Why and How to Add nofollow When Linking Google Sites

In one of my recent posts I threatened Google with symbolic retaliation for their ruthless attacks on webmasters and the open Web. My idea back then was still somehow metaphorical.

I said I will “nofollow” Google that is devalue outgoing links to Google using the nofollow attribute.

Google forces publishers to use nofollow whenever users get invited to participate. Google wants you to add nofollow to every single link that is either in some way open to contributions or encourages them.

nofollow everything, kill the Web one step at a time

In 2013 Google not only wants you to add nofollow to text link ads from Google competitors, comments or forum postings. No, Google wants you to cripple

• guest blogging
• widget
• infographic

links as well. In short Google wants you to fix their algorithm because they are apparently not competent enough to do it themselves.

While at it they wreck the whole foundation of the free Web, hypertext. That may be sheer stupidity but also strategy.

They create an atmosphere of fear and loathing that prevents many people from linking out to strangers at all.

As super smart as the Google overlords often get pictured I doubt that they are harming the Web by accident.

After all they are geeks themselves. They want to control it for their own gain. nofollow is just one of temporary means to achieve that control.

Thus I decided to use their own control mechanism, nofollow, to strike back in a symbolic way. It’s about sending a clear message to Google: we don’t trust you.

How to nofollow Google

I wanted to add nofollow to all links leading to Google. That’s a daunting task in case you want to do it manually.

After all you not only link to Google inside your posts, you have all kinds of Google widgets on your blog. Also you have to consider all the other properties Google has like Blogger, YouTube and the likes.

Think about it, do you really want to endorse an infamous corporate criminal just because you like a blog post or video hosted on their platform? Luckily many people are disgruntled with Google and are looking for solutions.

Andrea Pernici has created a WordPress plugin that adds nofollow to all outgoing links to Google.

In its latest version it even adds nofollow to other Google sites. Endorsing content doesn’t usually mean endorsing the hosting behind it so why should Google be an exception? They aren’t the friendly start up they were 15 years ago.

Google is an ugly behemoth endangering whole industries and I’m not talking about the stale  “SEO is dead” meme here. I hope other similar add ons from popular platforms like Drupal or Joomla will follow.

Unnatural links to Google

Linking out to Google properties dozens of times from your website is very unnatural on a side note. Just think about it for a minute.

What other company beside your own gets so many links from you, most of them just because someone else uses their services?

• Are you linking out to Microsoft all the time because so many people use Windows?
• Are you endorsing Facebook with dozens of links from your site because your friends use it?
• Do you link out to Amazon below every single post because you buy your books there?

Then why all these unnatural links to Google properties then?

Last updated: July 11th, 2017.

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