… I'm not goind to talk about them too much in this one. I have another post almost done about this. Meanwhile I just want to show you a little trick that has to do with outbound links.
We all know the people usually follow links they find on pages. Especially the 'customers' - type (non web skilled). So having outbound links on your site will loose you visitors. On the other hand search engines like (non no-followed) outbound links. So … you're pretty much forced to choose!
Pleasure search engines or loose visitors?
This can be easily done with server-side cloaking but that's easy to detect by search engines. I'll go in depth on cloaking soon and explain you how, no matter what you try, you end up road-kill for the search engines. But what about client-side cloaking?
There are many methods of making sure people either leave by using ads or by using the back button but not by using outbound links. CSS hiding, blending in content and others but one method is actually fun to do. And this is how you do it!
It is a fact that, by giving too many choices to people, they will make the wrong ones. So, by using this method, you lead their way the right way … your way!
I suggest you use an external file to lock robots from accessing the javascript file and disable the links on load like the code below:
This method is somehow safer then cloaking or visually hiding links. Hidden links are not good but unfollowable links :) are cool! Code is tested and works on IE, FireFox and Opera - latest! The el variable is the DOMElement of the link. You can do anything there. I just locked its clicks. You could actually hijack its destination. It's your show. The link can still be followed with Shit+Clicks-(new window) but those we aim for don't know that.
Caution: I'm not sure how this would look regarding search engines guidelines ;) It's right on the edge … leaning to the dark side! … that's why the locked link is nofollowed too !;) Use at your own risk … blah blah blah!
