When you set an external link in your blog with the href tag , you can do it with DoFollow or NoFollow with the rel attribute, and both influence in search engines in different ways.
What is DoFollow and NoFollow?
- NoFollow: nofollow is a non-standard HTML attribute value used to instruct search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target’s ranking in the search engine’s index. This attribute is added automatically to URLs input into comments, so that those URLs don’t get any link from you.
- DoFollow: technically is nothing, this attribute doesn’t exist but the people call “dofollow” to disable the rel=”nofollow” attribute added to external links.
Which is better?
Neither dofollow nor nofollow are better, you should analyze what do you want for your blog.
NoFollow attribute is intended to reduce the effectiveness of certain types of search engine spam, thereby improving the quality of search engine results and preventing the index of spam from occurring in the first place and to deter spammers from posting comments to boost their URLs search rankings. But according to the statistics shown at the Akismet’s antispam service, this tag has not stopped the comment spam and has not discouraged spammers.
While all engines that support the attribute exclude links that use nofollow attribute from their ranking calculation, the details about the exact interpretation of the attribute vary from search engine to search engine. The following is a table courtesy of wikipedia about the interpretation by the individual search engines:
By removing nofollow attribute, you won’t get more spam than you get daily, akismet is made to block it anyway. Instead, you will be helping to other bloggers who comment on your posts to grown their community by linking them into search engines. You may also start to see more comments in your blog, which it’s better for you.
How to remove NoFollow attribute?
There is a plugin for wordpress to remove this attribute from your comments. Also I found some tutorials to remove this evil attribute from your Blogspot, TypePad or Moveable Type. In addition, there is a button over the web which you can put in your sidebar to let people know that you’ve setup DoFollow, thank Randa Clay for the pretty button.
What do you use, NoFollow Or DoFollow?
This guest post was from Mr Javo, a 19 year old Venezuelan marketer. Visit his site for more tips and advice on Internet marketing.
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on February 17th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Really, I am too much confuse on the matter of DoFollow and NoFollow. Can you give more details on this issue? As per my opinion both are useful. But on what time can I use it.
Quality Tale’s last blog post..Tour -d-Northern Europe
on February 17th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Hi,
I agree with your analysis and I would add another point: Commenting and answering to people who comment on your blog is very important, a sign of courtesy find will help engage the reader. When you leave a comment on a blog and the owner doesn’t provide feedback (when appropriate of course) it’s a missed opportunity to get that online conversation going and keep it going.
DOFOLLOW is a way of appreciating and valuing comments that should be a standard.
I got rid of NOFOLLOW a while back and it has been a rewarding experience, although there are the smart guys that are always trying to sneak in a cheap comment for a link, and that’s where the game gets tricky but it’s certainly worth it !
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on February 18th, 2008 at 12:57 am
Hello Tale, you remove the nofollow attribute just if you want. By doing this, the people who comment on your blog will get a backlink on Google or another search engine.
If you don’t remove it, they won’t get backlinks/rank on search engines. This attribute was created to avoid spam in the search engines index.
on February 18th, 2008 at 12:59 am
I’m totally agree with you Sante, I always reply the comments on my blog, plus I removed the nofollow attribute some days ago, so you will get a backlink at the same time you get a feedback :).
on February 18th, 2008 at 1:08 am
Which Should You Use: NoFollow Or DoFollow ?…
A post about thus both attributes, very interesting and important for a blog….
on February 18th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Wow, I didnt even know this trick, so I cant say which one I use. I am going to play with it a little, and see where I get. Great tip and great site.
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on February 18th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Hi good site and great content
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on February 18th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Thanks hambo and aRv, welcome back!
on February 19th, 2008 at 5:24 am
[...] have no idea, but don’t be a spammer!. If you don’t know what’s Dofollow, please check my guest post on [...]
on February 20th, 2008 at 6:28 am
I think many times, having DoFollow links will make your readers happier :) And that’s just as important as having an interesting blog with valuable content, in my opinion.
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on February 20th, 2008 at 7:01 am
That’s pretty truth Dara :D, I feel happy commenting in other blogs and getting backlinks just for participate in those communities.
on February 21st, 2008 at 4:30 am
So nice to learn this post and to learn fron this. Since Im just a noobz and pretty scared all those spam lurking my site comment. Now I know the benefits and not. If you can check my backlink in google http://www.pinoyconsole.com you wont see anything, I guess because of this no follow. Thanks Mr. Javo for the info.
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on February 21st, 2008 at 7:22 am
You are welcome pinoy, you don’t need to be afraid of spam, akismet it’s made to block it ;).
on March 17th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Nice comparison of Nofollow and dofollow. You have mentioned tricks to remove nofollow from blogs then why don’t you apply first on your blog.
Thanks
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on March 17th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Sorry, but I’m using Lucia’sLinkLove plugin on my blog… Thanks for commenting
on March 28th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Very useful information :) I see there are realy good tips. I am going to use some of them
on January 2nd, 2009 at 12:22 am
I just posted some new Free U Comment I Follow Buttons & Badges on my blog for anyone who wants a dofollow badge that’s a little more Web 2.0
on April 29th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Looks like I found another great site to add to my feed reader. Mark
on May 4th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
on May 5th, 2009 at 2:14 am
Great blog. Can’t wait to see what you come up with next!
on May 16th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
More visitors will come if more interesting and informational topics keep being posted. :)
on June 11th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Thank you for this tip ! I was dying for this feature to be included in Blogger, and now finally….
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