This is a guest post by Gerald Weber, President and Founder of Search Engine Marketing Group, a leading search engine marketing and web development firm in Houston TX. He also maintains an SEO consulting blog.
In my nine years as a search engine marketing professional, I have spent much of my time optimizing websites for SERP and managing Adwords Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns. However, I do consider myself a bit of a blogosphere noob, as I’ve just recently begun my own company blog.
In any case, I have noticed that dofollow vs. nofollow is a subject of great interest and debate in the blogosphere. Some bloggers proudly state on their blog “You Comment and I Follow,” while other bloggers are saying “I don’t want to leak out my link juice” or “I’ll be leaking my Page Rank.”
I have also heard some bloggers state that after changing their blog to do-follow, their Page Rank went down. Well, I am going to give you my opinion from an SEO’s perspective, but before I do, let me talk about some fundamental aspects regarding links and SEO.
Relevant Links Have Meaning
Google (as well as other search engines) pays much attention to the links on your site and the words that you use in them, as well as where they link to. I’m assuming most of you reading this know not to use phrases like “click here” or “for more information” as a link anchor text. Instead, the link text should describe where the link will take your website visitor.
For example, if your blog or website is about CSS website design and someone offers you a link from their blog, you would rather have them link to you with anchor text like “CSS blog” than “this is a blog that I enjoy reading.”
Do you see where I am going with this?
Outbound Links vs Inbound Links
That being said, I think we are all well aware of the value of having quality inbound links. This is why we are so busy writing link bait articles, making blog comments and more. However, what about outgoing links?
The simple answer is if you link out correctly, it can and will boost your search engine rankings. Be careful though, because there is a caveat. You must be sure not to link out to any bad neighborhoods on the web.
So, I know the next question you probably have is “what is a bad neighborhood?”
According to Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, a bad neighborhood is a site that has been banned or penalized by Google or other search engines for being less than ethical in one way or another. Examples of some bad neighborhoods would be spam blogs, links farms, sites selling paid links, sites with malware, sites with illegal content or a website utilizing black hat SEO tactics. This is one reason why it’s not good to have spam comments on any blog, because that would mean that you are linking to a bad neighborhood.
Conclusion
Forget about this notion of leaking out Page Rank or link juice. Link out to other quality blogs and websites liberally, and use descriptive keywords in your anchor text that describe where the link will take the person clicking it.
If you are using WordPress, install the Semiologic do-follow plugin and make your blog do-follow today!
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the contributing writer and do not necessarily represent my own.
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I have started to use do-follow on my blog since last month. I think it’s great because it gives other people a reason to trade links with me and it helps out the commentators who share valuable comments by giving them a blink aswell.
@Trevor,
I totally agree with you. I think it’s a great way for us to help one another in the blogosphere.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
I have been considering going Dofollow on a blog in development. After reading this, I can kind of make me decision now that I have a little insight from someone like Gerald and all his experience in the SEO field. Good stuff. :)
Alex | UnWrules.com´s lastest post..Getting attention on MSN…
@Alex,
Glad that I helped you make your decision. Let me know how it works out for you.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
I really don’t think it matters too much. I know that Google has now put in their webmaster tools that it won’t hurt you either way. When one of the people from Google got interviewed you talked about how many people are just so paranoid over things that don’t matter to Google. They want a blog that can be crawled fast. They are looking for a blog with quite a bit of backlinks. They’re looking for a blog that posts content often. They are looking for a blog that has been around for a while. They’re all the obvious things but people seem to be paranoid about other things that really don’t matter.
Franklin Bishop´s lastest post..3 Ways to a Popular Blog
@Franklin,
Thanks for sharing your opinion with us.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
This argument is rife around the blogoshphere, and seo ’sculpting’ (ie using the no-follow tag for seo purposes) is also a big topic.
I suppose each to his own, I AM an advocate of linking out but if it is do-follow or no-follow I do not think it actually matters; A link is a Link full-stop. True there may be benefits of a ‘do-follow’ link but they are negligiable against the same link even if it is ‘no-follow’
Donace´s lastest post..How To Use Simple Lighting in Adobe Photoshop
@Donace,
I agree with you that even a no follow link does have some value.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
Excellent read! Thanks Yan for sharing it with us. Going with Franklin above , I too personally feel that search engines today are very smart to figure out “what is what” no matter whether you use dofollow or nofollow. But still, it will remain a debate..
Himanshu´s lastest post..11 easy steps to make a website cross browser compatible
@Himanshu,
I agree that the folks over at Google are pretty smart but yes it will remain a subject of great debate in the blogosphere.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
Good post, short and sane. My blog doesn’t use nofollow links because I consider this practice… weird.
As blogger I can somewhat relate to people whose earning are dependent on search traffic and Google. Still it’s not the reason to nofollow everything and effectively show that making money takes complete priority and all means posisble will be used.
Rarst´s lastest post..Host your own p2p network with YnHub
@Rarst,
Good point. I believe the intention of making most blogs no-follow by default is to cut down on spam comments, however I just use Askimet to deal with the spammers.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
Gerald one quick question for you. Sometimes Akimset fails to detect bad neighbourhood , though the comment is genuinely written by human. In that case it’s not easy to check each and every blog/website of the commenters and decide by ourselves if it is good or bad.
What should we do in that case ? Should we approve that comment or not ? ..thanks
Himanshu´s lastest post..When is Wordpress 2.7 releasing for self hosted blogs ?
@Himanshu,
A couple of thoughts. Askimet is a tool that works pretty well for detecting spam but keep in mind that is only one type of bad neighborhood. Most bad neighborhood are pretty obvious. Spam blogs, Casino sites, or illegal content. Probably the most common type will be spam blogs for us bloggers. Spam blogs are pretty obvious when you are looking at the blog. Normally they are using the default wordpress theme and they are stuffed with keywords and don’t make much if any sense. So to answer your question I would check mostly the comments that are generic or don’t add much to the conversation. I would mainly take a quick look at those blogs.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
Sound advice especially when it comes to using anchor text properly. I have to admit that the whole DoFollow & NoFollow issue annoys me though. While, I am a big fan of DoFollow as it gives something back to my readers who make comments on my blog, I’d really rather that the whole issue didn’t exist. If there was no NoFollow then none of this would be a problem but I suppose there must be some justification for it’s existence right?
Dot Com Dud´s lastest post..November Income Report
@Dot Com Dud
Correct. As I mentioned above I believe the spammers are the reason for we have no follow.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
This is really interesting. As a new blogger, this is just one of those things I haven’t thought about. Of course I would like to encourage readers to leave (thoughtful) comments on my blog. I enabled comment luv because I appreciate it when I see that on other blogs such as this one. Just like Dot, I wish this whole issue didnt exist though.
Carla´s lastest post..Emperor “Clean Coal” has no clothes
@Carla,
Yes comment luv is pretty neat. I like it also.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
Gerald,
I think you left out one of the best reasons, sometimes you have to give to get.
I just made my blog do follow, but if I ever start getting as many comments as Yan, I may go back to no follow to reduce comments.
Ned Carey´s lastest post..The Power of Positive Thinking
Hey Ned
Please allow me to offer my suggestion to you. If my memory serves me well, you don’t have the option to “subscribe to comments” on your blog.
This plugin makes it easy for your commenters to come back as each subsequent response will be sent via email. I can’t think of any other method to pull my commenters back.
It’s one of the important plugins yet pretty much overlooked by many. Fact is you’ll never know how useful it is till you have it.
Yan
Yan,
Yes I have seen that on blogs and normally check it to subscribe (although I missed it this time good thing I checked back)
But I seen it so often I assumed it was a feature of wordpress. I didn’t realize it was a plug in – I’ll get it right away.
Ned Carey´s lastest post..The Power of Positive Thinking
@Ned,
Excellent point about giving to get. One word about no follow and spam. I don’t think spammers take the time to look if it’s no follow or do follow. I get just as much spam on my no follow blogs. I have found Askimet to be really effective in catching most spam. It’s already in wordpress you just need to register to get an API to activate it.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
Gerald,
Yes I use Akismet and it’s great. It’s not perfect however. For short while I was being caught by them.
I think you are right true spammers especially the bots don’t care, however anecdotaly it seems that more individuals come because some MMO guru told them that’s the way to promote their website.
Right here on this site Yan wrote about someone on his top commenter list that complained that people were coming from here just to comment on his site. I do think it is ironic that people do things like add top commenter, do follow, comment luv etc to their site and then complain because it brings people to their site.
Ned Carey´s lastest post..The Power of Positive Thinking
Oh you didn’t miss that article, Ned. Yeah, he was very pissed off that I included his site into the list. I have since taken it off the list for good.
Ironic? Well, with all due respect, his site is PR7 so that degree of success inflates his ego to bring down mine. Anyway, the top list is nofollow on his blog since.
Yan
It won’t do your site any harm if you don’t use the nofollow microformat
The problem I could see is that websites come and go so what might be a great website one day, could become a bad neighbourhood after the domain is brought by black hatters.
But then, the same goes for links within your main blog articles as you should be linking out often from within your main blog items.
It’s really surprising how many blogs are “dofollow” these days – many of them don’t advertise it openly.
@Andy,
This is a good point Andy. This is why it’s important to be aware of an take inventory of who you are linking to even as time goes on. That being said if you have many quality outgoing links and only a single links going to a bad neighborhood this won’t be the end of the world. As Google tends to look mostly at the bigger picture. The main point is to be aware of who you are linking to so that your routinely link out to other quality blogs and websites.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
Google will rank well each site as they want fresh content to be ranking fast. It is all depend whether the site has duplicate content or unique content. If duplicate it may rank well but it short term even it has thousand of backlinks. Dofollow is good even if attract a lot of spammer. Anchor text also important and that why I use “travel sickness” for a bit juice to my pages. It is all depend on how much time do we spend to gain enough good backlinks to rank our site in specific term.
Travel sickness´s lastest post..Travel sickness
@Travel sickness
All good points. Duplicate content can be the kiss of death to search engine rankings. Google will penalize one and sometimes both sites with the duplicate content.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
I have always supported the idea of DoFollow links and I have never regretted it. A blog isn’t a blog without comments. I rather have no PR while having a more active community.
Wei Liang
Wei Liang | ABloggerBlog´s lastest post..Lesson 20: Blog Contest
@Wei Liang,
Regarding the page rank issue. There are over 200 different factors that affect page rank. I believe sometimes when a bloggers page rank goes down for one reason or another they tend to falsely blame it on the fact that their blog is do follow.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
A blog isn’t a blog without comments. I rather have no PR while having a more active community.
Well said, Wei Liang but I suppose I’m more greedy to aim for the best of both worlds… ;)
@Yan,
Agreed. I think it’s absolutely silly for people to get upset that people come to their blog just to comment! That’s the piont! ;-)
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..10 Rules the Best Online Copywriters Follow
I have been using do follow. And I like it. Yeah maybe PR is not rising that fast, but hell with it. My blog is there for people, not for search engines, I write for people and not for search engines. That’s why people and readers are in 1st place, google – 2nd
Cheers,
The Moneyac
TheMoneyac´s lastest post..Finding New Niches – Part 2 – Trends and Mags
@TheMoneyac
Glad to hear that your blog is do follow. Don’t worry if you continue writing quality content that people find useful over time your page rank will go up.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
I use DoFollow. I do understand the reasons of those that don’t, but I think DoFollow is a way to reward the commenters.
cd :O)
CD Rates Blog´s lastest post..It’s Refer Your Corporate Friend Day — Get Paid $150
@CD Rates Blog
I agree it’s a good way to reward commentators. I also use the top commentator widget as well. ;-)
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
Nice informative post.
But I’ll still stick to linking out to sites I want to link to, rather than dofollowing anyone who wants to comment just to get a link.
Thanks :)
@Zania,
Certainly there are varying opinions on the subject. I’d would like to think that most people that make comments are adding something to the post/conversation. I don’t care for vague comments. i.e. “Thanks a lot for the post man.” or something similar.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
I’m with ya, Zani. I’m not dofollowing everyone anymore here. I couldn’t handle the spam now. Anyway, thanks for dropping by, gal. Good to see ya here too.
Yan i don’t know what should i say. This is great post with a lot of useful information. Great job. I enjoyed reading it.
Unique Blogger´s lastest post..5 tips for you successful blog launch
@Unique Blogger,
Thanks for the compliment. Glad you enjoyed it.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
Well, this article is written by the guest writer, Gerard and not me but still appreciate the compliment.
It’s great to see you on here Gerald. I hope you get lots of clickthroughs. Good article on do-follow vs no-follow. That definitely causes people a lot of fear about whether to follow or not. Thanks for clearing that up.
How to Blog´s lastest post..My Format for Blog Reviews
@How to Blog,
No problem, always happy to help.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
I have always been an advocate of the dofollow movement, but being a do-follow blogs usually means that people will be spamming the website more.
Thats why I think a good Comment Policy works well with the do follow movement. That way people can’t compain if you delete their comment because it held no value.
@EmmaB,
I agree with you about having a good comment policy. I think that is the only way to go.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..The Seven Letter Word All Small Businesses Need to Know
Speaking of comment policy, I’m yet to have one myself. Thanks for the input, Emma.
@Yan,
Yep yep I agree I’m going to add one to my blog.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..10 Rules the Best Online Copywriters Follow
I delayed implementing do follow and Comment Luv because I hadn’t written my comments policy yet. I finally said the heck with it, I’ll write the policy later.
It’s on my list of things to do today.
Ned Carey´s lastest post..The Power of Positive Thinking
As long as you can keep on top of comment spamners, I think dofollow is the right way to go. Which reminds me I need to go get a dofollow plugin for my Wordpress site.
Dana Willhoit´s lastest post..5 Ways That Press Releases Help Your Business
@Dana,
No problem I’ll email it to you. Thanks for commenting. ;-)
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..10 Rules the Best Online Copywriters Follow
From experience I can tell you the policy doesn’t always mean a whole lot…they have to actually read it first. Of course, it does afford you the right to be just a little nastier to spammers. LOL
“This is one reason why it’s not good to have spam comments on any blog, because that would mean that you are linking to a bad neighborhood.”
This is the main reason I switched to Lucias do follow plugin, which allows you to set the # of comments, before they turn do follow.
If a “driveby” spammer wants to leave a “half decent” comment, I’ll keep it…..but they ain’t gettin’ no luv for it! ;)
Dennis Edell´s lastest post..How Do You Check For Incoming Links?
@Dennis,
I’m usually pretty proactive regarding my blog so if a spammer does happen to make it past Askimet it won’t last long.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..10 Rules the Best Online Copywriters Follow
I’m very proactive, but I’m not referring to bot spam, this is all human crap that usually doesn’t get caught by Akismet unless their ISP has been flagged.
You know, the ones with, “great post!” and leave thinking they slipped one past for a back link. Every once in a while they leave one that’s only half crap thinking the same thing.
I get a good chuckle at this as I keep the comment and they get nothing in return. ;)
Dennis Edell´s lastest post..How Do You Check For Incoming Links?
@Dennis,
I gave you a donation earlier. =)
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..10 Rules the Best Online Copywriters Follow
Obviously you are right Dennis they have to both read it and then heed it. I guess I want one so I can say this is why I deleted your message. (although I realize I may only be saying it to myself)
Ned Carey´s lastest post..The Power of Positive Thinking
@Ned,
I think a comment policy is a very professional idea. It’s also now on my list of things to do.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..10 Rules the Best Online Copywriters Follow
It’s definitely a good idea Ned; I too have one. When you said, “I guess I want one so I can say this is why I deleted your message.” is kinda what I meant with, “Of course, it does afford you the right to be just a little nastier to spammers. LOL”
Dennis Edell´s lastest post..How Do You Check For Incoming Links?
Gerald,
You bring up a great point. To me, not linking out for fear of losing link juice is silly. Regardless of the SEO implications, people need to realize that adding quality outbound links enhances the user experience on their blog. It turns you into a resource. And that will keep visitors coming back time and time again regardless of any SEO side effects (which there aren’t really any)
@Eric,
Well said. =)
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..10 Rules the Best Online Copywriters Follow
Excellent – I had no idea that linking to a “bad neighborhood” could affect my ranking. Very interesting….I get a glut of spam but Akismet catches most of it – I guess I need to go check the links on comments…
Make Money Online´s lastest post..Case Study – Effects of Commenting
Thanks for this really helpful article! I just installed the do-follow plugin. I also didn’t realize that just linking to “bad neighborhood” sites in the comments could brink down my ranking. Askimet doesn’t work on my blog (I have an IIS server and it’s not very Wordpress-friendly), so I’ll need to find another solution. Do you know of any other plugins that do the same thing as Askimet?
Diana Freedman´s lastest post..Snip URL is Better Than Tiny URL… By Far
@Diana Freedman,
No problem, always glad to help. Askimet is already in wordpress you just need to register and get an API key to activate it but barring that not really sure. That’s what I have always used for spam.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..10 Rules the Best Online Copywriters Follow
Gerald, thanks! Inspired me to do some research, and I came across this: http://www.wordpressmax.com/wordpress-guide/api-key-confusion... turns out you need to get your API from a wordpress.com account even if you’re self-hosted and downloaded wordpress from the .org site. Whew!
Diana Freedman´s lastest post..Snip URL is Better Than Tiny URL… By Far
@Diana Freedman
You can simply register for the API without having to dowload wordpress but you are correct, you have to register for the API even if you are self hosted. I know it can be a bit confusing. ;-)
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..10 Rules the Best Online Copywriters Follow
When you register with WordPress.com, you’ll get your API on your welcome email and the same API can be used on multiple blogs. Hope that clears some confusion here.
I added the dofollow plugin to my WordPress blog not too long ago. I feel better about my decision after reading about it here. Thanks for the info! :)
drivelocity´s lastest post..Warning: Facebook Virus
@drivelocity
Your welcome. I’m always glad to help. :-)
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..10 Rules the Best Online Copywriters Follow
I want to thank everyone here for all their wonderful comments and insights. I also want to give a great big special thanks to Yan for being so kind, and allowing me to write this post. It was definately a lot of fun. Yan just let me know if and when you want to post for my blog.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..10 Rules the Best Online Copywriters Follow
Gerard
You’ve touched one subject that is highly debated and differing opinions and views come with the package. This is one of those that has been and will always be argued and debated across the blogosphere.
The ever wonderful and supportive community here seems to be enjoying your article. I presume you’ve got quite a bit of exposure too, haven’t you?
Yan
PS: I’ll work on it when time permits..
@Yan,
Yes I believe I have gotten some nice exposure. Sure just let me know when time permits. Your always welcome. Thanks again.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..10 Rules the Best Online Copywriters Follow
All my blogs are do-follow blogs and on my wassupblog I actually take it one step further by reciprocating all comments and have started the F-Group to keep track of others who have joined the movement. I am not worried about ‘leaking’ as I would delete any comments, or the links from those comments, that lead to objectionable sites anyway.
Sire´s lastest post..Cool Blog Links Now Live
I agree with you 1000%. I installed commentluv and dofollow (which I found out commentluv does the same thing) because I want to share something with my commenters. Excellent post
SalesFairy´s lastest post..Seven Deadly Sales Sins
Hey
Thanks for dropping by. I was at your site yesterday but I couldn’t leave a comment there as the spam protection was malfunctioning. I couldn’t find and see the security code. I’m not too sure if you aware of it. On last check, it’s still hidden.
Yan
Well, that would be why I haven’t had any comments..lol I think something was messing up with the akismet plug-in, so I’ve uninstalled it. Ugh Thank you for telling me about that error.
SalesFairy´s lastest post..Do You Have a Big “But”?
I figured it out. Thank You Yan. I’ve was getting a bit depressed there, but I have it all straightened out :)
SalesFairy´s lastest post..Do You Have a Big “But”?
Hey
Glad that you’ve managed to fix the missing code! I just left a comment on your article and I did mention also that you need not have that spam protection at all since Akismet is doing a pretty good job combating spammy comments.
In fact, you should put in place “subscribe to comments” to keep your commenters coming back for more. Trust me it works.
Yan
Have the do follow plug in and think that it is most definitely a good thing. One thing I do need to get is the “top commenter” plug in which I see you have here. Any more plug ins you might recommend?
Matt Helphrey´s lastest post..Develop a Link Building Strategy
Hey Matt
Thanks for the visit. I’m not too sure what to recommend without knowing what you are trying to achieve. There are just too many plugins out there that serve a variety of purposes.
Probably you might want to check 10 plugins you ought to install from my archive. It might just give you an idea of what to install.
Yan
I was just commenting about this very subject on Dennis Edell’s site. I couldn’t remember where I read this post. I’m glad I found it, I’m going to add it to my Ezine’s next issue’s ‘Great Reads’ section if you don’t mind.
Brian D. Hawkins´s lastest post..Just Ask Someone
I felt my nose tingle.
Dennis Edell´s lastest post..How To: Evaluating Competition For New Site Niches
I still vote for dofollow. Give your commentators and your loyal readers some benefit because they help you grow your blog.
Ben Pei´s lastest post..Social Media Turns Into A Weapon
i think do follow is awesome, not only does it add more interactivity with our website but it also gives the readers something back in return
Good post, but I am still wary of linking. All of my links are nofollow unless I link to a long-established and well-known website.
Shirley´s lastest post..5 Things We Hate About Google
interesting post but are you SURE having outbound links can help your page rank?
I had the do follow plugin for a while. I’m my opinion do follow attracts spammers in droves.
My site is about weight loss and doing it without pills or expensive programs. When I was do follow I was getting 10-15 spam comments a day. All promoting pills and programs. Those were over and above the ones askimet was catching.
I have it turned off for now anyway.
Steve
Steve@weightlossweapons.com´s lastest post..Stop Counting Calories
I think do follow links have more value than no follow but still you shouldn’t ignore no follow links… no follow links can generate traffic … like yahoo answers have set no follow attribute still it can generate traffic to your website.
Thanks for the great tips G-Man! I’ve been wondering about this plugin and feel this post has convinced me to add it to my blog about starting an online business.
Talk to you soon!
Nate Moller
Blogging is not only about how you gain your rank. For me, sharing is another thing. Quality + sociable kind of blogger will surely a successful one. :)