hand, Yandex can always find out from such markers whether the optimizer worked with the text or whether it is normal content.
By the way, Yandex did not recommend using noindex to select the optimal keyword density, this is already the machinations of optimizers (Yandex could not have suspected this when introducing support for the tag), but it actively pessimizes documents where this tag is often found.
5. Close counters and banners.
Saving on each link, webmasters closed in noindex and traffic counters. Many years have passed, now Yandex understands perfectly where everything is located on your website (including counters). There is no point in closing them from indexing; it is better to remove everything unused.
As we see,
Considering all of the above, it is strongly not recommended to use the noindex gray optimization tool, especially if it has not been used on the site before and there are additional problems with the resource (filters, substitution of a relevant page, and others).
And one more thing... Yandex has no reason to continue to support the noindex tag (except perhaps “don’t touch what works”). After introducing support for the nofollow attribute for links, it is difficult to understand the Yandexoids’ motive for leaving noindex. It may be discontinued soon.
This is my take on the one-sided noindex tag. What do you think about this topic?
