It's amazing…

Today, in a forum for a search engine that I shall not name, I found a thread where a user posted a question wondering why their site was not being indexed by this same search engine.  Curious, I checked the site out.

I did a site:www.sitename.com search – no results.

I did a site:sitename.com search – no results (note the www. prefix missing).

I did a link:www.sitename.com search and found results.  Getting somewhere, I went to one of the results and found that the link was in the footer, as in a “this site designed/hosted by {insert_seo_firm_name}” type link.

(talking to self) “So let me get this straight: the site can’t get indexed, but is a web/seo/design/development company and it’s got inbound links?  Let’s go check out their site.  (click)”

Site loads and every single page on the site has a nofollow tag.  As in, “hey search engine, don’t follow this link, thanks goodbye!”  So I know that Google/Yahoo/MSN, or GYM as I call them, can’t follow any of the other pages, but they should still be able to get to the home page, right?  Right.

Unless…

Unless you add a tag at the top of the page like this guy did that says “Hey, if you’re a search bot, do not index and do not follow ANY content on this site.  At all.  I’m serious.  Leave me alone!  Go away search bot!!!  SCRAM!!!”

That’s right.  A web development self-proclaimed “Web SEO Strategist” added a meta noindex nofollow tag to his very own site and wondered why in God’s name his site wouldn’t be indexed.  I couldn’t resist.  But, I did resist offering up a sarcastic comment and simply told him the solution.

Some people…