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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..)
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.
I once read (maybe in a couple places) that having a comment policy actually encourages more people to comment - any thoughts on that?
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
I've seen a significant increase in conversation since then. Good stuff all the way around.
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.
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. ;)
Found the branding through comments article to be very interesting indeed.. I'm gonna write something about it on my blog :)
Do let us know should you have any issues with the plugin.
Cheers Ben.
Its the leprechaun in me - so blame it on the Irish :)
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?
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.
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.
Great blog, btw :)
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.
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.
http://randaclay.com/archives/the-i-follow-move...
I want to be extremely loyal to my visitors.
Glad it generated some discussion on your site though!
For those reading please join us.
Although, if the perception remains that you'll get more spam it might not get the full uptake it deserves.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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!
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(three posts and counting :-)
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.
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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.
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But I'm glad to hear that it's not only me having problems posting.
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So what's the problem, am I a spammer or is the dofollow community not practicing what they preach?
@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.
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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