Just kidding... Or not? 
If you’ve been a regular reader of Traffic Generation Cafe for any length of time, you know where I stand on a DoFollow/NoFollow issue.
If not, let me refresh your memory:
In short, I think DoFollow is a great thing to uphold, ESPECIALLY for newer blogs. It shows to the community that you are a team player, promotes comments and discussions, even attracts new audiences.
Bu what about more established blogs? Blogs with lots of traffic and a huge potential for spam and loosing pagerank due to linking out?
When I started Traffic Generation Cafe in July of 2010, I had no idea that my blog would gain enough traffic to put me in the top 0.1% of most trafficked blogs in the world in short 5 months.
And so now I am faced with a decision: should I follow the way of the overwhelming majority of high-trafficked blogs and turn off the free flow of DoFollow links or go against the flow on this one?
As a matter of fact, I made a decision on this one a while ago, but I think my technique was misunderstood by some of my readers, which in turn prompted this post.
Take a look at this comment:
Hello Ana,
Thank you for the helpful information.
You asked for comments “love it or hate it” and so I am voicing a complaint. I prefer to post comments in the lower section, not on my Facebook profile. The problem is, you do not give us an anchor text link back for posting. Instead, you give yourself an internal anchor text link for our post. Our website is listed, but without a link, giving you the keywords for our website. The link we get is on a Gravatar, which has none of our keywords, so it is not a quality link. I do not know if you meant the comments to work that way or if it is the plugin and you did not realize it, but normally I would not comment on a blog that was not fairer about giving us better links back.
As you know, anyone can read a post and click away. It takes work to make comments. Those comments benefit the blogger and the audience. The commentor deserves at least a quality, anchor text link back.
Otherwise, thanks for the good articles.
This comment/complaint brings up 2 issues:
1. How do large blogs protect themselves, while still providing their readers with good backlinking opportunity?
2. Do commentators “deserve” a quality backlink for commenting?
Let’s start with the first one:
1. DoFollow vs NoFollow
I don’t think the above commentator has any clue that his question really goes to the heart of “Will Traffic Generation Cafe remain a DoFollow blog despite of its size?”
I did a lot of research into this issue hoping to find an alternative to keeping my blog DoFollow and yet somewhat protecting it from the flood of authority-leaking outgoing links.
And I did find it.
SEO Super Comments is a free WP plugin that gives you a great alternative to the way the comments are displayed on your blog.
Feel free to read more about it on your own, but let me quickly go over the advantages both the blog owner and their reader get from using this plugin:
For the blog owner:
- For each commentator a new dynamic page will be created, increasing the number of crawl-able, index-able, and most importantly, rank-able content.
- The old author link will now lead to the newly created page. The new page contains the author’s comment and their anchor-text based link, which is still DOFOLLOW on my blog.
- I reduce the number of PageRank draining links, while still providing my readers with a quality DoFollow link to their blogs.
- This plugin decreases my bounce rate, since most readers want to see where those links are leading to.
For the commentator:
- The newly created page presents commentator’s other comments – brands them better, might increase the amount of traffic they get.
- The URL link is do-followed, plus includes the original anchor text.
- Gives even more incentive to comment since now it’s not just for mere link, but for your own page on my blog.
So now when you see those strange looking links in my comment section, you know why.
Let’s now move on to issue number 2.
2. Link Entitlement
I don’t even know where to start here, so I want you to take over this one.
- Do you think blog commenting is a tid-for-tad kind of arrangement?
- Do you expect a quality link when you comment on other blogs, and specifically on my blog?
- Would you still comment if my blog was completely NoFollow?
- Why do you comment on my blog to begin with?
I need your honesty here. No sugar-coating allowed!
PS Before you run off and install the plugin on your own blog, let me tell you what I think about it: DON’T do it unless you have a high-trafficked blog like mine.
I would definitely recommend making and keeping your new or newer blog DoFollow – it will definitely promote your blog growth.
Make sure your readers know your blog is DoFollow. I would install What Would Seth Godin Do plugin (look it up in the WP directory) and say something like this:
“Welcome back. This is a DoFollow blog – you should definitely comment on this post and get a quality backlink to your blog!”
Simple and effective.
At later date, as your blog grows, you can always revisit your blog DoFollow status and decide what you want to do about.
Love it or hate it? Comment to show me that you’re alive!
This post was brought to you by Ana Hoffman
I am the founder of Traffic Generation Cafe and if you liked the post you just read, then you'll love my email updates. Just click on "Get Instant Access" below to join me:
Ana has written 253 great posts for Traffic Generation Cafe.
{ 113 comments… read them below or add one }
I feel strong about that do follow blog moderators should keep up with every comment that comes to their blog. I have made so many comments on blogs that get deleted or are never reviewed by the moderator. I continue to go back to the blogs I make comments on to determine if my comment has been approved and looking for a valuable backlink to my sites such as the Squirrel Proof Feeders website.
I can see how getting backlinks to niche sites like yours is not an easy thing.
Some people make the mistake to create only dofollow backlinks. However this may raise some red flags with the search engines. A 100% dofollow backlink profile is not natural and it can only benefit your rankings if you build – let’s at least 10% of your links as nofollow.
I also have a question Ana: What do you actually think about the KeywordLuv plugin?
As a link builder, I understand how important targeted anchor text is, Robert; that’s why I offer KL on my blog.
It’s an additional benefit to my readers and actually keeps the comments less spammy.
I also love commenting on other blogs that use it; I’ll take more targeted backlinks anytime!
Personally I only comment on posts that gave me value and where I can add something to the conversation. If they have a tick box to be notified of follow up comments so much the better because often I find as much value within the comments as in the article itself. Those looking for specific sites to place comments purely for backlinking may find Chris Fong’s search tool (http://dropmylink.com) useful.
Jonathon invites you to read: How To Make Money Online Solving Problems
Yes, that’s a great tool, Jonathon, but even then I wouldn’t recommend posting links just for link building.
Quite agree Ana. Of course you can usually tell the difference between serial back link getter commenters and those who actually read the post and added a thoughtful comment to the conversation.
The other day I had a lass in Greece leave a comment on one of my health sites then email me asking to do a guest post. Naturally I was happy to accept given the quality of her PR3 site.
BTW I see you’ve jumped from #7 to #3 in that contest. Go girl.
I sent some emails out. LOL It’s nice to have friends!
I think that their is a non fine line between spam and honest decent comments that truly deserve a link back.
My self I find that I’m been annihilated by websites with deeper pockets and am presently at my wits end on how to compete with them. If I resort to the same tactics I’m sure one day I will be punished for it so I hope that plodding along and doing my thing will somehow allow me to maintain a presence and stay in business.
do follow or not: the fact is when you have a site where people often comment and add content to that site why oh why would you deny them some love..
Indeed, Tom.
Hi Ana,
I have recently finished a marketing course that taught me to just find blogs with dofollow to comment on, in fact I must confess that is how I originally found you!
I always read the posts however to make sure I could leave a relevant comment, and in reading some of your posts I have become hooked (your writing style should carry a government warning!!!)
After finding this blog, I now search primarily for quality blogs with decent, interesting content and comment on them if they are dofollow or not, this makes the task of link building a lot less tedious – and as you teach, it will make my link profile more natural.
Thanks – Awesome stuff as always!
If I have a choice between commenting on a do- vs nofollow blog, Jay, I’d definitely choose the dofollow one.
However, natural link building certainly needs both. Plus, there are plenty of great nofollow blogs out there for us to learn from.
Ana,
What a great comment, “Welcome back. This is a DoFollow blog – you should definitely comment on this post and get a quality backlink to your blog!” I am at home reading your blog, so I emailed this to my office computer for immediate implentation on Monday.
What is your thought on guest editorials on blogs with NO Follow links. I have been asked to write posts for “Dental Heroes” Blog but declined because it is NO Follow. Thanks for your thoughts.
Guest blogging should definitely be done more for traffic generation, Cynthia. With that in mind, I would make sure that the blog has good amount of traffic you can redirect back to your blog.
As far as NoFollow is concerned, it’ll still benefit your link building. Google does look for natural links building, which means that you should have both types of links, not just dofollow.
Also, I find it hard to believe that any blog wouldn’t give its guest writers dofollow links. I’d ask them for it.
In my honest opinion, if someone is expecting a followed link or anchor text from you after commenting .. thats just as bad as asking you to give them money to leave a comment.
I was brought upto believe, you don’t give to receive;- so expecting followed links etc just seems wrong to me.
The way I see it, it’s your blog .. people shouldn’t be able to dictate how you run things, especially something so trivial as links in comments.
If i don’t get a back link from commenting here, I will still wish to comment because I believe the content and what I can learn here is valuable and I think comments should be a way of repaying the author for their time and effort.
Just my 2 cents
Adam James invites you to read: 7 Top Social Bookmarking Plugins for WordPress
Adam, I know what you mean and I understand. However, the links benefit us all and that’s why we do it.
It’s when the lines get blurred between commenting because the info is valuable and getting back links at any cost that it becomes ugly.
Thanks for sharing your opinion – that’s the real crux of a blog, after all.
Hey Ana, I’m back and enjoying a leisurely dig through your posts again (as I like to now and again) and a couple of thoughts spring to mind.
1. It’s looking like you’ve scrapped Super Comments. Am I wrong?
2. (A semi-irrelevant side note) I’m happy to see that you’re no longer eclipsing my Google search for ‘Right Round Bay Right Round’ any more.
Jym invites you to read: Slow Blogs Lose Readers and Rank Lower (Part 1) – How Fast is Your Blog?
You are right, Jym, I did get rid of Super Comments; more on this in this post: http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/dofollow-vs-nofollow-update/
You have no idea how hard I tried to get de-listed for anything relating to that Dead or Alive song!
Apparently, it’s not an easy thing to convince Google it’s not a related inquiry…
I think that blog comments should be driven by genuine interest, not backlinks. I tired DoFollow some time ago, and it certainly did increase the comments I was getting, but they were all spammy, pointless junk. They did nothing to create conversation or debate, and I ended up deleting as many as I let stand.
Also, I want people to use their name when they comment on my blog, not keywords.
I did want to mention that I am not sure I like the Facebook comments feature on your site. Its confusing to have two separate comment streams on the same page. I do understand how it is beneficial for traffic generation, however.
Jonathan invites you to read: A Wake Up Call
Jonathan, as long as you invite comments, you will always have spam.
Regarding the Facebook comments, I happen to like it.
Do you find it generates a fair bit of traffic for you?
I thought so in the past, but recently changed my mind.
It slowed down my blog quite a bit, and I wasn’t so sure about the traffic payback.
Did away with FB comments today.
As I know what do follow and nofollow is, I am in favor of having a lot of dofollow links to be please!
However, I am really tired of big sites nofollowing every comment link. I feel it’s a sign of no trust in one’s readers.
I think is one were to monitor comments and not accept text links etc, dofollow should be good.
Sadly even if you write an article for many sites these days they nofollow them. Again, as I know the value of a dofollow I find it a little insulting.
I read about the super seo comments plugin here. Thank you. Sadly it seems to have many issues and has not been updated. Database issue seem to be causing a lot of headaches.
If there was an alternative I’d like to know about it.
I am with you, Dave – NoFollow goes to the heart of devaluing your readership.
I am about to contact Vladimir Prelovac, the SEO Super Comments creator, to see what’s going on with the plugin and if we can get it fixed.
I think the guy is making his plugins “for profit”. Nothing wrong with that, but according to his site he’s put this on the backburner.
BTW I really liked your reply to comment only system. eg where an email is sent letting a commenter know that someone replied to them.
Do you have a post about this plugin? Or is it a trade secret
Doesn’t hurt to ask.
I use ReplyMe plugin for comment replies; it’s in the WP plugin directory.
By the way, Sintra is my most favorite corner of Europe…
Also, having black background might look nice, but definitely hurts your readership because the color combo hurts your eyes.
Not that you asked.
Never hurts to be honest
Thank you. Yep, I know the old black gray combo creates eye stain. Originally created it for myself, as one rarely reads one’s own site (really?)
Then lots of people started reading as well
I keep tweaking, but am too much a rebel at heart to make the generic switch
Might turn the blog to a black on white page though …
In return, not that you asked
But your blog comment system, the whole thing, is one of the best I’ve come across. And, that’s saying something (I think) as I hardly comment any where. Only where there’s good content! Search box seems not to throw up efficient results though? just my 2cents.
Enjoying your site though, there’s a lot here. Good content, you have a new subscriber / reader.
Mental note: I must not use more than one Smiley in my comments!
I love smileys.. they make me smile and I guess that’s the point, huh?
Thanks for commenting – your explanation made it all the more special.
I need more elaboration on the search box issue. What bothered you about it?
1) It took a while to find it. Kinda blends into the background a little too much. (then again I am not known for my color skills eh
)
2) I searched for “plugins” “wordpress plugins” and I think “comments” i relation to replyme (sadly doesn’t work for me) And, got random blog posts.
Hope this helps, I guess analytics and clicks on the results will tell you more. Or, if it’s just me.
Makes sense as far as the box position is concerned. I will consider moving it somewhere more prominent.
The reason you didn’t get any meaningful search results is because the search tries to find information in the posts, and since I’ve never written about the plugin, you won’t find any info on my blog about it.
Of course, it won’t fetch any results from my WP dashboard.
All you do is go into your own blog admin panel and do a search under plugins ==> add new.
Looks like you spurned me into make some changes
I changed the blog page to black on white, and got that plugin working. SMTP issue. A/B testing underway.
Let’s see what happens next
What do you use for split testing, Dave?
Google Analytics. Just on the blog though. So won’t get proper representation. That said I am only looking at time on site, click throughs bounce and adsense.
Interested in knowing if a white on black read vs black on white really makes any difference once the content is good.
No one will ever read your great content if it’s presented in an friendly way, Dave – so it definitely does make a huge difference.
I comment on blog posts that move me enough to respond, or that I feel my comment might enlighten or help another reader. This is social networking, so I’m being social.
If you google my name, I come up all over. That doesn’t necessarily equate to visitors at my website or blog. So although the linking back or mention or whatever is nice, it’s by no way a deal-breaker for me.
You write good stuff. You’ve answered my questions. You’ve provided help when I needed it. The very least I can do is acknowledge the great information you provide.
Keep up the good work Ana!
Music to my ears, Gibson! Always love to see your smiling face on my blog!
You are right, commenting doesn’t always equal traffic. Still the good and the right thing to do to show your appreciation for the blogger’s efforts. I always like to do it just for that reason alone.
Hi Ana, I usually comment in some high traffic blogs mainly for my link building campaign. But whenever I find an article which gives more values to the readers I don’t worry about the Nofollow, dofollow thing. I just post a comment to appreciate the author. The later is the reason that I am commenting here.
Sathish
Sathish invites you to read: How to Become a Successful Blogger
Hi Sathish,
I’m glad you appreciate what I’ve done here. Thanks for coming.
Have a good day,
Ana
This was a very interesting post Ana, and follow-up debate in your comments. I am currently on a commenting campaign, and my criteria for choosing blogs is; are they well written and fast loading? I would also want a Do Follow backlink as I’m looking for higher traffic to my blog.
I have commented on forums and blogs that don’t offer backlinks, but then I don’t visit again. There are plenty of quality forums and blogs that offer links, so I may as well stick with them.
The only traffic or ranking criteria I look a is the Alexa rating, as I have their toolbar installed and it’s easy to see. However I don’t filter my blog selection using this, I still think the quality of the blog and interesting posts are far more important. I want to gain knowledge and pleasure by blog hopping, and I got both from yours.
John
Hello John,
Good for you. DoFollow can definitely bring traffic to your blog, but of course commenting to other blogs once in a while is fine. I’ve been doing that as well, but not in forums.
Ana
Hi Ana,
Another interesting topic. I didn’t know about DoFollow or NoFollow until a few months ago. And my knowledge doesn’t influence my decision to comment or not.
I’m all about showing appreciation, sharing my opinion and giving credit where it’s due. I don’t even have the time to check whether a blog is a DoFollow or NoFollow. If I like what I read, I leave a comment. Period.
I will always comment on your blog, whether it’s a DoFollow or NoFollow. You share awesome content and you go an extra mile to help your readers and keep them happy
Great to hear about your decision to keep your blog a DoFollow. Keep up the good work!
Happy holidays!
Mavis
Mavis Nong~Attraction Marketing Online invites you to read: Blog Traffic – Are The Famous Forums Dying
Thanks, Mavis.
I think it’s bloggers like you with the mentality of “I don’t even check if a blog is Do or NoFollow” who will succeed in the end.
When will people get that blogging is all about relationships and not links?
The more you spread your influence by commenting on other blogs, the more of it will definitely return back to you.
I think it was at least 6 months into blogging that I found out there was even such a thing as do-follow and no-follow. Honestly, the whole thing came as kind of a surprise. Knowing what I know now, it still has no effect on whether or not I comment on a blog. If anyone doesn’t comment on a blog because it’s not giving them enough ‘love’ or ‘seo juice’ then I think that person is, well, messed up. After all, aren’t we here to build community? I see a comment as a simple ‘Thank You’ to the blogger– pure and simple.
Thanks for the interesting read Ana.
Hi Marcus,
That’s very nice of you. You are right, we are here to build community so leaving a comment for the sake of building relationship is absolutely great.
Have a wonderful time,
Ana
I’m of the opinion that its a win win situation for you and your commentators. I think people would have more reason to leave a comment if your blog is dofollow.
If its nofollow, you would still get people commenting but probably not as many, so I think you have made a good decision to remain dofollow. For a newbie, i think dofollow is very important.
Hi Ruth,
Yes you are right. For a newbie DoFollow is important because it can definitely brings traffic to the site which is a must for every blogger. By doing this, you’re site will be promoted and people will get to know that your blog actually exist.
Thanks for the comment,
Ana
I used SEO Super Comments in the very beginning and took it off I think either because someone was complaining, or because I thought it wasn’t going to help the commenting situation.
I will probably reinstall it in the New Year. I’m also probably going to kiss Keyword Luv goodbye.
To answer your second question, I don’t think commenters “deserve” a quality link back to their websites. I think that mentality comes from the IM movement where people assume that you’re desperate for comments, and their desperate for links, and so you both are doing a favor for each other.
I’ll keep my blog dofollow and keep comment luv but I have already started being very picky about whose comments get approved and whose don’t. It’s not about linking page rank; I really could care less about that. It’s about maintaining quality overall.
Good post, Ana.
Tia invites you to read: 10 Things I Learned In 2010 About Article Marketing
Typos on “their” and “linking.” Their should say “they’re” and linking should say “leaking.”
Hopefully it makes more sense now!
Hi Tia,
Thanks for coming. Of course I agree that quality content and site as a whole is still the most important thing to be consider, although quality links are also great.
Ana
Hi Ana,
I made my blog Dofollow, and really don’t have any plans to change it. I thought about it in the beginning and it was a philosophical. My thought was that I didn’t want my blog to be all about ME. I wanted my blog to really focus on helping out my readers. So I looked for things to implement, such as my job board, so that I could feel like I was helping others get jobs and make money online. (I won’t lie, these are also affiliate programs, but I focused on picking programs that give value, rather than just the most profitable ones. Many of the programs I recommend are actually free.)
Anyways, after I did that, I felt like it didn’t fit with my overall philosophy to stay nofollow, so I changed to a dofollow blog. That way, I’m giving link love back to my visitors. Based on that, I don’t think I’d change away from dofollow, even if it affects my ranking, as I want to stay within my philosophy.
I do try to moderate out spam links. Although, people are getting pretty clever about spam. At some point, I may tighten up my moderation policy on spam, as I currently err on the side of approving comments when I’m not sure if they’re spam or not. I think I can protect my rankings somewhat by moderating my comments more carefully.
As for what I pay attention to when I visit a site, I try to look for good content. However, I must admit that what attracts me to good content most of the time is commentluv. I tend to find blogs a lot of times by surfing through comments. So when I see a commentluv blog title that catches my eye, I’ll visit that blog and many times end up leaving a comment. I don’t really pay attention to whether the blogs I visit are dofollow or not. I just try to comment when I read something interesting.
Hello Richard,
What you are doing is absolutely fine, it’s actually great because you are trying to help others at the same time,you benefit from it so it’s a win win situation. As blog owners we are in control of our site and yes we need to really be careful with other comments because of spams.
Commentluv is indeed very attractive in any blogger’s eyes. I also do the same especially when I was just starting and I think it really helped me along with other methods I used.
Thanks for dropping by,
Ana
Hey Ana,
I love the new comment plug-in. I clicked on Evelyn’s name from above (random, hi Evelyn) and it too me here, that is nice. It shows here comment and her past comments. I like that. Does that benefit you? Her? or Both?
And as for no follow, I still comment if I feel compelled enough to. Or I am trying to get my face and/or name out there for recognition, if they allow it. Or if I am trying to produce a relationship with the blogger. I like the blogger community so I do feel compelled to comment often if I have time.
I just started commenting on your blog but have been reading it for a while now. Keep up the great work!
I forgot to ask. Are you able to make the links in the comments open in a new tab or window? That is such a nice feature. I know you do it a lot in your blog.
Welcome to the blog, Allie!
I do think both I and my commentators benefit from having the new commenting plugin: I have fewer links out and my commentators get a whole lot more exposure through having a newly created page just for them
Of course, anyone can still follow them to their blogs from those pages as well.
As far as opening those links in a new window, I haven’t considered it.
Do you think that’s something you, as my blog reader, would benefit from?
Thanks for your feedback – much appreciated!
Ana
Actually, I think you would benefit more by having links open in a new tab or window. The process leaves your site window still open for a reader to hop back to easily. If a reader completely leaves your site by opening the link in the same window you may loose them as they surf the internet, possibly forgetting which blog they were originally reading.
I do it all the time. “Right click, open in new tab”. So I keep the original blog open to refer back. As a blogger you just make it easier for me to come back instead of loosing your site.
Great site!
Thank you for asking for my name, Anna. It’s Arturo.
>…it occurred to me that I can certainly make a rule to DoFollow comments after the commentator left say 5 comments on my blog. Of course, this way I encourage more consistent comments (hopefully), but it still doesn’t solve the issue of quality.
One way to address the issue of quality is to do more consistently as you did in this article. You listed 4 questions for us to answer as the standard for a qualified response. Although you certainly can provide a wide margin within which commentators can bask in their own opinions, you could likewise narrow it down to your given standard.
Example: “I’d like my readers to benefit from your *specific* views about DoFollow/NoFollow. So please answer these 4 questions and leave 1 summary opinion. I’ll be sure to approve the best answers, and those who contribute will benefit from lots of link juice from me!”
Basically you set the bar for quality by openly defining in advance what quality is for you and your audience at your site.
This is how you can level set expectations from the very get-go to generate a little (or a lot!) of competition for your approval and, in short, you end up producing more demand for your scarce link juice asset.
Then you can adjust the bar depending on how much feedback you receive one way or the other. If you get a lot of competing comments for your approval, you know that you’ve hit a nerve. If people don’t comment or leave mostly insipid remarks, you know you’ve bombed. Fine tune as needed then.
Very clever idea, Arturo (nice to meet you!). Something to think about (possibly even a future post for the blog?)
Sounds like you’ve got some great ideas brewing in that head of yours; why don’t you put them together in a blog post and submit it as a guest post for my blog? I always LOVE fresh ideas…
Take a look at this: http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/guest-post/ and look forward to seeing your post!
Ana
Hi Ana,
hm, no sugar coating allowed…no need for sugar coating. I read the original comment you are quoting here on Facebook and I asked myself why this guy was so…Ok, not quotable…
Really cool answer of yours.
People who have certain “expectations” when doing this or that on social media will have a hard time when it comes to building their business or whatever their purpose might be.
I would always comment on a well-run blog regardless if it’s DoFollow or not. Yours is definitely a well-run one because you take the time to answer any comment at least briefly and your content is great: Stuff I don’t easily relate to in agreeable atmosphere.
Thanks for sharing your insights. I will inform my readers that my blog is a DoFollow-blog.
Take care
Oliver
Oliver Tausend invites you to read: Your Life Is Like An Apple
Hello Oliver,
Well I think there are times that we encounter bloggers who have questionable purpose. As for me, I will just do my thing and try to make it better.
It is always great to inform your readers that your blog is DoFollow. This will make them come back.
Thanks for the comment Oliver and Have a Joyful Holiday,
Ana
Anna I don’t believe it’s the commentators right to receive a backlink as it’s really more of a privilege. It’s sort of when someone comes to visit in your home. Is it their right that yo give them a cup of coffee and cake? Not really but you do it out of common courtesy.
When it comes to dofollow I allow it not because it’s their right but because I want to reward people who take the time to read and comment on my blog. I don’t believe it leaches anything from my blog as it’s been dofollow since it’s conception and it’s still attained a PR4, and that’s with hardly any SEO or keyword research.
I tried that plugin and I found it did strange things to my blog and so I threw it out.
Sire invites you to read: Why The List Hater Has His Very Own List
Hi Sire,
Thanks for sharing you personal opinion on this matter. You are actually right, if we share something to our readers, it’s like a gift or reward not an obligation.
Have a great day,
Ana
Sire’s blog is actually an interesting study in DoFollow since he’s actually quite “allergic” to SEO practices, keywords, etc and has zero emphasis on compensatory stuff that many of us do that could be overshadowing linkjuice effects. How he treats his community and some of the choices in being DF/KL/CL etc are actually what inspired me to go that direction. His site is one of the best arguments I have that PR can be built on a fully DF/KL/CL blog even without extravagant measures.
Kimberly
What a compliment to Sire, Kim – great of you to build him up like that. Sounds like I need to spend more time on his blog!
Shucks Kimberly, you’re going to have to cut that out otherwise you’re going to give me a swelled head. I have to admit that I have always looked up to you and it’s a source of pride having you speak so highly of me.
Ana, she is right though, I have never written for Google or any search engine and although I am familiar with a lot of the SEO tactics I’ve found them to be restrictive as far as blogging for my readers and spoiled my blogging experience.
Having said that I may see if I can start using a little SEO in 2011 just to see what the result may be.
I am absolutely with you, Sire – blogging for search engines is something I refuse to do.
However, as you can see on my blog, a little SEO – that doesn’t affect your readers, but rather benefits them – goes a long way.
Ana
Hey Ana
You already know my position on DoFollow and Page Rank. I think people think too much about it
Personally I want my link back to be on the post I commented on not on a “personal” page.
The reason : I post comments on posts that interest me and are usually related to my blog. The post has keywords in it that again relate to my blog.
So not only do I want a link back with my keywords but I also want a link back from a keyword rich post.
I am so greedy
I would still comment even though your blog might be 100% NoFollow, however I reserve the right to make fun of you for putting too much emphasis on Page Rank
Peter
Peter Fuller MBA invites you to read: Is Network Marketing an Illegal Pyramid or an Equal Opportunity Business
I know, I know… I don’t always walk the walk, do I?
YOU can make fun of me all you want, Peter; you earned the right.
I get your point about having the link from where you placed it and not where I want it to be. You do still get the CommentLuv link from that page though, so don’t be greedy.
Ana
Ana
True enough re the CommentLuv Link, I guess I thought you were going to phase that out.
I am definitely sticking with CommentLuv – I think it’s great and very helpful.
Peter, I totally see where you’re going with the idea of having the link on the page that has the topic in the first place, but I’ve found so far that that only really works with low-comment-volume blogs. Any post that gets a ton of comments has a terrible keyword density dilution and link inflation and the outbound links on the page being so high can make the link your getting be worth less than if its isolated on its own and the keywords in your OWN comment reflecting on your link. A post like this one, with a massive comment list, the keyword dilution effect is insane. Thats why many SEO types suggest that the most tightly keyworded “posts” actually be put on “pages” with the comments off. I find SEO Super Comments to be a workaround in many cases to doing that (yet still not all). However, while you gain in the case of high comment volume blogs – you lose in the case of low-comment-volume blogs, and I think that’s one of several reasons Ana was so wise in advising newer DoFollow blogs to not implement it too early.
Kim
Kimberly Castleberry invites you to read: Free Planning Tool – 2011 Blogging Calendar
And again a great post.
I would be way less polite to the person that asked about the link. I understand a lot of us comment for the links, but I see one more opportunity when it comes to commenting and links-or-no-links, I will keep commenting.
First of all, most bloggers from blogs I comment on check out my blog and leave a comment in return.
Maybe it is not a link that person is asking for but I am sure grateful to all those people that come and comment on my blog.
Not to mention that I can see (most of) them actually reading the post.
So even if I don’t see CommentLuv or other ways of linking, I will still comment.
I love your new idea about the plugin, to keep it do-follow while protecting your page rank.
Brankica invites you to read: Wanna blog better Top 5 blogs to learn from
Hi Brankica,
I’m glad you feel that way. It’s good that you are still leave comments even to NoFollow.
Thanks for coming again,
Ana
Hi Ana,
I have no criteria when it comes to me adding a comment on someone’s blog. If the blogger produces a quality post and it was very helpful/informative, then I will oftentimes leave a comment. If I don’t leave one, I will do my best to share the post with others on Twitter/FB/SU.
I offer CommentLuv on my blog and like promoting that CommentLuv community, just like Ileane and Patricia have mentioned. I like to reward those who are a are regular commentators and supporters by offering CommentLuv as well as Top Commentator..which are both DoFollow links.
I have recently started following your blog and the reason I am following you is because you produce quality content that is very helpful to me. Sometimes I may not comment, but I do my best to share with others whenever I can.
Do what you feel is best for your blog. It doesn’t matter what you decide to do, if you decide on NoFollow, it won’t stop me from commenting. But if your content goes south, then that’s another story. Some how, I know your content will always be helpful.
Take care,
Evelyn
Hi Evelyn,
I’m glad you find my blog helpful. I love it whenever readers think that my post are of good quality, I think all of us does.
Anyway, I guess I’d better stick with DoComment.
All the best,
Ana
Ana, you’re asking questions I’ve been mulling over in my head for a while now as I have a blog at alexa 36k that requires the same thing be asked.
My blog is fully dofollow, including the commentluv link (something plugins like lucy’s linky love don’t properly do on most blogs), keywordluv, commentluv and twitterlink comments.
Let me apologize in advance if this sounds abrupt, I’m fighting a migraine and this issue has been a hot topic for me so I had to jump in regardless…
At the end of the day… our blogs are our homes… and the visitors our guests. How welcome we make those guests is certainly up to us.
However, in my gut I feel, there is something intrinsically *rude* in building a weekly house party inviting all of our friends over and giving them free reign to use the pool, showers, pool table, and eat the chips… and then later after their very presence has built our blog (party) to where it stands, telling them they may no longer do those things… as though we are now too good to share our toys when our ranking came on their shoulders in the first place. Sure we can ask them to clean up after themselves (parties are messy and bigger parties are more messy) and leave better comments… we can ask them to chip into the cost of the party (bigger parties are more expensive) and help us out by clicking aff links, donation buttons, and syndication/share buttons to enable us to get enough traffic to offset the “expense” of our toys… but darnit we gotta be really darn careful that it isn’t our FRIENDS whos fingers we catch in the door when slam it and take our toys away, least we become another that became too good to hang out with the locals and forgot where we came from.
The day we forget those that gave us our rank – is they day we’re “just another problogger” and not a friend.
Regarding SEO Super Comments, its a great plugin and I used it extensively. I however turned it off when I discovered that something in my robots.txt file was causing the /cid links to get no-index status … wow, talk about stealthy link killing. Once I have time to assess the issue with my robots.txt then that plugin is certainly going back in place. (In fact I run several of Prelovac’s plugins and enjoy them) You appear to have the same bug. When I open all of these cid links and then open SEO Doctor (also by Prelovac), I see that the page is noindex. Meaning the comments are being dropped into the ether as far as Google is concerned. Screenshot: http://ow.ly/i/6BAo/original (actually you appear to have this occurring within your comment page structure, so it appears that /comment-page-1/ is a non indexed. Something to look into.
* Do you think blog commenting is a tid-for-tad kind of arrangement?
Yes, and no. Tit-for-tat exists regardless of the do-follow status, IMHO. Sometimes the give is in superbly moving content that helps the reader enough they feel inspired to comment. Sometimes its a piece that doesn’t inspire them yet the seo assistance is enough to draw them to comment.
Is there a lot of sense of entitlement run rampant… yes. Is that exactly a bad thing, not really as long as the commenter is leaving a quality comment that builds on the original post and/or making use of those social media syndication buttons to help us out.
How deep does this tit-for-tat run? So deeply that some of my favorite blogs out there are not only DF/CL/KL/TLC enabled but also “I comment back” blogs meaning when I comment there, they almost always return with a comment on my blog. I honestly wish I could find enough hours in the day to maintain that pace although I do try to make sure I visit my regulars. It builds an incredible sense of connected community.
* Do you expect a quality link when you comment on other blogs, and specifically on my blog?
* Would you still comment if my blog was completely NoFollow?
I had not known prior that your blog was DoFollow, but having just learned this you’ve been added to my short list of DoFollow blogs to keep an eye on. This means the likelihood of me commenting is a lot higher than if you were not there both because I monitor those blogs for stuff I can comment on and because it benefits me more. Without Dofollow you have to not only write content that moves me but have enough of a call to engagement that I overcome the standard desire to be a lazy reader.
Would I comment if you were nofollow – if the piece struck me, sure, but the frequency drops due to less SEO gains.
* Why do you comment on my blog to begin with?
Today I’ve commented because this is a discussion that needs had within the community as more and more of these dofollow blogs take off like wildfire.
Reading the thread here, I see that odds are I’m going to sound like a jerk when I say that I read blogs for two reasons… which produces different behavior.
1. Recreation & Education: I surf to surf some days and other day because I need a piece of information. These are honestly not days I comment a lot. I tend to read, absorb, thing and enjoy and not bother with comments. Lazy? Yup like many people. I do usually hit the tweet button though when I find good stuff because its fast but still helps.
2. LinkBuilding & Community Building: Commenting on others blogs serves me in two ways … SEO value and community building value particularly when coupled with a Tribe Syndication Alliance team. (A rather extreme version of pre-arranged tit for tat, if you like, more so than even just a Blog Alliance which is its older sibling and relates more to commenting only).
Blog commenting is one of my methods of traffic generation and given the high value of links from Dofollow blogs you can bet your buttons that I will go the extra effort to figure out how to write something useful on all but the worst posts on a Dofollow/Keywordluv/Commentluv/TLC blog…. whereas if I have to strain my braincells many days a nofollow blog is just not worth the effort and time it takes.
If I have an hour to get in some blog commenting, and we can generalize and say that Dofollow links are worth 10x what nofollow links are, then my time is best spent bookmarking and visiting Dofollow blogs particularly those that are approximately in my niche.
Sure, I sometimes take the time to comment on a nofollow blog if the content was good or the blogger sounded like they had a real need for feedback (sounded stuck/troubled/etc) or if they are a new blogger I’ve not yet had time to assist in getting to dofollow status and sometimes just because I’m bored, or if they are on my TSA team for the week (Different than if they’re on my other tribe teams where it is easier to give them an education on dofollow) but these really are exceptions for me as commenting is part of a larger strategy for me and I try to maximize my time investment.
Case in point is that I almost never comment on many of the big problogger classed blogs because they tend to be in the education/recreation class for me, although sometimes I will just to get a link if I can get in before comments are a million miles deep.
For me, part of staying dofollow was recently putting a pretty detailed but blunt commenting policy in place that lets me feel less guilty about being down right aggressive in spam management.
When I think about what it is that drives me to want to back out of Dofollow… its fear and nothing more. I see no benchmark that says I’m hurting and my metrics are moving backwards. Everything still points to forward momentum. Sure maybe not as fast as it could be if I went to NoFollow but that question comes down to how greedy am I to shut the doors on friends fingers after having skyrocketed out of nowhere. I have not had trouble ranking for keyword combinations I’ve worked on, I’ve not had trouble getting listed in organic search, my alexa is still dropping albiet slower now as I get higher, my name recognition is way up, my income is up, and I’m still able to help my friends and fans at the same time. My gut tells me to ask for more than that is greedy.
If a blogger wants to reduce the odds I’ll comment, all they need to do is stay nofollow… want to further reduce it, skip commentluv… want to DESTROY it… use Disqus or another system that forces me to waste time logging in and most of those systems also eat my links.
So … um… yeah… after writing a novel for you I guess its safe to say I’m pretty passionate about the whole darn topic and have really had to do some soul searching myself to keep my head together as my traffic has increased. I’ll probably have this same argument with myself all the way to the top but I hope someone gives me a kick in the pants if I short change my foundation readers.
I can’t switch to many of the “x comments for dofollow” because they tend to not be coded correctly to handle the commentluv link. I was using them before I went full dofollow and have never looked back.
The one thing I HAVE seriously looked at was a “dofollow whitelist” that would have to be hardcoded (someone has the code on their site for use) as no plugin exists for it currently, that would let us whitelist our “regulars” by hand and protect them from nofollow. Of course this is tedious, time consuming, annoying, and likely to fail to match the “term” the minute they change keywords on us. Also as with the plugin, the code I found did not look like it would handle the additional comment link that commentluv creates.
I’m interested to see where you go with this Ana. I fully understand the weight of what is on your shoulders to keep the blog moving forward. I know that the choices are not easy. I hope that if you decide to retreat to nofollow that you adequately document your existing avg comments per month, average increase in comments per month and comments per post and then track them for several months after the change allowing for time for your blog to be removed from various individuals list of dofollow blogs. You give some great value here and I have no doubt that you”ll continue to thrive no matter which way you go. As I tell my readers on my blog, sometimes I do things that I would not advise them to do, because I can afford the penalty if the test backfires. You’re in that situation, you have the slack in the rope to see whether the relationships you’ve built over time and the SEO work you’ve got in place is strong enough to carry you when the DoFollow step-stool is removed. You’ve certainly got some hard decisions on your plate girlfriend and I don’t envy em.
With Love,
Kimberly
Kimberly Castleberry invites you to read: Is it Ethical to use PLR Content in your Online Business
Wow, Kim – migraine or not, this is one of the best comments I’ve ever received.
Let’s see, where to start… Let’s start with the party analogy.
I see where you are going with it. However it can be argued that the party already cost you a pretty dime, you showed everybody a great time – are you to give your guests a gift to go as well?
As you very well know, blogging is never easy. It takes hours to nurture an idea into a post that would help your readers. You also provide your readers with a forum of sorts – in the form of comments – to get to know you and other readers, to network, build relationships, bring traffic back to their blogs. To me, I am always happy to jump in knowing that I’ve already benefited by simply reading the post.
Plus, we still benefit from NoFollow links. Moreover, Google expects us to have a fair share of them to make our link building look natural.
Secondly, thank you for pointing out the problem with my SEO Super Comments. I wonder if this is a common problem; I would consider contacting Vladimir regarding the issue. Will have to add it to my never-ending to-do list. If you find a solution before I do, let me know.
You are certainly right about us, bloggers, encouraging our readers to comment every way we can. With that in mind, why would we decide to make our blogs NoFollow? Makes no sense.
I am with you as far as why I read other blogs. 1. for information and I don’t usually comment. 2. for link building and then I do seek out DoFollow blogs. 3. One more way I comments is when I visit my readers blogs as my way to say thank you for visiting mine; in that case, I always comment.
I am glad you mentioned that you used to offer DoFollow links after a certain number of comments and it didn’t work; one less thing to consider.
In the end, I have no intention to turn off DoFollow any time soon; hopefuly, never.
I definitely see the huge benefit both for my blog and the community around me to stick to DoFollow. Now if I can only fix the darn SEO Super comments.
…
I greatly appreciate your guest post within post
, Kim; I truly appreciate your opinion and can’t believe I haven’t spend more time on your blog. And now I know – look forward to learning from each other in the future.
Ana
Glad you enjoyed the post-in-post feature! LOL!
I’m rambly on a good day and something like this really gets me going, ya know? The whole “short and sweet” is just not my specialty!
RE: “However it can be argued that the party already cost you a pretty dime, you showed everybody a great time – are you to give your guests a gift to go as well?” … Well… the problem here, and what I thought was the question… is not if we’re to give them a gift … as we HAVE BEEN.. but whether its now fair to stop and take it away, particularly from those commentors that have been helping us get to where we are at (I don’t feel this applies to new visitors, but every sizeable blog has its regulars that I feel must be taken care of incredibly well.) Whether I call it rude or Dennis flat out calls it unethical, it certainly leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Someone should write a plugin that lets us lock all current commenters (with or without x number of comments) in as permanent dofollow and all new commentors as nofollow unless hand-added to the list and that would reduce the problem in this equation.
Speaking of forum resource … topic for another time is how to foster the use of the comment section AS a forum… which only my visitors who identify themselves as bloggers… rather than my visitors that are mostly small/micro businesses that just happen to blog actually understand how to make use of and carry on extended conversations. There has to be a way to foster that concept, because for those that don’t know what there really is, or have been subjected to bloggers that don’t reply to comments, they really do not realize what they are provided with.
Regarding SEO Super Comments, the problem appears to be robots.txt related and I’d speculate at least in my case its due to the “wildcard” variable catching it. The problem is I cant seem to write a correct ALLOW statement. You have a slightly more convoluted problem because you’re still using comment pagination which I turned off due to duplicate content issues, except that you don’t have duplicate content either since none of the comments are getting indexed. That likely existed even before you installed the plugin, but fixing it with your setup will likely require more than one allow statement.
My biggest reason initially for leaving “DoFollow After X” was that the plugins available arent coded to handle the commentluv link. We could probably throw a coder at the issue for 50-100$ and get that fixed. We certainly have DoFollow code that works it would just be getting it within the correct loop within the “counting” structure. However, I now have my entire DoFollow code added to my theme’s custom_functions.php file, so I’ve basically taught the theme to be DoFollow and do not require a plugin. Ideally I’d like to not return to needing a plugin but that would depend on how lean the “Dofollow after X” code could be wrote.
I have a blogpost on my blog, from about 8 months ago that lists community DF/CL/KL enabled blogs and I’m in the process of trying to track down more and have them identify themselves for inclusion. The goal being only to find actual community members/bloggers rather than just the bazillion autoblog and niche blogs etc that are now fully enabled. Identify more of the real community so we can take better care of each other. There’s lots of tools for finding each individual plugin, but I’m going for something a little different. If you can think of anyone, I’m building a list.
Kimberly
I struggle with “short and sweet” as well, Kim.
My to-do list now includes all the issues you brought to my attention – thanks so much for that. The good thing about it is the fact that once it’s fixed, it will hopefully stay fixed.
Personally, I have no desire to turn off DoFollow – I consider it a bait and switch and not something I can do to my readers.
So the party here at Traffic Generation Cafe will keep going!
I do have a few suggestions for your list. The two that come to my mind off the top of my head are:
http://attractionmarketingonline.com/
http://clevermarketer.com/
I am sure I can come up with a few more, when I give it some thought.
Have a blessed day, Kim, and thanks for all your great feedback and food for thought.
I love your idea about turning our comment sections into a forum of sorts – there’s a lot of power in that! I might have a post brewing in the mind on the topic…
Ana
Thanks, Don; much appreciated.
Ana, I understand much of your challenge. I just wanted to add my two bits although many of our friends ‘above’ me have hit the nail on the head.
I am not all that up on DoFollow/NoFollow as you likely may know… and anything I have learned is because of you.
I found you… at one point and grasped the quality of your posts and I am so very pleased to have met you as a person. Whether you blog was NoFollow/DoFollow would not make one scrap of difference to me.
When you taught me the little I know about DoFollow – I looked at this a generous un-asked for bonus. I do not believe that we ‘deserve’ as a ‘given right’ a link just for commenting. (and so you know I am sure that ‘most’ of us regulars would agree).
As for my blog, it too is DoFollow but naturally the traffic is not comparable ((yet))
– but I would much prefer to have a comment from someone who enjoys the content – and I am sure you feel the same.
Ana, I feel it’s upto you whether to continue Do or NO… You deserve the traffic you have – and anybody who chooses not to enjoy and learn from your work is missing out and doing themselves a great injustice.
I feel what you teach far outweighs a link back. Their traffic is not your concern, responsibility or intention really. Your focus is on providing quality content – which you do well and deserve every bit of traffic you earn and you should be in no way held accountable for ‘link juice’ as you have called it.
for the record, I comment on people whom I like, learn from and enjoy as new-found friends. Period.
I’m a little miffed at that comment you displayed. Perhaps he or she should actually put some work in rather than look for a free ride on the backs of people like you who have worked for it. (was I saying that with my outside voice?) oops! ~Jayne~
Jayne Kopp invites you to read: Do You Make a Difference
Hi Jayne,
Thanks for your uplifting comment. I realized that in this business or even in other aspect in our lives, we will encounter people as you have described. We can’t totally avoid them, but you are right, their traffic is not our concern, so I will continue to do what I am doing which is providing quality blogs for people like you who truly appreciate a blogger’s hard work.
Have a wonderful time with your family this holiday season,
Ana
Ana:
Here is how I see it, and it is quite similar to Dwayne. Now before I make anyone faceplant their keyboard…it’s just my lil ole opinion!
As for the “deserving” factor, I feel that goes to the blog owner. In this instance..you. Whether your blog is do or no follow I will comment because of the information and knowledge you bring to the table. You should be rewaded for the hard work you put into your posts.
I will also comment no follow blogs due to the value of the content provided. I look at commenting as yes, ways to build links, but more importantly a way to engage fellow bloggers and interact with the community.
The bottom line is that spammers have made blog practices change and that has to be addressed whether we like it or not. So, in order for your blog to sustain it’s stength and growth, you have to implement some of hose changed practices…we all know that and even eventually HOPE to have to change our own blogs to do the same.
I would comment your blog if it was do follow, no follow, shot fireworks, crashed my computer, or whatever! The value of your content can not be ignored and that deserves my almighty comment!! LOL…
Lisa,
I REALLY appreciate your lil ole opinion – it wouldn’t be worth blogging, but for people like you!
I happened to share the same commenting outlook: DoFollow is great, but I will still comment for content and relationship sake.
As the editor of a fairly recent blog your suggestion seems well worth testing out. I hope it will be fairly straight forward to calulate the value of traffic increases versus the increased time spent in moderating comments. Now I have to go find the code to switch my blog comments over to do-follow. Thank you for the useful advice.
Randy Pickard invites you to read: Measuring The Link Authority of New Websites With No PageRank
You are very welcome, Randy.
Just got back from your site – was really impressed with your content. Left you a comment; hope you would consider guest posting for me.
Ana
Ana – You bring up a good debate. I think it depends on who you talk to when it comes to do follow vs. no follow. I know for me, it is definitely a balancing act for the blog owner.
On one end you want to increase your blog’s readership and community, and on the other end you don’t want spam or loose pagerank due to linking out. For me as a I love do follow blogs but I would still leave comments on blogs that are no follow if the post really inspired me or if I can relate to it.
At the end of the day Ana, it’s up to you. If you feel like the SEO Super Comments can allow you to keep your blog do follow and still solve concerns like spamming and loosing pagerank to linking out then it’s definitely a win win situation for you and your commentators.
However, if you try out the plug in and it doesn’t really solve your growing concerns then do what you have to do and switch to no follow. I think you have a good, loyal community already and your content is good enough to still make people want to leave comments and join in the conversation. Just my 2cents.
It does come down to the community around the blog, doesn’t it, John?
I do prefer to make comments on DoFollow blogs myself – after all, Google ranking is mostly about links and the best links do come from DoFollow blogs.
However, I am with you: blogging is all about great content and learning. If some people don’t feel my blog content is worth its salt on its own merit – do I really want to have them around?
After all, we are all after quality and not quantity and that includes our readership.
Your 2 cents are much appreciated, John!
Ana
I’m of the personal belief that it doesnt matter what the readers purpose is for making a comment is as long as their comment is relevant to the content, insightful, or genuinely appreciative of the information given in the blog post.
Before reading you last post I really had not given any real thought to the DoFollow/NoFollow and the affect it could have on SEO and page rankings. Thanks for the plugin suggestion
Robin Marks
Hello Robin,
You have a point in there because in the first place how will we know the real purpose of the readers for commenting. If there comment is relevant to the content, I assume they are paying attention and is really interested in the post.
Ana
I have been blogging for a few years and find that do follow/no follow does not make a difference on whether or not I will comment. If the blog is active and the content is good and…
If I can add to the conversation I will still get a benefit from it. Do or not if I am helping others the readers of the blog will occasionally follow through.
Taking part in conversations on other blogs is always valuable if you follow those rules.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for sharing your own views on this topic.
Glad you came by,
Ana
Hi Ana
I tend to do similar to Ileane. As part of the commentluv community I like to support commentluv members. Although I have started visiting and commenting on other sites too now. When I first started blogging, I wanted to interact with a community and found that bloggers with commentluv were very helpful and encouraging of my small niche blog.
I don’t check if blogs are dofollow but when I first started I had friends who would share dofollow blogs for me to visit. Didn’t really understand it all, but loved networking and stayed to comment if I found the post helpful.
Patricia Perth Australia
I do think CommentLuv adds great value to ANY blog; you are so right about that, Patricia.
Whether a blog is Do or NoFollow, getting a CommentLuv link is always great; I tend to favor blogs who use the plugin as well.
Always appreciate your comments and presence, Patricia – your blog growth is definitely right behind you!
Ana
I think that moderated blogs with the KeywordLuv plugin are the happy medium. I read a lot of blogs in a day and I get very irritated by the mass of spam comments (just links or “thanks for sharing”). Google have already documented that links found within comments sections will carry less weight than they previously did and this is because of the spam. I think eventually comments won’t carry any weight and SEO and spammers will have to think outside the box.
I personally think there will be an increase in article theft where articles will be uploaded elsewhere and the link will point to the spammers. I think the size of the web will grow but the social aspect and quality may take a dip. I enjoy reading blog posts but it is important to also get a link back.
I hear your point, Tom.
Problem with KeywordLuv is that plugin itself is not necessarily DoFollow; you still have to enable DoFollow on your blog.
I definitely agree about the links from the comment sections. As a user, it is one of the easiest ways to get a link these days; however, from blog owner’s perspective, I am fed up with spam abuse.
Yes, sooner or later (probably sooner), Google will have to change the value it gives to comment links and then we all will have to rethink our strategies.
Ana
Ana,
I really appreciate your look at this dilemma. Before putting comment luv on my site I looked closely at this same question. Especially since the affiliate products I promote are also links out of my site.
I opted to go with comment luv for now and reward those who comment and cut back on my other out going links.
Also I have looked at some very big blog sites and found that they have very few out going links. Even their sales pages and thank you pages are on their sites. And they have plenty of internal links in their blog posts. So I am currently moving in that direction to balance out the do follow links.
Although I like being a part of the comment luv community and more that appreciate the backlinks I get from commenting on your site, it is not my criteria for commenting. I come to your blog because I always learn something. I also come because you have created a great community and I learn from them. I comment to acknowledge you and your readers, and I comment when I have something I can contribute.
I would still comment even if you were totally nofollow.
Thanks for the tip on SEO Super comments.
Sheila Atwood invites you to read: The Weekend Web – Its Ethical
It truly is a dilemma for any blog owner, Sheila, and unfortunately some readers don’t get it.
After all, our blog are our businesses and as such we need to figure out what is the best way to run them.
I completely understand and share the idea of fewer outgoing links, especially as we expand and I think I figured out the perfect way to work on my goals and still keep my readers happy with this plugin.
I do appreciate your vote in favor of my blog; it’s great to know that all my hard work on this blog is simply appreciated for what it is and not for the backlink.
Ana
I read or try to read a lot of blogs and don’t always post after.. I try to post when I can contribute something not just a “thanks for posting” or at least say why it’s a thanks.
■Do you think blog commenting is a tid-for-tad kind of arrangement?
I think it’s great when people do comment on my posts which doesn’t happen that much, due to poor traffic, but that’s something for me to work on, when I have the time.
■Do you expect a quality link when you comment on other blogs, and specifically on my blog?
I comment first then wonder if it will do much for me. Not good I suppose when I’m working for others I do focus more on finding better links. But to me a link is a link, and a balance of do follow and no follow and high and low ranking links is better than overdoing the SEO .
■Would you still comment if my blog was completely NoFollow?
yes if I could think of something worth saying, and had stayed focused enough on the post to reach then end
■Why do you comment on my blog to begin with?
I guess the lure of the do follow did tempt me to begin, but I like your style, your posts, and the fact you respond to everyone.
As long as you keep writing the way you do I’ll keep trying to find something worthy of adding as a comment
Awesome comment, Pippa – you keep commenting like this and I can’t imagine you don’t get any traffic out of it.
Sounds like your outlook is similar to mine: would I love a quality DoFollow link? You bet. But I will still comment on blogs I like or for bloggers I like – after all, it’s not ALL about the links.
Glad to hear my blog is one of those for you!
I will keep writing, I don’t think I know how not to.
Ana
I really think that this is more of an issue for the blog owner than the commenter him/herself. To be honest I never did bother about any of this when commenting on a blog. People who comment for the sake of getting backlinks normally does not even leave something that adds value. IF this helps, I decided to make my blog both. Meaning that after a certain amount of approved comments, the link gets dofollowed and before that they are all nofollow. This encourages commenters to leave better comments and later rewarded while keeping away potential Spammers.
Anyway, I leave comments because I want to participate in the conversation or leave my opinion. Ultimately, who really knows how search engines treat this. I mean they change constantly their algos and maybe we should focus ourselves on “things” that are more important.
DiTesco invites you to read: 11 Must Have WordPress Plugins For Your Home Based Business
I don’t know how anyone coming to any blog would have a sense of entitlement to a DoFollow link, Francisco.
You brought up a great point as far as rewarding returning commentators: I never thought of lifting NoFollow after a certain numbers of comments.
Certainly another great way to do it.
Thanks for the input!
Ana
I would love to know how to do this. Is there a plugin that handles the count of the posts?
There are several plugins that will do this, Brankica.
Check out WP plugin directory for these: SMu Manual DoFollow and Link Love.
Ana
It’s a shame that the popular you get you need to make these kinds of decisions.
I’m mostly with Dwayne on this one. If the article moved me in such a way that I feel the need to comment, dofollow vs nofollow makes zero difference to me. I would appreciate the link, but it doesn’t make or break my experience.
It’s good to know about this alternative even though I’m nowhere near ready for it yet. thanks, much.
It certainly is a shame to have spammers and abusers we have to protect ourselves from, John.
Thanks for always commenting on my blog; I do take it as such a great compliment!
Hey Ana, you have answered some intriguing questions here by sharing that email and you have asked some even more thought provoking ones!
I’m not sure I understand all of these issues and I think you have to admit that they are pretty complex. Without getting too deep (maybe I’ll come back with a more in-depth answer after seeing some other comments) here’s my view:
I don’t consider nofollow or dofollow when commenting in general. I come back to this blog frequently because I always learn something and I love the blog audits, traffic generation tips and all the rest, including your wonderfully professional and gracious personality.
However, what I do really pay attention to on other blogs is CommentLuv. There are many times that I won’t leave a comment on a post because the blog owner doesn’t have CommentLuv installed. It’s nothing against them personally it’s more a goal that I set for myself to engage with members of the CommentLuv community. I even let some “iffy” comments through on my own blog simply because the person is a CommentLuv member (as long as they stay somewhat on track with the content of the post).
Now it’s very easy for me to see if any blog or website is NoFollow by using the SEO Site Tools extension. I just click a box, and all NoFollow links are highlighted in red. But I must admit, most of the time I leave it off.
What I find a total turn off is a blog owner that brags about how their blog is NoFollow and in the long run it’s better for them because yada, yada, yada. Do I even want to know why it’s better for them? If you want your place to be NoFollow, keep it to yourself because I’ll probably have that box on SEO Site Tools “unchecked” and we can all just get along very nicely.
So there you have it – CommentLuv entices me to comment, interact, engage…the whole 9 yards. It’s funny that all of my favorite blogs have CommentLuv installed anyway. FamousBloggers, DragonBlogger, BlazingMinds, NewBizBlogger, AskKim, JustKissie, iBlogZone, Tek3d, Kikolani, BloggingBookShelf (I can go on and on and it seems I’ll never run out).
When you think aobut it, I guess that doesn’t leave much time for NoFollow commenting does it?
Ileane invites you to read: How to Install CommentLuv on Blogger
You are so right, Ileane – why it never occurred to me to even mention CommentLuv!
So DoFollow or NoFollow, my commentators still get a DoFollow link back to their blog.
Here’s one more thing I LOVE about CommentLuv: I think it’s potential to produce traffic back to your blog is even greater than your comment itself. I always end up paying attention to the blog post title ComLuv displays – some of them are quite catchy and I usually end up visiting that blog even if I am short on time.
Definitely, great benefit in that and I see how you make it your priority to comment on CommentLuv blogs.
I do greatly appreciate you visiting and commenting on my blog. I respect what you are doing for the blogging community, Ileane, and the impact you make and always appreciate your intelligent opinions on my posts.
Ana
Hi Ana,
Personally I agree in total with Dwayne but I thought I had better write more than “Ditto”!
~Marcus
Marcus Baker invites you to read: 18 Ways to be More Likable on Facebook
From you, ditto wouldn’t sufficed, Marcus.
Thanks for mentioning the Seth Godin plug in. My wife made or blog do follow but did not announce it. We have a Joomla blog..wonder if there is something similar?
Thanks for the great info!
You are very welcome, Jeff.
If your blog is DoFollow, you certainly need to make sure your readers know it, and the plugin does exactly that for you.
Quite honestly, I know nothing about Joomla platform to answer your question… definitely worth looking into though.
Ana