A nofollow link is one that will not be followed by a search engine robot/spider. This is accomplished by placing the rel=”nofollow” attribute in an anchor tag. This can be useful when you are optimizing a website and do not want to give the destination web page credit for the backlink.
However, in many cases you do want to give the credit, also referred to as Google Juice or Link Love. If you have a blog and want to receive comments it’s a good idea to have the links followable otherwise most bloggers will have no reason to comment because the main purpose, for most, is to get the backlink.
A good example is this website. Today’s date is October 24, 2008 and I have NO comments. WordPress by default adds the rel=”nofollow” attribute to all links in the comments area so there has been no reason for a fellow blogger to leave a comment since it would be a useless waist of time. This morning I installed a do-follow plugin which removes the nofollow attribute from links in the comments area. Lets see what happens!
Here… http://codex.wordpress.org/Nofollow … you will find a comprehensive list of do-follow plugins.
Some people have a problem with having too many plugins as it can make your site just a tad slower to load. So, another technique would be to edit the WP core. To do this go to the wp-includes directory of your WordPress installation and locate the file named comment-template.php. Now go to the line that says…
function get_comment_author_link()
… a few lines below that you will see…
$return = “<a href=’$url’ rel=’external nofollow’>$author</a>”;
… remove the word nofollow and the preceding space.
You may not be comfortable doing this and besides, many of the plugins you’ll find have other useful options as well.
Update: I have put the “nofollow” back onto the comment author links. I now know why so many people do this and why WordPress does this by default. Unfortunately, do follow links tend to attract the auto-comment bots which are mostly used to post porn, drug, and generic comments for no other reason than to accumulate links.
Update 08-31-09:This is now a do-follow blog. It seems that no-follows do NOT conserve link juice so WTF. Spam comments will not be approved.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Well lets see if it is true and works. I too hate the nofollow tag. We build Website Design in Luton and are always looking at ways to get links to our website. Thanks
March 5th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Right you are Matt… and thanks for noticing! I tried turning off the nofollow on comments but it just attracted spammers. I’m better off focusing on links. I see your comments are nofollow as well! Wanna do an exchange?
March 5th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Well – my highlighting nofollow links plugin for Firefox is highlighting your comments, so I guess they are still nofollow.
And looking at the source code.. yep – still nofollow. Either you uninstalled the plugin, or it’s not working…
Just thought I mention it in passing.
Obviously I’m not in need of more backlinks
Matt
May 5th, 2009 at 2:37 am
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.
May 30th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Whoa… this site is pretty awesome
your layout is really well designed, and your blogs are (judging from what i’ve read) very interesting. heehee… consider yourself favorited. 
May 31st, 2009 at 2:42 am
That’s right! Therefore all comment links are nofollow.
May 31st, 2009 at 3:36 am
So therfore Norm, your link above is no follow so you derive no benefit other than that obtained and given in the discussion. And why the use of the exclamation when I was merely asking for a simple clarification?
You have chosen to hyperlink your name “Norm” which tells me that you want some link benefit or else why would you do it? It also tells me that you want to tell Google that your website normashepherd.com should be listed and found most readily in Google for the phrase “norm”. That means you either have a very strange reason for doing so or no absolutely nothing about seo.
But Norm, this is your blog not mine and you have every right to do with it as you wish, but yelling at your commentators and visitors is a strange reaction to a very innocuous comment.
However the good thing is that at least there is a lively discussion on a blog. But if I am going to take part in a lively discussion then it will generally be on a dopfollow blog. Do you perceive the trade off here?
Good coments and commentators provide value and should or at least can be rewarded
May 31st, 2009 at 12:59 am
So I’m confused, you seem to be saying that on October 24 you enabled dofollow on comments and then in teh posts above you said the opposite. You want to encourage content via comments therefore I would have thought the choice was clear? You can’t have it both ways
May 31st, 2009 at 7:17 am
Definitely no attitude intended by the exclamation point, my apologies. All comment author links are nofollow here, including my own… same as your site, a PR4 with 11,000 links
May 31st, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Actually, if that’s the case then you’ve done me a favour Norm, as I wasn’t aware PropertyNow’s outgoing links are no follow? Must be a default in Joomla like it is in wordpress. Did you view source code or did you use a software to see that Norm as I would like to get that fixed up and make them dofollow.
June 1st, 2009 at 1:55 am
http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/seo-for-firefox.html
After installing go to the options panel and enable highlighting for “nofollow” links.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:26 am
So now they are dofollow again?
December 10th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Some are, most are not. I have a plugin that lets me control this. I like your website.
March 22nd, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Could you recommend any specific resources, books, or other blogs on setting up a backlink plan? I would love to hear your recommendation. Thanks much!
March 24th, 2010 at 9:08 am
Go here… http://normansheppard.com/go/keywordacademy
Sign up for $1. You will find everything you need to set up a back-link strategy