This is as good a time as any to let you all know that I use the DoFollow plugin for my blog. It removes the nofollow attribute from outgoing links in the comments so you, as a comment author, reap the benefit of your link being followed. It was one of the first plugins I installed when I moved my blog from Drupal to WordPress. I didn’t like the idea that outgoing links were being blocked, so I installed it.
In case you don’t know what nofollow is, I’ll try my best to explain it after the break.
By default, almost all blog platforms are set up so that a dead-end piece of code is inserted wherever there is a link in a comment. That piece of code is called nofollow. What the nofollow attribute does is prevent search engines from following that link as they are crawling the internet. Thus, you don’t get the rankings from the link you leave in a comment and Google (or any other search engine) does not recognize it.
This was originally designed to help stop comment spam, but it doesn’t work. What it does do is remove some of the incentive for your readers to contribute to your site by commenting on your posts. When the dead-end code is active, it applies to all outgoing links in a comment, including the link back to the comment author’s blog.
Personally, I didn’t like the fact that my comment authors weren’t getting any link love because of the nofollow piece of code. So, I used the plugin to turn off that nofollow attribute. Now, my commenters know that I appreciate them and I’m spreading the link love, so to say.
The “U Comment, I Follow” badge in my sidebar reminds my readers that when they leave a comment, they get link love. How did I do it? It was easy, actually. I use WordPress, so all I had to do was install and activate the DoFollow plugin in the plugin folder/directory. No code manipulation required!
Turning off the nofollow attribute on blog comments has become a sort of movement. If you want to join the movement, choose your weapon below, depending on your blog platform:
More on removing the nofollow attribute and other comment and link love info can be found at the Ultimate List of Nofollow & Dofollow plugins.
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Excellent. I can’t believe that WordPress enabled this by default.
Is it possible to shut it off from within?
You girls are bad! I have seen super techy’s make a mess of explaining the no-follow.
Very nice!
Solomon Broad – I agree! It really should be an option you can just check or uncheck in WordPress.
Simple Mindz – The only way to shut it off without futzing with the code is to use one of the plugins I listed. :-/
Adrian Keys – Haha! 😆 Thanks, Adrian, I do try my best to communicate as clearly as possible. I’m happy you like the post!
thanks for explaining this. i didn’t know what it was.
And I was not even aware of this. I’m going to do it too.
Natural Woman – You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed the post.
Sarah – Glad there’s another blogger soul that’s joining the cause. 😉
Yeah it’s interesting how many people don’t know about nofollow. It really make the webmaster look stingy. I’m glade you decided to make your blog Dofollow. I think it encourages people to comment and to comeback to your blog. It’s crazy how many blogs have nofollow enabled by default. I like the fact that your open to help the Internet grow. So I say good one to you.
My name is Todd
I’m a photographer in Los Angeles
it’s nice to meet you Binary Blond!!!!!!!
I agree, not using no follow is not in the spirit of the internet. There are good plugins like Askimet that will prevent comment spam.
Keep up the good work.
What comment plugin do you use, it’s very good.
Thanks for adding the DoFollow plugin to your blog. I just installed the DoFollow plugin on my blog and am looking forward to having more discussion.
I just started a new blog on WordPress and will for sure add the plug in! Please stop by and visit, my home business blog and my work at home website. You have a lot of information here. I will return again for sure! Lots of good stuff here.
April
WordPress needs a plugin to get rid of no follow? get with the times – NucleusCMS doesn’t add it in the first place. My site loves it’s commenters with SEO link juice and has done from day one.
I hate any site use Nofollow and in My site http://www.sohli.com make all links follow
nofollow sucks !
by deleting it u will have more comments and as u said u will thank the comment author your way
i love this plug in
btw
i wrote this comment to gain my link 😀
Thank you for the post. As I look at your site, however, I notice that most of the comments are still nofollow. There are a couple of comments that are dofollow; the first two and a couple of more further down.
Just wanted to let you know that the plug-in is not working.
Sheeesh…this is all so confusing to me yet – but then again I don’t always understand the difference between WordPress and Blogspot. I think I have a lot to learn…thanks for giving me a good start!
It’s a shame that WordPress doesn’t have it inbuilt in the platform so that you could turn it on or off as required. Still the plugin does a good job. I also use commentluv to spread a bit more link love.
I let others know about the do follow abilities as well. I am very impressed with your site as well. I think the more we spread the pros to the do follow attribute the more likely we all help each other out with ranking. Thank You so much for writing a wonderfully said post!
Blogs get comment spam whether they are dofollow or nofollow so for WordPress to have nofollow by default is a bit pointless. You can always delete any links you don’t like anyway, so dofollow is the way to go.
I wish that WordPress offered this out of the box, since I agree with you on that a blog will get more buzz, if the commenter’s gets something in exchange for their content. Nice article, by the way 😉
Some more tips would be great as stuff does change. Any more information and experiences are appreciated.
I found your site by doing a search in google for “you comment I follow”. I have just installed the Lucia Link Love plugin and was researching the do follow movement.
I’m on my way to making my contribution.
Thanks for sharing,
Karl
Hi,
Dofollow is good but unfortunately as Google continues to refine their algorithm to discount spammy links and moves toward semantic search, and considering that most blogs have a low pagerank, I don’t foresee the benefit of do follow links continuing much longer. I also think this will contribute to Google losing relevance as eventually the only search results you will get are for mega conglomerate organizations that have been around forever.
Regards,
Jessica
Blogs get comment spam whether they are dofollow or nofollow so for WordPress to have nofollow by default is a bit pointless. You can always delete any links you don’t like anyway, so dofollow is the way to go — Jon Price
i do agree with mr. price.. having the nofollow attribute is pointless and it won’t encourage commenting as well as it can’t help boost traffic. following is also one good way of acknowledging good commenters. have a great day!
Brande Roderick fan
.-= Brande Roderick fan’s last blog ..Dahil May Isang Ikaw: Episode 25 (September 25, 2009 – Friday) =-.
I noticed that you have whatapair.com listed on your recommended sites, and was wondering if you or anyone else reading this has ordered anything from them. I just want to make sure they are reputable before giving them my credit card number! Thanks so much!
HH
Hi,
do follow, lol, thank you very much.
Really good for seo
Speaking of kindness, have you seen PIFFY yet?
I just added the ‘you comment i follow’ to my site. We will see how it goes. 🙂
I will also join dofollow movement with my blogs. Thanks
How can I intall on my blogspot?
does anybody know the date SEO netlinks is coming out? i heard it’s an amazing way to build tons of traffic
I have dofollow on for some time now. No problems here!
Thank you for the dofollow attribute. Google is full of “fake” bonsai sites created by internet marketers using borrowed content. I’ve spent the past two years documenting my bonsai work in my yard through photos and video, but the only way I can get my site past these internet charlatans is by building backlinks. Thank you for the help.
I was searching for some other thing but suddenly I saw your blog and I was amazed on information shared here. You may never know how important this could be for others. Well keep it up as I may be returning with couple of people to your blogs. Thanks.
I’ve been using the plug-in Luv on my page and I found it very useful. I get new content from readers make comments and this is very important to climb in the rankings. Thank you for using this plug-in useful.
What kind of SEO implications does changing a WordPress blog from Nofollow to DoFollow?