Comments on: The Insidious Nofollow Tag: An SEO Rant

By: Pauline

Pauline — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 02:57:34 +0000

According to my own links with the nofollow does not count as backlinks in Google and other search engines, so you do not get search engine ranking benefit for a link to this moment all nofollow.At of a movement has developed, who was set to remove NoFollow. The commenter’s blog can play with the so-called link love. I think the world has returned to an honest linking strategy.thanks for sharing information!

By: Gabriela Shimkus

Gabriela Shimkus — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:09:53 +0000

i am a newbie in Search Engine Optimization but i think that the submission of articles in article directories is one of the best ways to gain backlinks. |

By: Michael Martinez

Michael Martinez — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:18:25 +0000

The fact many SEO bloggers say that PageRank sculpting works doesn’t mean anything. Most SEO bloggers are just repeating crap they read on other Websites, either because they are reporting the latest buzz or because they are trying to establish a reputation for themselves by writing about SEO and really don’t know enough (or feel confident enough in their own experiences) to share something new.

I’m well aware of Akismet but WordPress is not the only blogging platform out there. Just as people should not feel compelled to use nofollow on comment links, nor should they feel compelled to use any one blogging platform.

And Akismet is only as good as the people who use it. Some comment spammers do a very good job of getting past the human filtering.

Google’s war on comment spam has passed through some controversial phases. It’s also possible that people in the SEO community (including me) have overinterpreted a stern warning Google published about comment spam last Fall. However, allowing spammy links in blog comments that point to malware or other really bad sites might get a site penalized by Google’s “bad neighborhood” filter. That is the real reason why I advocate the use of “nofollow” in comment links.

By: webbiqu1

webbiqu1 — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:52:22 +0000

Hi Eric, I had not heard that. Seems you and Michael are providing contrary opinions on this. Do you have a link to an authoritative source to back this up? I hope you are correct!

By: webbiqu1

webbiqu1 — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:49:37 +0000

Thanks for the thoughtful comments Michael. I agree that trying to use nofollow for Pagerank sculpting is a suspect practice, and don’t do it for my own clients, but I still see many sites attempting this and many SEO bloggers still advising use of this tactic. As I note in my post, nofollow had a purpose when it was first implemented, but there are better ways to block comment link spam now and nofollow has outlived its usefulness. Nofollowing comments disincentivises legitimate comments, needlessly reducing the interactivity of blogs. I disagree that it’s impossible to moderate blog comment spam; as I note, tools like Akismet have become effective at filtering out the vast majority of such spam. I’ve never heard that Google penalizes blogs for dofollowing comments, but if your information is accurate, then Google really is “doing evil,” contrary to its mantra. I’m not sure how this can be accomplished, but I hope this evil tag can eventually be banished from existence.

By: Eric Goldman

Eric Goldman — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:41:36 +0000

Couldn’t agree me more with the sentiment of this post. Turns out, Google must have been listening to you, me and all the others who’ve complained about it. Apparently they have changed the rules again, this time to make it better to use follow links, than no-follows. In other words, the world has returned to an honest linking strategy. At last!

By: Michael Martinez

Michael Martinez — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:36:41 +0000

You make the following very ironic comment:
“f it’s there for any reason other than Pagerank sculpting (e.g. nofollowing pages like “Contact Us”), move along.”

People should not be attempting sculpt PageRank. Google declared last year that attempts at PageRank sculpting only resulted in sites delisting their own valuable content. There is absolutely no credible SEO reason for anyone to attempt to sculpt PageRank.

NOFOLLOW was implemented because of the abuse by blackhat SEO link spammers, who use scripts to hammer blogs and forums with bogus registrations and messages that are intended to either compromise Websites or drop promotional links in them.

It’s virtually impossible to moderate that volume of spam once your blog or forum is added to the various “dofollow” lists that are circulated. At least NOFOLLOWing comment links by default protects your site from being penalized by Google (a policy they implemented in November of last year).

Google has certainly been gradually granting itself police powers over the Web. Their policy is atrocious but people who depend on Google visibility need to pay attention to Google’s guidelines and policies.