Do Search Engines Read The Anchor Text of NoFollowed Links?

Mar 27, 2009 - 1:08 am 5 by

A HighRankings Forum thread asks an interesting question. If I add links to my web page and nofollow them, does Google still read the anchor text of the link and use that in part of how they determine what my page is contextual about.

For example, if I link to Search Engine Land as follows; <a href="http://searchengineland.com/" rel="nofollow">Search News</a> would Google or any other main search engine, take the words "search news" and place that text as being relevant to what this page is about? We know Google won't pass the link value of that link to Search Engine Land, but do we know if Google ignores that text completely?

Has anyone done any tests on this yet? If not, anyone want to try?

Forum discussion at HighRankings Forum.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google Ads

Google Ads AI Max Underperforming Other Match Types

Nov 10, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: SEO Advice On Using Two Different TLDs For Your Company

Nov 10, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Opal Tool Creates Optimized Content In Scalable Way - Seriously?

Nov 10, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google Ads

Week Long Google Ads Invitation Access Bug Fixed

Nov 10, 2025 - 7:11 am
Google Updates

Google Search Ranking Volatility Heats Up - Movember Update

Nov 8, 2025 - 8:05 pm
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: November 7, 2025

Nov 7, 2025 - 10:01 am
 
Previous Story: Google Offering Hosting Companies Packaged Google Pack