Do-Follow Experiment: Comment URLs are Do-Follow!

Most blogs out there have been advised (or forced) to have all comment URLs as nofollow because you don’t want to pollute the worth of your blog.  As of today, this blog will have all comment URLs listed regularly, without a nofollow “rel” tag.

This will be an experiment with updates.  This post will discuss why nofollow was used, the advantages of dofollow, and how do do it.

Nofollow – What does it mean?

Nofollow has traditionally (and currently) told search engines that the website doesn’t endorse the content after the link.  This is very helpful, because spammers LOVE to post their URLs all over the internet.  Having a spammer’s URL posted on your site would then pull down your Page Rank.

Why do bloggers usually use nofollow?  To eliminate spam.  Any blogger knows that for every 1 good comment, sometimes you get dozens or hundreds of spam comments.  Akismet has gotten better over the years, but still, some make their way through.

Why shouldn’t we worry about it anymore?

You should.  I’m running an experiment.  Recently it seems spammers are happy to get their URL anywhere, even if it is a nofollow.

As long as you don’t automatically approve too many comments, you should be safe.  That’s easy enough to do with this blog.

Why are we fighting for a dofollow policy?

It seems fair to me.  If someone posts a valuable / real comment, why not link to their URL?  Do unto others right?

I believe it will drive traffic.  By participating in both receiving and giving out Page Rank, I will be involved.  I will also be checking more of the URLs in comments out.

Yes, I know there will be more people who just want to publicize their blogs — there’s nothing wrong with that.  If the comment is garbage, I’ll mark it as spam.

How do I disable nofollow on my WordPress blog?

If you’re running WordPress, you can install Do Follow.  Otherwise, just remove rel=’nofollow’ from your comment links.

Tags: Blog, blogger, Do Follow, dofollow, nofollow, page rank, search engines, spammer, urls, WordPress

1 Comment to Do-Follow Experiment: Comment URLs are Do-Follow!

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