The task of search engine optimization is dynamic and multi-faceted. There are many different tactics that you can employ to improve your rankings in the search engines. Many bloggers are already familiar with the “nofollow” attribute that prevents the “leaking” of your “link juice.” Yes, these are all technical terms.

When considering the “nofollow” attribute for links, most people only consider outbound links. They may choose to use “nofollow” on some of the links that they have pointing toward external sites, but it is also important to consider your inbound and internal links as well.

Rather than allowing your category and archive pages to receive largely unnecessary search engine power, it is better to keep that “link juice” pointing toward your core content and homepage. While you could certainly add the “nofollow” attribute manually each time you link to a category or archive page, using a simpe plugin is a lot more convenient.

The aptly named Noindex/Nofollow Links WordPress plug-in does exactly this. It will automatically add the “nofollow” attribute to any link on your website that points toward an archive, tag, or category page. From the settings, you can choose whether or not to add the “noindex” and/or “nofollow” attributes to these kinds of links.

For more information and to download the Noindex/Nofollow Links plugin, check out the official page on WordPress.org.