SEO Tycoon

**chrishirst** · 05:41 AM

There is a common misconception especially in the SEO community over some components used in HTML documents, the most common one being the alt attributes of the image element. It is all too often referred to incorrectly, as an alt "tag".
This mis-information has spread and perpetuated, due in no small part to the proliferation of SEOs who have very little or no experience at all with the technicalities of HTML or website / webpage design.

So to try and redress the balance a little, we have a short tutorial / reference to what each item is.

Elements and Tags
tags are the start and end delimiters of HTML elements. A start tag would look like this: <title> and an end tag for the same element would be exactly the same, only with a forward slash "/" before the element name. so it would be </title>

The majority of HTML elements consist of a start tag and an end tag with the content of the element located in-between them.

HTML Code:

<title>This would be the page title</title>

Some elements do not have a corresponding end tag and are known as "self-closing elements".
These are element that do not have a separate content part, rather the content that is displayed or indicated by the element is referenced in an attribute. The self closing element most used in webpage design is probably the image element.

alt and title attributes
Here is where much confusion has been created. The alt attribute of the image element is of particular interest to anyone looking to optimise their pages for search.
The attribute exists to provide alternate text to be displayed in user agents that are not enabled with image rendering capabilities.
As search engine indexers cannot "read" or "see" images, the content of the alt attribute, the alt text, is used to determine the context of the image OR, if the image is used as a link the alt text is used as the anchor text. For the SEs where anchor text is used to reinforce the target page content, this is an important point.
BUT it is NOT a tag it is an attribute.
As with all visible HTML elements, the image element has a "title" attribute which has absolutely no use for search but should NOT be confused with the title element, which is without doubt the most important element on the page.

HTML Code:

<img src="image_path" alt="This is the alternate text" title="This is the title text" >

nofollow
nofollow is a means that has been developed by the three major Internet search engines where webmasters can show that an external link is NOT vouched for by the site owner and should not be used by the SEs to give value or weight to the target site. However, the implementation of the nofollow differs between the various engine, so it should NOT be taken as an absolute that applying a nofollow to external links will safeguard a page from incurring whatever "penalties" exist for linking to pages that are regarded as "bad neighbourhoods" by the SEs.

The nofollow is NOT a tag and it is NOT an attribute.
It is a value that can be applied to the rel attribute of anchor elements. This attribute is used to indicate a relationship for the anchor or link element to the resource indicated in the href attribute, as used for external style sheets, (rel="stylesheet")

HTML Code:

<a href="target_url" title="Some title text" rel="nofollow">Anchor Text</a>

**OSWebMaster** · 01-20-2008, 05:08 PM

Hi -

Helpful post, thanks. A couple of notes and questions:

The "alt" attribute is also helpful for people with handicaps who access page that are read to them with a page reader
Since we don't know the algorithm that Google and other search engines use, and it gets changed frequently, how do we know that they always:
1. Honor the "nofollow" value?
2. How they score the "alt" and "title" attributes?

Yours -
Scott

**chrishirst** · 01-20-2008, 08:02 PM

Quote:

The "alt" attribute is also helpful for people with handicaps who access page that are read to them with a page reader

True, but for the purpose of this thread I wasn't concerned with usability or accessibility concerns

Again for both points, Whether SEs "honour" the nofollow value or what weight they put on the alt text is NOT the topic of the thread and it was not and is not the reason I wrote the post.

but just for the record, the "weighting" of the title attribute of ANY element is 0, tested and proven!

**firesign** · 01-21-2008, 08:28 AM

This is a very helpful information Sir... Thanks for sharing this...

**jamestl2** · 02-11-2008, 12:45 AM

I think this is just a copy and pasted article

:
http://www.candsdesign.co.uk/article...es-and-values/

Seriously though, these are good tips, I think you should sticky this thread.

**ADAM Web Design** · 02-11-2008, 03:23 AM

So Hirst is stealing content from himself now? It's not bad enough that he steals mine...he's got to steal his own now, too.

**express** · 03-13-2008, 08:18 AM

Hello chrishirst,

This is Stolen Content, please remove it....

Thanks..

**chrishirst** · 03-13-2008, 09:42 AM

'scuse me while I stop laughing

**Learning Newbie** · 03-13-2008, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

So Hirst is stealing content from himself now? It's not bad enough that he steals mine...he's got to steal his own now, too.

Opportunistic reuse? Hirst is about the best computer programmer in the world after God himself, so why shouldn't he be able to reuse code, even if isn't technically code?

Quote:

Originally Posted by express

Hello chrishirst,

This is Stolen Content, please remove it....

Thanks..

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrishirst

'scuse me while I stop laughing

I need some movie theatre popcorn.

**express** · 03-14-2008, 03:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrishirst

'scuse me while I stop laughing

Do one thing go to Pagal Khana. You are mental..

**chrishirst** · 03-14-2008, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by express

You are mental..

That's as maybe, but you were the one who commented on my post being "Stolen Material" from my site

Though actually it's really the other way around

I wrote the post here then expanded on it a little.

**willcode4beer** · 03-17-2008, 05:49 PM

Thought I might add one.

The opposite of:

Code:

<a ... rel="nofollow"...

is

Code:

<a ... rel="vote-for"...

**meet2rakeshjha** · 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrishirst

True, but for the purpose of this thread I wasn't concerned with usability or accessibility concerns

Again for both points, Whether SEs "honour" the nofollow value or what weight they put on the alt text is NOT the topic of the thread and it was not and is not the reason I wrote the post.

but just for the record, the "weighting" of the title attribute of ANY element is 0, tested and proven!

Sir, I think google crawl the site with "nofollow". Is it right or not please share your knowledge with us.

**igorsa** · 05-17-2008, 09:00 PM

I have a dilemma about nofollow tag.

What is overused of nofollow for Google? If site (catalogue) have 2000 different pages which reviewed other sites and every page have external link to these sites, and if I put nofollow tag to every of these link, does Google understand it like overusing of nofollow tag and ban me? If yes, could it be bad for me that I have 2000 external links?

**jamestl2** · 05-17-2008, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by igorsa

I have a dilemma about nofollow tag.

Have you read the first post?

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrishirst

The nofollow is NOT a tag and it is NOT an attribute.
It is a value that can be applied to the rel attribute of anchor elements.

Quote:

Originally Posted by igorsa

What is overused of nofollow for Google? If site (catalogue) have 2000 different pages which reviewed other sites and every page have external link to these sites, and if I put nofollow tag to every of these link, does Google understand it like overusing of nofollow tag and ban me? If yes, could it be bad for me that I have 2000 external links?

I don't think Google cares too much....

**igorsa** · 05-17-2008, 09:36 PM

Ok sorry, I meant nofollow value

I just saw the example of wikipedia page. They have more than 50 nofollow external links on one page. Does it means that I can put nofollow on ever external link and Google will not understand it like a "cheating"?

It's not same if you have 2000 external follow or nofollow links? I though that's important for ranking, but as I understand you said it's not. I'm little bit confused.

**jamestl2** · 05-17-2008, 09:58 PM

You'd probably have to wait for a response from someone like Chris or Paul to get a clearer answer on this, but like he said in the first post, the value is not a guarantee that Google will discount every single link, it's just an indicator.

It probably depends on the page and what it's linking to.

From a user's standpoint though, I'd be wondering why there's so many links on one single page in the first place.

**igorsa** · 05-17-2008, 10:09 PM

Thanks for trying to help me.

No, it's not on the single page. I said that I have more than 2000 pages and every page have at least one external link (but usually 2-3).

**chrishirst** · 05-18-2008, 08:46 AM

Quote:

If site (catalogue) have 2000 different pages which reviewed other sites and every page have external link to these sites,

Why would you review sites and then send a message to the SEs that these are not "trusted" links?

Wikipedia's use of nofollow is appropriate, because the links there are more often than not placed by third party editors who have their own agenda. The Wikipedia operators don't really care about search engine results, the aim of Wikipedia is simply to catalogue information. It is only the usual short sighted SEO types who think (as they do with the ODP) that it is a source of "valuable" backlinks, and then abuse the wikipedia pages for their own selfish ends.
The other side of the coin is that Wikipedia gains natural links to just about every single page NOT just to the home page. Which is something the link building numpties forget about. This will probably have the effect of negating or diminishing any potential "down marking" the SEs algo may (or may not) place on pages for using nofollow in an over-enthusiastic way.

If you "trust" the sites your reviews are for, then simply link out to them. If, on the other hand you want to protect your pages from potential penalties when or if sites "go bad" from "bait and switch" techniques or expire and become p0rn parking sites, use redirects to link through. Then the only page "at risk" is the redirect page.

http://www.candsdesign.co.uk/article...filiate-links/ There is a PHP version as well.

Keep the "nofollow" for use on links that you definitely do not vouch for, such as third party comments or reviews.

**igorsa** · 05-18-2008, 10:56 AM

Thanks Chris!

My links are affiliates and among 2000 links, there is always links which stopped working, because domain is expire, id is changed etc...

Another thing, why this site use nofollow for items in header, menu etc?