08 Jun 2009

Google has surprised search engine optimisation(SEO) professionals at this week's SMX Advanced event by making an apparent U-turn over the tactic of PageRank sculpting.

The practice involves using the 'nofollow' link attribute to divert PageRank to important web content rather than less vital pages such as log-in and registration pages.

Google has previously revealed that it uses this same tactic on the YouTube website, a revelation that was seen as encouragement for SEO executives to also take up the practice.

However, Matt Cutts of Google said at SMX Advanced that PageRank which goes unused due to the use of 'nofollow' can no longer be used to boost the ranking of other pages.

"You can almost think of it as just evaporating" instead, WebProNews reported him as stating.

Despite this, SEO professionals should wait for Google to release more information on this issue before they do anything such as removing 'nofollow' attributes used for PageRanking sculpting purposes, according to Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land.

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