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Give Out Some Link Love and Remove NoFollow

Started by Benjamin Yoskovitz · 3 months ago

When people leave a comment on your blog (or generate a trackback by linking to a blog post), your blogging software is most likely adding the “nofollow” microformat extension. The result is that search engines like Google don’t follow those links off your s ... Continue reading »

94 comments

  • Brett McKay

    1 year ago

    Great post, Ben. I've just put LinkLove on my blog. Thanks for all the great ideas you put out there for helping people develop their personal brand.
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  • Mat

    1 year ago

    Enjoyed the post Ben. I'd seen the "No Follow" debate circulating around, but had not had time to dip into enough to learn the issues. Your summary brought me up to speed.

    I assume that "DoFollow" links from commenting on blogs would be attributed less weight in terms of calculating "google juice" however? I wonder how this is achieved? (Or I am mistaken to think this..)
    reply
  • Andy Beard

    1 year ago

    Good move Ben

    I would combine it by having a clear comments policy because that provides a clear indication you won't tolerate comments that are purely for the link (nice post! I agree)

    Mat, it is impossible to say, because no one really knows all the inner working of search engines.
    It is known that they discount links in the sidebar, but links in comments surrounded by high quality content are less likely to be discounted.

    I have been using dofollow on all my Wordpress blogs for some time. It is a great way to encourage legitimate thought provoking comments, and links from others.
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  • Ben Yoskovitz

    1 year ago

    Andy - a comment policy eh? Ya, that's a good idea, I should do that. I guess I always figure people would get the idea that stupid comments for the sake of link love won't fly...but it's worth investigating a policy further.

    I once read (maybe in a couple places) that having a comment policy actually encourages more people to comment - any thoughts on that?
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  • John Wesley

    1 year ago

    Excellent explanation. I think you've convinced me to make the move. Do Follow is much better than Top Commentators, as Andy also wrote.
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  • Andy Beard

    1 year ago

    Hard to say, I have blogs with open comments using dofollow and PR5 that rarely get comments unless it is automated spam, though I don't advertise the fact because they are not really community sites.

    I can't see any harm in providing a clear comments policy, and I have had a few people link to mine, in the same way I have linked to Teli's in the past and posts she has written about comments policies
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  • Chris Cree

    1 year ago

    Heya Ben! I'm with you on the DoFollow thing. I made the switch a couple weeks back and added the Show Top Commentors Plugin at the same time to further reward meaningful comments from folks.

    I've seen a significant increase in conversation since then. Good stuff all the way around.
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  • Andy Beard

    1 year ago

    Chris that is actually a common misconception.

    Your blog receives a certain amount of juice from links, and so can only pass on the same juice.

    What you have done effectively is devalued the benefit of the links in the comments by a considerable amount multiplied by the fact that the top commenters links are on all your duplicate content pages, along with your blog roll.

    Sidebar links are devalued by search engines and also don't benefit from having relevant content around them.

    Smart commenters will leave comment links to related content on their blogs, as I will do now, linking through to my post on why I actually loathe top commenters plugins, even exceeding my dislike for blogrolls.
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  • Chris Cree

    1 year ago

    I appreciate that Andy. Went and read the article too. Don't know enough about how Google works to follow your milk bottle analogy for internal links.

    I'm perfectly willing to admit that the up tick in comments may be purely psychological because folks like recognition.

    Of course there is the off chance that my writing is improving too. ;)
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  • Maki @ Dosh Dosh

    1 year ago

    Thanks Ben, for turning off NoFollow and sharing the link love!

    Found the branding through comments article to be very interesting indeed.. I'm gonna write something about it on my blog :)
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  • David Airey :: Creative Design

    1 year ago

    I'll get around to adding this to my new blog design.

    Do let us know should you have any issues with the plugin.

    Cheers Ben.
    reply
  • Bret

    1 year ago

    As others have already said: great idea. Along this idea of giving the virtual "shout out" to readers that comment often, how about adding someone's website address to their comment title? I was something in line with a plugin that places a yes/no question next to the website field (e.g. display website with name in comment title: yes_ no_). This way people that comment get an opportunity to plug their site and still add to the comment discussion here on the site.
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  • Bob Glaza

    1 year ago

    I use Blogger so don't follow a lot of what you guys are yakking about - so it's beyond fascinating to me :) - I'll try Andy's trick though. Ben? can you let me know if you get a link to the turtle meme? in which you are tagged? :)

    Its the leprechaun in me - so blame it on the Irish :)
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  • Sean

    1 year ago

    Good post and good tips! I've installed DoFollow on my blog :).
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  • Dawud Miracle

    1 year ago

    Great conversation. I really appreciate the topic as I've been thinking about this too for a couple of weeks. For me, there's no debate, I'm removing nofollow with the next update to my blog - coming in a few weeks.

    And Andy, thanks for bringing up some great points. I, too, will re-evaluate what's in my sidebar - especially once I remove the nofollow.

    One question Andy, what's your take on a blogroll page - like on Mike Sansone's blog? Any benefit beyond the sidebar other than as just a reference for interested visitors?
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  • Andy Beard

    1 year ago

    My way of thinking is highly modified from the ideas discussed in Revenge of the Mininet

    Lots of posts on my blog have mentioned it, and you can download it for free, along with access to the Dynamic Linking book by Leslie Rhode. I just included a link through to where I first discussed it.

    I modify the thinking, because blogs are not a controlled environment, but it will give you a good understanding of how external links are leaks... but maybe leaks you want.

    External links are much more worthwhile from good content, and that includes comments, so if you are going to share link love, you should try to make it as efficient as possible, but at the same time control how much you give away on each particular page. You wouldn't want your most popular posts to leak like a sieve.

    Among the most powerful linking structures RofM discusses, you only have a link to your sitemap from the homepage, and would then include a link from your sitemap to your links pages, along with links to each article.

    One reason that doesn't work well on blogs is because Technorati parses your front page, and ignores nofollow normally.

    I work on the theory that I want as many internal links as possible using LSI related keywords and related posts. It is a very messy linking structure, but my theory is that is helps search engines work out relevance.

    I like Mikes Blogroll page, as it is a useful resource for his readers. He should probably avoid giving it a sitewide followable link, because there isn't really much content around the links to give them relevance.
    The best links Mike creates are in his content, I just love the way he weaves links into poetry.
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  • Marshall Middle

    1 year ago

    I'll have to try out the linklove plugin. Keep instigating.
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  • CA

    1 year ago

    I recently removed the tag rel="nofollow" from my blog. I have also added the "follow" meta tag for the bots.

    I am assuming the bots will follow the links from the comments section now. I have also incorporated a comments policy and CAPTCHA. I would recomend Protect web form at http://www.protectwebform.com/. It is free. I had to search for one and install it about a month ago - when I got about 50 spam comments (and I did not even have moderate option on. Atleast now I am safe from automated submission.
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  • Markk

    1 year ago

    Looks like the "Dump NoFollow" crusade is picking up. Your right, Ben, it's high time people open up and start spreading some goodwill around. We shouldn't be held ransom by the spam menace.
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  • David Paul Robinson

    1 year ago

    It's nice to see that bloggers are giving up on no-follow since everything has to be de-spamified anyways.

    Great blog, btw :)
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  • Ben Yoskovitz

    1 year ago

    David - thanks for the comment - glad you like the blog, hope to see you around some more!
    reply
  • Shell Harris

    1 year ago

    I joined the ranks of the linking revolution as well. See my DoFollow declaration on my blog.

    I have been using the dofollow plugin since mid-February and haven't noticed any additional spam or spammy comments. I never liked the nofollow attribute and am thankful it may being going the way of the Dodo.
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  • Ben Yoskovitz

    1 year ago

    Shell - thanks for the comment. I think more and more people will start using DoFollow or similar plugins. To be honest, I haven't noticed a lick of difference in terms of spam...but I have been just a bit more selective on comments that I leave up. If someone writes something totally pointless / too short / etc. I might delete it (or not approve it.)

    I think the reason is because I am giving out the link love and that should be worth something. But in the time I've had the plugin setup I've done that 3 or 4 times, so it's not often.
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  • Randa Clay

    1 year ago

    Want to tell everyone that you’ve turned off the nofollow in your comments? Check out my new “ifollow” logos- grab one for your sidebar!
    http://randaclay.com/archives/the-i-follow-move...
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  • Brett Evans

    1 year ago

    Great post! Gonna give it a try. I hope I wont get a to many comments heh. Also will give out the comment icon to help spread the word.
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  • Lars-Christian

    1 year ago

    I've been an avid follower of the dofollow "campaign" ever since my eyes were opened to what nofollow actually is, and it's great to see that more and more bloggers are standing up against it.
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  • Markk

    1 year ago

    BTW, is WordPress getting the message on this one? Have they undone the unthinkable?
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  • Lisa

    1 year ago

    I've jumped on the dofollow bandwagon. Thanks for getting the word out about this.
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  • Matt Keegan

    1 year ago

    This past week I had a Linky Love Friday event where I linked to several sites that I had visited. Most of the people linked to did not respond, but it generated fresh comments from other folks. I rewarded their collective effort by making sure that I linked to their sites in my follow up comments.

    I want to be extremely loyal to my visitors.
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  • Ben Yoskovitz

    1 year ago

    Matt - thanks for the comment. People should definitely try and comment on posts that link to them, although often it's a "thank you for the link!" which isn't necessarily substantial enough comment to include.

    Glad it generated some discussion on your site though!
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  • Ben Yoskovitz

    1 year ago

    Lisa - Great stuff, welcome aboard!
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  • Rinsem

    1 year ago

    Rinsem's Rink happily follows! Stop by for some link love today!
    reply
  • Manila Mom

    1 year ago

    I found this blog through a dofollow list, and I have one myself at http://manila-mom.blogspot.com/2007/04/reward-y... . It has helped my blog a lot, being just a little over a month old. It has also helped me learn much by reading other dofollow blogs. I must admit that some of the info is still way beyond me, though. There's a lot more learning to do...
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  • HOBO SEO

    1 year ago

    Yup we have joined in too!
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  • Deaf Musician

    1 year ago

    This is cool! I am downloading Link Love as we speak!
    reply
  • JRE

    1 year ago

    This dofollow idea is great. If there were only more people like you. Thanks!
    reply
  • Craig Belcher

    1 year ago

    Your blog has made my DList :) I just come across this ifollow movement just a couple of days ago and even in that short amount of time it seems to be picking up steam.

    For those reading please join us.
    reply
  • Ben Yoskovitz

    1 year ago

    Craig - the DoFollow movement is going strong and steady. My feeling is that in a year or less almost everyone will have initiated some form of DoFollow, or their blog software will have done it for them.

    Although, if the perception remains that you'll get more spam it might not get the full uptake it deserves.
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  • Craig Belcher

    1 year ago

    Ben, hopefully most will understand the benefits but there will always be a bad apple in the bunch that cannot resist the temptation to abuse it. Let's keep our fingers crossed that doesn't happen.
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  • Sam

    1 year ago

    I was initially a skeptic of abolishing no-follow, but this article makes a good case. By crippling the spammers we're also preventing people with good contributions from receiving any recognition. Let's spread the love!
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  • El Yanqui

    1 year ago

    I'm a dofollow convert and love it. It makes blogging far more of a community affair and allows us to link to others who contribute. If I run into problems, I'll have to look into that link love. But they're all great alternatives to the standard no follow!
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  • Dexter

    1 year ago

    Nice idea to remove the nofollow .. I just learned this yesterday and Ihave already removed mine..
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  • JO

    1 year ago

    Hmmm, interesting stuff all this! I never knew that there was so much to learn!
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  • Jasmine

    1 year ago

    Well what can I say....? Power to the small people

    I hope this dofollow system helps bring interesting topics to the surface and forces the commercial marketing companies to breathe in as we share the same air as them in search engines

    xxxx Jasmine
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  • Apartment-Guy

    1 year ago

    I'm just learning about this whole "do follow" craze, and am liking what I'm hearing. Your synopsis of the situation is greatly appreciated.
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  • Adam_Y

    1 year ago

    Good call, I'm a recent convert to dofollow, I'm really hoping that it will help my frequent commenters... it's nice to give a bit back.
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  • Amy

    1 year ago

    I started to wonder, though. If everyone starts this then won't the links become less valuable?
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  • Ben Yoskovitz

    1 year ago

    Amy - that's a good question, I don't know. We'd have to ask an expert like Andy Beard.

    If you find an answer let me know!

    Meanwhile I do think spammers win the day on this one, keeping people from not using DoFollow or reverting, which we've started to see on some blogs...and that's a shame for everyone.
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  • Andy Beard

    1 year ago

    The short answer is you can twist your brain into such a complicated knot thinking about it that you will never get it untangled, and probably lose track of what your intended purpose was.

    I like to think people are more likely to subscribe to dofollow blogs, more likely to leave comments of value, have conversations, and link.

    I have gone in depth into the geeky side of the SEO implications. I generally advise anyone with basic to intermediate SEO skills just to ensure they have plenty of internal linking on each page through to relevant content.

    I have also explained some quite complex robust linking structures for an ideal situation, though I can't currently give any technical support on achieving them. I still need to get them set up and tested for myself.
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  • michael

    1 year ago

    Hi!
    I use the Nofollow-Case-by-Case Plugin which is generally dofollow but allows you to selectively apply rel=”nofollow” to your comment links. So you still can make shure not to link to bad neighbourhood or share your pr with plain spammers.
    reply
  • AV Enthusiast

    1 year ago

    Some people get excited about the dofollow thing, but there is a caveat. If you are linking sources, or informational links in an article, consider who you are sending traffic to. Not everyone needs your link love (wikipedia is doing just fine without you), so consider your links and use nofollow accordingly.
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  • SEO BB

    1 year ago

    Amy asks "... won’t the links become less valuable?"
    In the sense of passing link value back to your site, Google-juice if you will, yes they will become less valuable. As more and more links are made from this very page, for example, the PR that's passed by each one will diminish.

    BB
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  • SEO BB

    1 year ago

    Andy says "It is a great way to encourage legitimate thought provoking comments, and links from others."

    Yes absolutely, and the good thing about that is peer pressure will mean the majority of bloggers will have to at least consider rethinking their nofollow policy or else risk having to write all their own content. The MFA community won't like that!

    BB
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  • SEO BB

    1 year ago

    It would be nice actually if the web went back to how it was originally with everyone using dofollow by default but responsibility was exercised by default by posters. Sigh :-(

    BB

    (three posts and counting :-)
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  • SEO BB

    1 year ago

    You see this page?

    http://www.instigatorblog.com/wp-comments-post.php

    Well, if I do a long post, in FF it just freezes on this page and the post doesn't get made. I'm trying this in IE7, let's see how this one goes.

    BB
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  • SEO BB

    1 year ago

    Nope, didn't work, I'm going to try two shorter posts.
    well they didn't work either. I note that Andy has made some longer posts but I have to say you have a problem on this blog, posts over a certain length just cause it to freeze.

    BB
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  • Jakob Dupont Knudsen

    1 year ago

    I am in on this as well. This is a great plugin, which is a win-win situation. No wonder why this is spreading with the speed of light.
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  • mlankton

    1 year ago

    Same here, freezes on long posts. I emailed you a comment.
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  • SEO BB

    1 year ago

    Ah, mlankton, you emailed me personally or Ben? I get between six/seven thousand emails a week, (my ISP loves me!) and unless you put SEO in capitals in the subject line or similar I'll very probably miss you. I scan the subject lins and thast's it. mostly, everything gets deleted on the server.

    But I'm glad to hear that it's not only me having problems posting.

    BB
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  • mlankton

    1 year ago

    On the advice of my friend Jeff, who has been blogging for awhile, I commented on some dofollow blogs last week. Initially I told him that my site was less blog-like, and would develop differently, but he insisted, and I relented and followed his advice.
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  • mlankton

    1 year ago

    He advised to get as many as possible, since my site is less than a week old. I told him that I wasn't going to comment on any topic that I didn't actually have an opinion on, so I spent an entire evening reading blog entries, and passing on the great majority of them, commenting on maybe 15 sites. When I found an article that was actually of interest, I left a relevant comment.
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  • mlankton

    1 year ago

    The results? Not one single dofollow from the dofollow blogs. I don't know if that was due to my using the screen name AV Enthusiast, which I have also used in web forums, and is incidentally the name of my site.
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  • mlankton

    1 year ago

    I can understand intolerance of comment spam, but don't punish commentors who take the time to seek you out, find and read one of your articles in it's entirety, and take the time to participate in your discussion.
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  • mlankton

    1 year ago

    Sorry about the multiple posts, but your comments freeze on long posts.

    So what's the problem, am I a spammer or is the dofollow community not practicing what they preach?
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  • Ben Yoskovitz

    1 year ago

    @SEO BB & mlankton: Not sure what the problem is with posting long comments. Could be an errant plugin or something of the sort. I've never had anyone else mention this...

    @mlankton: I've got the Link Love plugin set to give you Do Follow benefits after 3 comments. If it's not working that's a problem with the plugin itself. I've never checked specifically; I assumed it was working and left it as is. But you can tell me otherwise...

    As for the rest of the DoFollow community, I doubt anyone says they've removed NoFollow but then doesn't. If anything they install a plugin and it doesn't work, and they don't realize it.
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  • Andy Beard

    1 year ago

    There are 2 problems I have heard about with Link Love, first php versions, and secondly the amount of processor cycles it uses.

    A few people have used dofollow and then removed it after a while, either after careful consideration informing their readers of why, or just decided to remove it.

    There are very popular bloggers who removed their Dofollow plugins without saying anything, well before the current "movement" even started.

    Ben, you might like to check out Lucia's Linky Love, I think it is much better coded, and in very active development.
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