CommentLuv – LinkyLove – NoNoFollow

30 thoughts on “CommentLuv – LinkyLove – NoNoFollow”

1. Hi Barbara – I am a huge fan of do follow. It creates link love and makes blogs more interactive.

   When someone with do follow links to me, I can see it and vice versa. If I had no follow I’m not sure they’d be able to see my links.

   It’s great that you brought this up, as I’m sure many people don’t realise that their blog may have no follow built in and they need to use a plugin.

   I have commented on many blogs in the past and don’t have an inbound link from them so I guess that many are using no follow.

   CatherineL’s last blog post..Nude Freelancer Storms Google Campus

2. Are you currently using a no nofollow plugin? I heard of it, but not sure if I have it or not. If it’s a plug in, then I don’t.

   If not, are you ready to add one? Not really

   Will you join the No Nofollow community? Not just yet. I’ll have to read this again and more on it.

   Natural Woman’s last blog post..Freedom of Speech, My Asterisk*

3. I still have some concerns with this.

   If you link to a blog, it will receive a certain amount of page rank. If you turn on no nofollow, your link to that blog will carry less weight because now all the comments are sharing the page rank. So the person who wrote the post you thought was link worthy is having their reward diluted by everyone who comments. Not that those comments are spam, but you haven’t specifically chosen them as being link worthy.

   Another thing I’d wonder is if you get lots of comments and use no nofollow, will Google think you’re a link farm? Or does it consider comment links to be OK no matter how many you have?

   Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..What Color Is Your Focusing Crystal?

4. Barbara,

   Thanks for presenting NO NOFOLLOW and its advantages in blogging. I feel honored that you included our conversations.

   If I could add just one thing: I think there is some concern amongst bloggers that removing the NOFOLLOW tags, in links, will have a negative impact on SEO performance. Although it is difficult to prove this, and pinpoint any single cause and effect relationship in SEO performance, I personally have not experienced any negatives in SEO performance as a result of removing NONOFOLLOW tags. In fact I have been receiving a lot more traffic via search engines. Who knows if this is related….but feel safe in saying: removing NOFOLLOW tags won’t have a negative impact on ones SEO performance or pageranking status.

   I can’t even pretend to be an SEO expert, but this is my experience so far. If anyone has seen otherwise please let me know. I am all ears. 🙂

5. hmmm theres more to this no follow thing than I realized

   I’m with Hunter on these questions – I could have sworn I read somewhere that if you have a lot of links on your blog, it will be downgraded because of all those links

   I would love to reward my commentators with link love

   Do you know how we can do this without being penalized?

   JEMi @ InMyHeels’s last blog post..Uninhibited: 10 Ways to Set Yourself Free (Part 2)

6. Hi Hunter – only one comment per person counts as an inbound link. The first time you commented on my blog you’d get an inbound link, but that is the only one that counts.

   Re: Being penalized – I only have a PR3 right now, but i believe that is because I don’t have lots of inbound links from high PR sites. I don’t believe I’ve been penalized for lots of outbound links – I link out a lot in my posts too and if I had I would have a PR 0.

   You’re more likely to be penalized if you link out to spammy sites.

   CatherineL’s last blog post..Nude Freelancer Storms Google Campus

7. Hi Catherine,

   It’s another one of those “do as I say, not as I do” types of situations.

   I haven’t seen comments from A list bloggers except for comments on other A list bloggers sites.

   I would welcome a comment from Darren Rowse or John Chow, but I’m not holding my breath.

8. Hi Catherine,

   When I first started blogging, I didn’t know about no follow and it wasn’t until I started editing comments that I saw WP was throwing in the no follow link. I’m guessing the majority of blogs don’t change this. It’s unfortunate as when you comment, you are linking to their blog, but unless they come to your blog, it’s a one way street.

   I’ve seen posts written on how an author got thousands of inbound links to their blog in a short time, however, they never report how many outbound links they handed out. Hmmmm They might be getting link love, but it may not be reciprocated. Sounds like some relationships.

   Hi Natural Woman,

   It’s smart to research plugins until you feel comfortable adding them.

   Another perfect score 🙂

   Hi David,

   You’re welcome.

   You bring up a good point with SEO. It would be interesting to find out if there is an affect, but like you said, you’re seeing more search engine traffic. Is it consequential or not. I would guess, only time will tell.

   Hi Hunter,

   Being one who doesn’t obsess with page rank, that is not a concern for me. I’ve read the philosophy behind page rank, but it sounds too complicated for me to spend time worrying about.

   I have read that Google knows we cannot control who links to us, so that doesn’t weigh heavily. However, if a someone who has a PR of 6 linked to someone with a PR of 0, it may hurt the “linking party”, because you have control over who you link to. This may be why you rarely see someone with a high page rank, linking out.

   With me, the page rank of a site I link to doesn’t even become part of the equation. Plus, with me showcasing a “new blog of the week”, I will always be linking to PR0 blogs. If that ends up hurting my page rank, oh well……..

   Link farms (from what I understand) are pages of just links, and little or no content. That is one of the concerns I had about my “blogging buddies” page, so I am rewriting that to include a lot of content.

   Hi JEMi,

   There is so much written about linking, it’s hard to decipher what’s true.

   Like you, I, too, believe in rewarding commenters. Am I going to hurt my page rank by installing this plugin? I’ll take my chances. The only reason I would think of removing it is if my blog gets penalized or if my commenters are negatively affected by the link love. That’s something I won’t know for some time, so until then, I’ll happily use this blog for the “experiment”

   There are other ways to reward you commenters. As soon as I have my blogging buddies page rewritten, I will be doing a post on this subject. Stay tuned.

   Hi Catherine,

   I know you are constantly linking, and your blog hasn’t suffered. In fact, it’s gaining popularity.

   I agree, we don’t want to link to spammy sites.

   Barbara’s last blog post..CommentLuv – LinkyLove – NoNoFollow

9. Hi again Barbara – I totally agree with you on the Page Rank thing. I haven’t noticed anything to suggest that my pages are being ranked further down Google for my keyphrases just because I don’t have PR6.

   Also re: tons of inbound links. I think you’re right, it’s the ones who are mean about linking out that encourage everyone to link out generously – usually the A list bloggers.

   They make it look like they link out but there links are usually from an insignificant page on their blog, instead of the home page – I’m not sure how they set that up. But, it’s really mean.

   CatherineL’s last blog post..Nude Freelancer Storms Google Campus

10. I must admit that I don’t really understand this!

    Am I stupid? Probably!

    I’ve got a blogger blog. It has a page rank of 3. And with complete disrespect to me, it doesn’t deserve it compared to this blog, Cath Lawson’s and pretty much everyone else here!

    Does that mean I have it set right? Or is it that Google sneakily ranks Blogger blogs more favourably?

    I don’t get heaps of traffic, but I do wonder why others are ranked lower or the same? Cath’s for example was ranked 2 for a while and mine was 3. To me, it isn’t fair. I’m not nearly as prolific as either Barbara, Cath or many others here in terms of posting frequency. Nor content!

    Is it because I;m less active that I get a higher rank? I don’t “travel” as much as I suspect others do (apart from Stumble, but I’ve slowed down on that!).

    I really don’t know. Just thought I’d add my complete amazement that my blog is PR3 when others have far more content, far more visitors, and far more content.

    Am I accidentally following a hidden rule?

    Ian Denny’s last blog post..Blog Authors – How To Get More Comments Per Visitor

11. Quick afterthought – I get virtually no spam on the blogger blog – even after I took off the spam verification letters.

    Ian Denny’s last blog post..Blog Authors – How To Get More Comments Per Visitor

12. Hello Barbara. I’ve known about NoFollow and search engines for awhile now. The funny things is, I know WordPress puts that little “NoFollow” tag in there for my commenters and yet I still haven’t removed that default setting.

    Why?

    I dunno. I forget to look into it, I guess. Thanks for reminding me, though. I’m going to fix it now.

    As for the whole no follow way of thinking, I believe the whole purpose of NoFollow was to discourage spammers. Everyone knows Google weighs heavily on how popular a site is and how many links point to it is important to Google.

    NoFollow was something “they” (i.e. the search engine coders) thought would make spammers think, “well what’s the point?”

    Obviously though, NoFollow is a failure. I don’t know about you, but my Askiment works overtime – and my blog isn’t even all that popular.

    Anyway, thanks for the insights and I’m downloading the plugin now.

    John Hoff’s last blog post..The Art of Persuasion (Part 3 of 3): 7 Tips To Sharpening Your Persuasive Skills

13. Hi John,

    Thanks for your input on this. Like you, I think Akismet has been a godsend. It just keeps blocking that spam, so I can keep working.

    It does make me wonder why the spammers keep spamming, with great spam blockers like Akismet. Apparently there are still enough people out there who moderate their comments manually, and a few dollars trickle in for the spammers.

    Even though I am using Lucia’s Linky Love plugin, Andy Beard has put together a great list of other “do follow” plugins. The link to that list is also in my post.

    Barbara’s last blog post..CommentLuv – LinkyLove – NoNoFollow

14. Barbara/John,

    Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate the feedback, but I’m still baffled!

    One thing I was trying to convey, and perhaps I failed, is that the nofollow concept was maybe something I didn’t do or understand, and therefore I falsely got a higher page rank.

    Albeit undeservedly.

    I comment on pretty much every blog I visit. But I visit few blogs. I like the blogs I frequent. And I like the recommendations. But becuase I don’t travel as much as othes, perhaps I’m inadvertently getting higher page rank?

    Cath Lawson pointed out to me (I didn’t know!) that my Alexa rank has vastly improved. News to me. I didn’t do anything to achieve that, and again I feel unworthy because I don’t deserve any ranking accolades.

    And I don’t see the traffic I get as anything at all special. A few days ago I had a spike, but this week, it’s been quiet.

    I think alot of the traffic (like it or loathe it!) is because of social bookmarking.

    I just don’t get stumbled very often! But even if I was, then my page rank is not justified. The whole thing is darned unfair!

    I read the so-called pro-blogger content, but I can’t bring myself to revisit them. That’s because their content just aint as good as blogs like this, Cath’s, Hunter’s etc.

    I just don’t like regurgitation and guest posts to keep the clicks going.

    I do find good content from blogs like this. Barbara, you get a great crowd, and I like to follow your commenters, and right now, I;m going to check out John’s because he’s made me think!

    Ian Denny’s last blog post..Blog Authors – How To Get More Comments Per Visitor

15. Hi Ian,

    I’m definitely not the person to answer that. I don’t understand page rank, and really don’t care to learn any more about it at this time. What I do know, it’s like some “secret sauce” recipe, that is only known by a handful of Google insiders.

    Hopefully someone else will share their thoughts on this.

    Barbara’s last blog post..CommentLuv – LinkyLove – NoNoFollow

16. @Barbara – you’d think if spammers put their time, energy, and dedication into something actually useful, they would be highly successful in something other than spamming. I don’t get how they find you so quick. It’s like they are following our friend Googlebot.

    Also, like you I don’t pay much attention to PageRank for myself. I have learned about the basics of it because it is good to know and I am in the web development business.

    @Ian – that’s a good question and all I can really do is hypothesis. Page Rank basically looks at two things: how many links a site has to it and how important those sites are that point to it. Google considers sites with higher page ranks pointing to your site as a bigger vote.

    I check blogger.com. I didn’t get a ranking on their home page but their “tour” page showed up as a ranking of 7. That’s huge. I bet there is an entire linking web inside of blogger.com which connects sites together.

    Just speculating, though.

    John Hoff’s last blog post..The Art of Persuasion (Part 3 of 3): 7 Tips To Sharpening Your Persuasive Skills

17. Hey thanks, Ian. Thinking laterally is the cornerstone of my blog and something I love doing.

    I only wish I had a better answer for you now. But you have sparked an interest in this subject with me. I’ll do a little digging and see what I can come up with. If I find anything, I’ll comment in here.

    But for now, it’s family time and I’m about to make some French Bread pizza and go watch Survivor on my best friend, TiVo!!! 🙂

    Though 97% of the programs recorded are Curious George and Little Einsteins for my son.

    John Hoff’s last blog post..The Art of Persuasion (Part 3 of 3): 7 Tips To Sharpening Your Persuasive Skills

18. Hi John,

    I agree, spammers could make themselves tons of money if they applied themselves in other areas, and be able to look at themselves in the mirror with pride.

    Yes, if you are in web development, you do have to understand page rand. I’m sure you have clients who want to get to the top of the SERPs fast.

    Ian,

    I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit. You have a good blog that has the potential to help thousands, and now with the economy here in the States taking a nose drive, many more will be needing help and support as businesses enter the crisis mode.

    John and Ian,

    I just got to thinking.

    “Blogger” blogs are Google’s free blogs. I just checked Deb’s (another loyal commenter) blog. She also has a “blogger” blog. Her page rank, according the page rank reading in my Google toolbar, shows 2/10. She started her blog in December and hers is a “mommy” type of blog. Her goal is to help other parents with children with disabilities (her daughter has Down syndrome).

    Something else interesting. When I started my first blog, I signed up with Blogger, but then decided to go with WordPress. My blog that I started, is still “active”, although I’ve never used it. I just logged into my “write”/”dashboard” page. It is showing a page rank of 3/10, and there are no posts on that blog at all.

    Could it be Google gives their own blogs a higher page rank, faster? Could WordPress or other blog platforms be somewhat penalized?

    Asako, a blogger friend who’s on hiatus, made mention of WP blogs getting penalized by Google. I don’t know where she found that information, but now I’m beginning to wonder.

    John, that French bread pizza sounds good. We had Papa Murphy’s, as Fridays are my night off from cooking.

    Barbara’s last blog post..CommentLuv – LinkyLove – NoNoFollow

19. Hey Barbara, I think you might be on to something. I’ve had similar results when hosting websites with Yahoo Web Hosting. Those sites seem to have gotten a little push on their search engine.

    Oh how life isn’t fair!

    Also, how funny is this. This morning I check my emails and of course your last comment was there. CommentLuv shows the following code at the bottom of the email:

    rel=”nofollow”>CommentLuv – LinkyLove – NoNoFollow

    LOL 😉

    John Hoff’s last blog post..The Art of Persuasion (Part 3 of 3): 7 Tips To Sharpening Your Persuasive Skills

20. Hi John,

    But we gotta play the game….. 😯

    Re the “rel=”nofollow…”

    I set up Linky Love with a “no follow” on my own name as the author of the plugin suggested…as it was put, so you don’t “Google bomb” your own name.

    Barbara’s last blog post..CommentLuv – LinkyLove – NoNoFollow

21. @ Ian – The Google PR system is something of a mystery to me. Who knows how or why they decide what blog gets what. But, you’re being way too hard on yourself saying you don’t deserve this ranking or that ranking. You have a great blog.

    I do wish you could manage to get the Alexa toolbar to work though – that would definitely push up your ranking and attract more advertisers.

    Re – Do follow. I think you do have it enabled on your blog because when you link to me it shows up as an inbound link. It’s probably always been there and you didn’t know.

    Re: Your boredom visiting some of the A listers – as I’ve said before, some are good, but some just become a self fullfilling prophecy. And I must admit – Stumbleupon encourages that.

    I read that the more a blog gets stumbled the more stumblelove you get and if you discover the blog that gets stumbled more, you get more.

    So, it’s only natural that folks are going to stumble the popular blogs. I’ve seen some rubbish posts stumbled – completely unoriginal ones and I’m guessing that is the reason.

    Don’t worry too much about your posts not being stumbled too often though Ian – I don’t. If you get a good one every month or so you’ll do well. The best consistent traffic driver is when you stumble other blogs, as your blog has a chance of showing up more.

    @ Barbara – re: the A listers not commenting. I’m guessing there’s a few reasons, including these: they think they’re too good to be seen commenting on lesser blogs (some of them, not all); they don’t want it to look as though they’re trying to take traffic from smaller blogs; they don’t have the time; they visit blogs with less traffic frequently to get their ideas so they don’t want blog owners to know they’re reading their stuff and regurgitating it.

    CatherineL’s last blog post..Do You Give Up Too Soon?

22. Hi Again Catherine,

    Glad to see you agree with me about Ian’s blog.

    It sounds like you covered all of the possible reasons why some A List bloggers don’t comment on smaller blogs.

    Barbara’s last blog post..CommentLuv – LinkyLove – NoNoFollow

23. Hi Barbara – there’s probably some more. But, I’d woke up in the middle of the night, so I decided to brainstorm.

    Ian is probably just feeling negative about his blog because he’s feeling ill and taking all that medication.

    CatherineL’s last blog post..Do You Give Up Too Soon?

24. Pingback: Spammers Hit The Jackpot | Blogging Without A Blog

25. I read this several times just because this is all new to me. I never understood what this follow stuff was about but now I think I’ve got it. I looked at one of my comments and I saw the no follow tag. Thanks. I’ll stumbled this post as a reference.

    Natural Woman’s last blog post..Money Monday Tip #17

26. Hi Natural,

    This is a confusing issue, and even though I have the Linky Love plugin installed, I’m still not sure I have the options set right.

    Thank you for the Stumble.

    Barbara’s last blog post..NBOTW Author Exercises By Lifting Cows

27. Hi Dr. Internet,

    I wish I knew more about Blogger.com and if these plugins would work, but unfortunately I don’t.

    I would suggest searching for tutorials and/or plugins for Blogger.com or a forum of Blogger.com users where you could ask this question.

28. Is it available for blogger.com?

    Dr.Internet’s last blog post..Relax Time? Play billiard online!

29. Yeh I’ve found Akismet to do everything I need. We follow no no follow on, http://counterstrikesource.precision-media.net/extrememodding/

    Need to find some decent images to show this though. Cn anyone link me to any?

30. Hi Ray,

    Akismet is great, isn’t it?

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