Frames are used to divide web pages into multiple, scrollable regions or areas. Each region or area on a page are actual web pages themselves, with their own URL. Essentially, a page with frames is really a collection web pages displayed on one page.

See an example of a web page using frames (http://www.linktutorial.com/exampleframe.html). This example uses two frames, a left frame and right frame. Take note that the left frame’s URL is actually http://www.linktutorial.com/exampleframe1.html and the right frame’s URL is http://www.linktutorial.com/exampleframe2.html. You can verify this by using your mouse to right click on the frame and select the option “Open Frame In New Window” or something similar.

Impact on Link Exchanges

When exchanging links with a web site that uses frames, be aware that your link will actually sit on the frame URL, and not the frameset URL. Using the example above, the link to your web site will not be on the web page http://www.linktutorial.com/exampleframe.html (the frameset URL), but rather on the frame URL, http://www.linktutorial.com/exampleframe2.html.

Both the frameset URL and frame URL can have PageRank, however the PageRank of the frame URL where your link resides is the one that matters. It is possible that the frameset URL has PR 4, and the frame URL has PR 0.

Other tricks that webmasters may use are the use of a meta noindex,nofollow tag on the frame URL, which may be overlooked if you checked the HTML source of the frameset URL instead of the frame URL. Robots.txt exclusion of the frame URL may also be used.

iFrames and Their Impact on Link Exchanges

Iframes are frames that are embedded within a normal web page. An example of an iframe is as follows:

The impact of iframes on link exchanges are the same as the impact of frames on link exchanges. Issues relating to the PageRank, robots meta tags and robots.txt exclusion applies in the same way.