Obvious to many, many are completely unaware of the nofollow attribute in a link. The use of nofollow could be a good poll as well. Originally developed to stop bots from following a link, Google seems to think its main purpose is to identify paid links.
Personally, I believe it should be used for its original purpose, and that Google’s lack of ability to recognize a link as a “paid one” simply reflects that one of its methods to identify a valuable site needs to reconsidered. If Google expects webmasters to identify a sponsor, why not use something like rel=”sponsor”? Google or other search engines can then choose how to handle the attribute personally. Continue reading »
Ali Imran (5)
Curtis (5)
ariel (1)
Chris (1)
Nofollow in Comments
I have seen many discussions on whether or not you should use nofollow for a comment author’s URL. I honestly didn’t know which way to go so I decided to go right down the line with a neat little fix. First a little bit about the pros and cons.
Allowing the Follow
The major pro? It can encourage people to write comments on your posts. The major con? It leeches your PR, and could bring you down a little in the rankings. Get enough comments on a post, and your site might even look spammy to a search engine.
Being Mean, NoFollow
The major pro? All those visitors comments, if you get any now, will not hurt your search rankings. The major con? You may not get as many comments. I call it mean, because I feel it’s similar to having someone come into your store, and not saying thank you for visiting.
My Solution
My solution to the problem is to incorporate a little bit of both worlds. I give the first three comment authors their full credit. Comments made after the third, incorporate rel=”nofollow”. Immediate input is encouraged, and having a list full of outbound links prevented. I keep getting posters, and keep my SEO dignity.
Plugin
So I am also guessing some of you might want this as a plugin for WordPress. I am going to make one in the next day or two. It was such an easy fix to my template though, I just had to get it going without one. Edit four lines of code or write an entire plugin? Let me see:)