For those who want to keep up on the latest trends at Google, there are plenty of places to go. In addition to running literally dozens of blogs, Google has a press department that gives out dedicated news and a lineup of YouTube channels longer than a super-sized slinky. One of those YouTube channels is the “Google Webmaster Help,” where Matt Cutts discusses important issues about Google, recent changes, upcoming innovations, and clarifications on how Google works.

One of these recent questions was on the “no-follow” tag, a line of HTML code that can be added to any link. This scrap of code tells the search engines that the link is not intended for endorsement, thus preventing the search engine from “crediting” that linked site with an inbound link. While there are many motivations for doing this, one of the primary ones is known as “link architecture” or “link sculpting.”

This comes from the idea that outbound links have a dramatically negative impact on a site’s search engine ranking. While this was once essentially true, it has since declined into controversy and, among the top SEO analysts, into non-existence. Still, many sites vehemently put “no-follow” tags on each and every outbound link they include. This includes minor sites, such as your standard blog, and major sites, such as Wikipedia.

This second example was discussed by Matt Cutts as an example of how no-follows could be used more intelligently. Cutts starts by saying he absolutely understands why Wikipedia made the change to no-follows – after all, they were being “gamed” by low-rung optimizers with some definite intensity – but that it may be time to drop some of those no-follows. By determining parameters that would make a link “trusted” (e.g., an established editor, a link that’s been verified), select links could be allowed to “count,” helping to push valuable resources up in the Google SERP.