You Comment, I Follow

Feb 8, 2008

I just learned the other day that WordPress, by default, attaches a ‘NoFollow’ tag to all homepage links added by readers in comments. This acts as a deterrent for spammers abusing a blog’s commenting features, trying to gather a bunch of inbound links to increase pagerank.

Although I do agree that spammers shouldn’t benefit from this sort of behavior, it takes away link love from the everyday reader involved in discussions.

So, I decided to install the Lucia’s Linky Love WordPress plugin and will now be allowing DoFollow on links for regular commenter’s. I may receive some additional spam related comments, but I think it’s worth the risk. Plus, I’m using the Akismet plugin so I’m not too worried.

I have also joined the No Nofollow | I Follow | DoFollow Community in hopes of encouraging the DoFollow movement.

UPDATE: I added the following image to the comment section as a reminder of the DoFollow advantages of participating in discussion.

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Categories: Blogging General Marketing ToolBox

13 Comments, Comment or Ping

Barbara

Hi David,

I’ve been reading up on this issue too. It’s good to see a post about it. I’ll be curious to know how the “I follow” works, re comment spam, as I just wrote about that today.

Let me know how this affects your incoming spam.

Feb 8th, 2008
Dr. Nicole

wow I learned something new today. Thanks! there is so much to blogging that I have absolutely no clue about.

Apr 17th, 2008
MBA Colleges

It’s a shame Wordpress doesn’t have it built into the platform so that you could turn it on or off as required. Still the plugin does a good job. I use commentluv to spread a bit more link love.

Aug 26th, 2008
Simon Burgess

Hey David,

Thanks for raising that issue…I didn’t have any idea that that was a problem. Still I’m pretty new to the whole blogging thing! Is it pretty easy to install that plugin for wordpress? Where do I get it?

Cheers,

Simon

Dec 3rd, 2008
David Lano

@Barbara - I can’t lie. Removing the NoFollow has increased my spam load significantly, but it’s well worth it in my opinion.

@Dr. Nicole - Glad I could help! :)

@MBA Colleges - I agree. I wouldn’t be surprised if they integrate the functionality into future releases. Sure would make things easier!

@Simon Burgess - You’re welcome! Yeah, super easy. Here’s a link: http://tr.im/1vgo

Let me know if you need any help.

Dec 4th, 2008
Jeremy Reeves

Nice David!

I forgot about that - I might have to do the same for my blog ;)

Thanks for reminding me!

Jeremy Reeves
http://www.controlbeatingcopy.com

Dec 20th, 2008
Sohail

Thats great way to say thabks for comment :)

Jan 18th, 2009
Barnabas Nagy

Hi, I did not know about the wp nofollow thing, they could alert us about such.. anyway, thanks for the info I’ll work on the dofollow :)

Jan 22nd, 2009
Simon Burgess

HEy man,

I hope the new year is treating you well. Quick question. Can you implement this on a wordpress account that’s web based or only the hosted version?

Am thinking of converting my blog to a hosted version just because the web only one is too restrictive. Would be good to get your feedback on using it on your own hosted site.

Laters man,

Simon

Jan 22nd, 2009
David Lano

@Jeremy - No problem! Glad I could help. :)

@Barnabas - You’re welcome! Glad I could help.

@Simon - Good question! I know there was some talk about implementing such a feature in future releases of Wordpress (Both web based and hosted). I would definitely recommend the hosted route - requires a little more maintenance and money to keep up and running, but well worth it. Having the ability to install plugins, custom themes, etc is critical in my opinion. :) Let me know if you need any help in the migration.

Jan 26th, 2009
Amy Shields

My February Poll question was much more interesting…

Feb 2nd, 2009
Greg Sidberry

can others use your image

Apr 13th, 2009
David Lano

@Greg - Yes, absolutely! :)

Apr 13th, 2009