Is Google And SEO On A Collision Course?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

There have been several times when Google have stated they have no problems with the search engine optimization industry or SEO consultants. However, Google seems lately to be pushing nofollow linking whenever they can which ultimately will lead to a showdown between SEO, Google and perhaps website owners.

Google seem to be pressuring social networks into apply nofollow to many of the links. The latest journey down this path occurred on Twitter. Within an hour of Matt Cutts tweeting Twitter’s founders, the nofollow tag was applied. If you build profiles on social pages as part of your SEO strategy, perhaps it’s time for a rethink.

The social networking website Twitter already uses nofollow in many places, but not in the bio sections. I am with many others who question why bio’s or profiles need to be nofollowed. More importantly, why it is that Google wants these links nofollowed – is it to thwart the SEO work of website owners.

In what is probably a strange twist, rumor suggests that Google builds their own profiles of all users, ostensibly to provide targeted advertising. However, there is also the scope to associate web sites with users by collecting data from profiles and bio’s. They don’t want to follow the link for ranking purposes, but they will for data collection. This could provide them with a lot of important data.

Social media over time could prove to be more valuable as a guide to authority than backlinks. Google it seems wants to be sure it is all done under their conditions. I can see a collision course looming here as those that undertake SEO become frustrated.