Google Doesn't Count Washington Post Blogroll Links

Aug 21, 2006 - 7:01 am 1 by

Last Friday, I posted a fun topic at the SEW blog asking, Washington Post Selling Text Links? I followed up that post with a Search Engine Watch Forum thread named Do Washington Post Blogroll Links Pass Link Pop?

At first glance at the sponsored blogroll service provided by the Washington Post, you would believe that the links can and would be counted. Here is what they look like:

<p style="padding:0px; margin:0px 0px 2px 0px"><a href="http://www.VivaLasVegasBlog.com" target="_blank" onclick="sa_onclick( 'http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/tracking/textlink/blogroll/' );" style="color:#0C4790; font-size:11px">Las Vegas Travel</a></p>

Brian White comes in from Google and responds;

These links will not count for PageRank value. For instance, gadgets-weblog.com is not receiving PageRank from washingtonpost.com. Neither will the links count from washingtonpost.com to finance-weblog.com, for that matter.

Matt Cutts then backs up his team member with;

Yup, we certainly noticed these a while ago. dyn4mik3, it may look like a clean link, but the fact is that the onclick behavior invokes a new page and different behavior from a typical hyperlink, and that's visible to anyone viewing/analyzing the source code.

Hmmm. So any "onclick behavior" that invokes a new page, would not pass any PageRank? Has that always been the case? Of course, now Matt and Brian are being questioned in the thread. Not that they don't believe Google isn't counting the Washington Post links, but because they really want to know if these onclick JavaScripts would prevent PageRank passthrough or not.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: February 10, 2025

Feb 10, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Updates

Google Super Bowl LIX Search Ranking Update

Feb 10, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google

Google Search AI Organized Local Events

Feb 10, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Local Search Results Pack - Share List Button

Feb 10, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google AdSense

Google AdSense Combines Marketing Email Preferences - Expect More Emails...

Feb 10, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google

Search Bugs: Google Weird Snippet Spacing & Bing URLs Cut Off

Feb 10, 2025 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Feedback on Google Wifi (GoogleWifi) in Mountain View