Saying No to NoFollow
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Disclosure: Your website will be crawled by search engines if you comment on this blog.
Commenting on blogs was the easiest way to increase the number of backlinks your blog has.A It was so easy that many spammers created bots that would automatically post blah comments on random blogs.
In a bid to discourage comment spam, in January 2005, Google advised all bloggers to add a “NoFollow” tag to all their outgoing comment links.A And almost all the major blogging softwares added the NoFollow tag to their core.
Unfortunately, this didn’t stop spammers from posting spam comments on blogs. The whole NoFollow idea failed to prevent spam.A So since a few months now, some bloggers have started a grass root campaign to remove the NoFollow tags and allow search engines to start crawling links in comments again - so as to give an incentive to their readers to comment frequently.
I think that is a very good idea.A Its one more way of rewarding your top readers who spend their precious time in improving the conversation and posting the comments.A That is why, I’ve removed the NoFollow tag from this blog.
The WordPress plugin I used is “DoFollow”
–
I’ve been a bit slow in posting on this blog this week because of a deadline on another project of mine.A Will resume speed soon.
If you liked this post, buy me a beer. (Suggested: $3 a beer or $7.5 for a pitcher)Spread the word:
del.icio.us Digg Reddit StumbleUpon
If You Liked This Post, You May Also Like...
down with no-follow!
Posted 05 Jul 2007 #
Knowing that this comment will improve my search ranking that little bit has encouraged me to make this comment.
I feel bribed into commenting
Posted 05 Jul 2007 #
I agree with you, that setting the no-follow does not prevent your site from spammers. I drive some blogs (all with no-nofollow, but started with nofollow). The ones with wordpress are easily kept clean by akismet (ok, some very short comments get crunched without being spam) - but the ones driven by b2evolution are making me furious.
I had to disable trackbacks, comments and pinging because of hundreds of spams each day.
So best method is a good spam filter - imho nofollow is useless.
Posted 05 Jul 2007 #
I just installed the ‘Do Follow’ plugin on my site and actually just posted with the same ‘U Comment, I Follow’ graphic too!
It’s so great that people are doing this. I love visiting blogs and usually comment regardless if I have something to say but it’s awesome that so many people are making others aware - I had no idea of this until a few days ago!
Angela Wills
http://www.StarVA.com
Posted 06 Jul 2007 #
Ah, yes, nofollow comment links have not helped a bit. I’m using the Nofollow Case by Case on my blog. It defaults to dofollow, but allows me to nofollow a link manually if I want. I might do that if for example a commenter was linking to a gambling site or something.
Posted 06 Jul 2007 #
Hi Ankesh
Manidip Here. I have created a blog and commenting to your post in a bribing fame of mind.
I am having only two post and looking forroward to more soon and to use plug ins you prefer.
Thank for the mastery in all the internet marketing technique as an Indian and helping all.
regards
Manidip
www.vedicfun.blogspot.com
Posted 06 Jul 2007 #
That NoFollow tag sounds like a government of India initiative! Wonder why people come up with crazy stuff. Thanks Ankesh for using DoFollow.
@ Manidip: You have a pretty good blog on Vedic Maths…would love to read more posts on it.
Regards,
Shinil.
Posted 06 Jul 2007 #
Hi Adam,
Is there a plugin that you use that allows you to manually add nofollow to a link?
Posted 06 Jul 2007 #
Hi shinil
Thank you for visiting my blog.
I am just a newbie and need you people’s support.
thank you
manidip
Posted 06 Jul 2007 #
Thanks for yet another great post! These ideas are really starting to help me grow my blog. Thanks! Always great content can be found here.
Posted 07 Jul 2007 #
I think taht this problem can be countered by the following tactics
1. akismet wordpress plugin
2. Anti-spam image
3. Comment filtering
Maybe I don’t get enough comments to worry to much though!
Posted 09 Jul 2007 #
Rather than using plugins, which put heavy weight on your server, you should just held all comments for moderation.
Posted 10 Jul 2007 #
Trevor: Thanks for commenting. I find that just having the anti-spam image stops the bots from spamming. And for people who spam by commenting manually, you can simply ban their email addresses.
I stopped using akismet because it deleted a lot of my legitimate comments as spams too. So now I just rely on the captcha anti-spam images. And do a little bit of manual editing from time to time.
Posted 10 Jul 2007 #
Daniel: Whats the benefit of using WordPress if you don’t use plugins? I recommend you find a good host that can tolerate the use of a lot of plugins on your WordPress blog. I use and recommend dreamhost.com
Posted 10 Jul 2007 #
You always have good ideas. Many are very thought provoking. I have only seen one other blog talk about doing this. Keep up the good work
Posted 11 Jul 2007 #
Good idea
Posted 13 Jul 2007 #
Thanks for the advice and ideas. I’m just getting my blog going (less than a month old now) and have found your site to be helpful.
-A
Posted 15 Jul 2007 #
I’ve noticed how the “U Comment, I Follow” sites traffic are actually increasing, at the expense of No Follow sites.
When these sites use the proper plug-ins to avoid spam, they will be safe. There is almost no point to this tag.
Posted 25 Jul 2007 #
Well said!
I took out nofollow from my blog comments too. Just feel that it’s not fair to penalize the good guys because of spammers. Askiment does a decent job of catching spam.
http://www.wptextads.com/blog/2007/08/22/this-blog-says-no-to-nofollow-in-comments/
Posted 22 Aug 2007 #
Hi Ankesh,Just discovered your blog in my search to gain more traffic to my site. Thanks for providing so many great resources. I will definitely be adding you to my blogroll of favorite sites.
Posted 29 Aug 2007 #
[…] the “Follow/No Follow tag” work to slow down unwanted mail? Read what blogger Ankesh has to say about it and see if its hurting your […]
Posted 29 Aug 2007 #
Tray: Thanks for your kind words
Posted 29 Aug 2007 #
thats a great idea to increase comments on your site, plus ‘i’ve read this can add more content to your site resutling in more google visiots
Posted 30 Aug 2007 #
[…] If you haven’t read the old post already, make sure you read why Saying No to NoFollow is a good idea. And why should you allow the search engines to crawl the websites of the people who […]
Posted 03 Sep 2007 #
Thanks for the idea. I’ve downloaded the “dofollow” plugin but will wait till i find a good antispam plugin before i install it.
Posted 05 Sep 2007 #
F1JKJ: Why don’t you try akismet as your antispam plugin? It comes pre-loaded with all the WordPress copies…
Posted 06 Sep 2007 #
I’m not sure yet whether or not I’m going to enable or disable nofollow. I have used dofollow for a while, but I heard it can hurt your SE ratings.
Posted 04 Oct 2007 #
Wow, you’ve explained this so simply that it actually makes sense! Featured on my Sunday Seven.
Posted 08 Oct 2007 #
[…] 5) Blog Clout explains succinctly what it’s taken me a week or so to wrap my brain around. Just say No to No Follow […]
Posted 08 Oct 2007 #
Hi.. I ve changed my blog into do follow as well
Posted 20 Oct 2007 #
I would like to see a continuation of the topic
Posted 20 Dec 2007 #
I couldn’t agree more.
HTML
Posted 04 Jan 2008 #
Are you still participating in DoFollow? I am noticing that the comment links on this page, some are rel=nofollow? Are you able to individually choose which ones are nofollow? How do you judge if they are supposed to be nofollow?
Posted 12 Mar 2008 #
Thanks for the posting. It seems logical to me that there is a mutual benefit to posting on someones blog. It gives you content and exposes my blog to your audience.
I agree that when I look at the SPAM coming into my blog I didn’t really see a drop off in activity.
Posted 12 Mar 2008 #
I love these plugins but am always scared of Google not liking them as mucha_? I think they are good for blogs looking for interaction and no so good for those looking for SE traffica_? As a compromise I have them on about 1/2 my blogs
Posted 25 Mar 2008 #
How can you tell if your blog is nofollow or not? I use Blogger, by the way…
Posted 24 May 2008 #
thanks for the idea, i had remove nofollow tag from my blog and its show some good improvement traffics.
Posted 29 May 2008 #
Do you know if posting to a “noFollow” will still benefit in terms of the anchor text or not?
Posted 25 Jun 2008 #
yes i agree with you fight spam not the comment
Posted 25 Jun 2008 #
Hi,
I am using WordPress 2.5.1 at my blogs http://www.itcomparison.com/blg & http://www.virtualizationteam.com, which by default do nofollow in the comments. Can you recommend a good plugin to encounter that better off a method which does not kill my server. In addition, why don’t you make a campain of a sheet where blogger who remove their nofollow attributes can be recognized.
Thanks for the great idea,
VMguru007
Posted 27 Jun 2008 #
i downloaded an AMAZING new plugin for firefox called “search status”, which allows firefox to highlight NoFollow links. I highly recommend it…but i did notice that 24 of the 40 comments on this page were nofollow….your disclosure should read:
“Disclosure: Your website MAY OR MAY NOT be crawled by search engines if you comment on this blog
Posted 02 Jul 2008 #
I think do-follow adds new, refreshing points of view to a blog, making it seem more lively.
Posted 03 Jul 2008 #