nofollow tags finally cleared up?

[Blazingpie]

The debate around what 'nofollow' tags actually do has been going on for some time now, but it seems we may of gotten a decent answer. Google Groups user JHL asked what the nofollow tag actually did, and Adam Lasnik replied that the spider will not follow follow that link.

http://groups.google.com/group/Google_Webmaster_Help-Indexing/browse_thread/thread/c5a52187d1f8f6e1/c8a9c671bf43aa19?lnk=gst&q=&rnum=22#c8a9c671bf43aa19

I hope this finally ends the debate :) Though I wouldnt be surprised if people started seeing contradictory evidence :p

[Koz]

I think people will always try proove otherwise. Its in an SEO's nature to not trust Google and what it's representatives say 100% :shhh:

[Blazingpie]

hah hah, ya, you're right. However I've got a feeling that if what he said is true, then it's more of a half-truth. For example, "The spiders won't follow those links if we feel like it." :p

[Paz]

They do follow these links and index pages that they point to, and I can give you an example.

If you log out you'll see a "register" link with a nofollow tag, the forum comes like that out of the box.

If you open that page you'll see it is indexed in Google - it has PR3 even. It's possible that there's another link to it somewhere, but I doubt it.

I think it's more BS from Google.

[Paz]

Correction! Just looked again and found a link without a nofollow tag... SOOB....