I wrote an article titled Trackbacking Lies – How rel=â€Ânofollow†Stops Spreading the Love which outlined how the rel="nofollow" line of code is placed on all comments and trackbacks on many blogs, including by default on any blog running WordPress, such as Entrepreneur’s Journey.
That line of code stops search engines following the link so as to theoretically reduce comment spam. There is an active campaign underway that argues that the nofollow default in blogs is not relevant for stopping comment spam and discourages communication between bloggers, the public and other bloggers.
My nofollow article was recently trackbacked by sw’as who has installed a DoFollow plugin that removes the default nofollow setting on WordPress. On a whim I decided to do the same.
All comments and trackback pings made to this blog will be recognised by search engines and pass on PageRank to any links listed. However because of this I am going to be a little bit less lenient with the type of comments allowed. Comments must offer something genuine and contribute to the topic and not simply be a hit and run SEO tactic designed to create backlinks. Most comments that have been left on this blog so far certainly are of value so I don’t expect there to be much of an impact, and now I will be returning the favour by giving you some backlinks in return for your continued support of this blog.
Yaro
what a nice post.
Thanks
Misbah Mumtaz
Hi Yaro,
It think it’s a great idea to let fellow bloggers know that their contribution (by leaving a comment) to your blog is appreciated. Getting rid of the nofollow attribute is a way to do that. Sharing the ‘wealth’ and creating cooperation!
As to nofollow links stopping bloggers from getting the ranking benefits and such, there seems to be experiments lately that indicate the opposite. Here’s a link that I have no ties with…not trying to get any link juice. Just adding to the discussion:
http://www.socialseo.com/blog/an-experiment-nofollow-links-do-pass-value-and-rankings-in-google.html
These guys ran a 4 week test on 2 domains and measured rankings based on nofollow links pointing to those domains. Check-out their results.
Whatever the results, I still think using the nofollow plugin and letting fellow bloggers know of it is a good way to build peer relationships and contribute to a cooperative and quality internet environment.
Thanks for the great plugin suggestion
Louise
I would like to say that all links (both do and no follow) generate targeted traffic to a website. So, that’s why it is expedient to comment do and no follow topic related blogs. But, an entrepreneur should be mainly concentrated on do-follow links.