When To Use Rel=nofollow

The disucussion of proper places to use nofollow tag attribute has come up recently. This is a tag added to the anchor or link tag in a page to let search engines know not to follow or consider that link or whats on the other end.

In theory, if you put a nofollow tag, and the spiders obey it, it doesnt matter what it links to, it shouldnt even come into play.

We use the rel=nofollow tag religiously, on PHP redirect affiliate links and similar. If a PHP redirect to avoiding appearing affiliated is considered "gray" it should no longer matter since Im openly showing them to ignore that page, "it is not for the search index". This is a way to help the spiders know you have the best intentions and are not trying to feed tham a redirect or doorway, this is the ethical way to code you affiliate redirects.

A print page is something I use it on as well, why give repeat or an empty page to the engines, they wont rank and you show them you have made efforts to not clog the serps. I use this tag in plogger galleries on the print and more details links to avoid duplicate content issues.