NoFollow those widget links – Matt Cutts

We’ve all used them – fancy badges, counters, fundraising etc. Those third party widgets we add to our websites to spread information or link your visitors to larger organizations. What we do not often notice is that these wonderful resources often include a link back to the source.

Matt Cutts, Google’s head of search spam, advises us to rel=”nofollow” these link to prevent page rank from being transferred to the widget provider.

Matt further explains that links in widgets and infographics are often abused as a means of increasing inbound links. This practice has finally hit his radar screen. He said “I wouldn’t expect a link from a widget carry the same weight as an editorial link freely given where someone is recommending something and talking about it.”

See his complete explanation in the video above.