OK most of use have heard about ”DoFollow” sites, but what exactly is it and does it really matter? Well until earlier today I didn’t actually give it much thought till a good friend of mine John over at PotPolitics.com suggested it would be a good thing for me to make this site ”DoFollow”.
I looked into it and decided it would be a good thing for this site to be dofollow, but why? Well I’m no SEO genius or anything but here is what I understand about ”NoFollow” and ”DoFollow”
- NoFollow
A nofollow link is pretty much default within the coding of the sites and it helps the search engine spiders to perform more efficient searches by ignoring a lot of different links. So why does it do this? Well, again I’m no expert but from what I can see is to prevent or hinder spam comments and links that do so in order to get a better page rank.
Again, I’m not an expert but this is the gist of it I think. NoFollow is supposed to be the safe way to avoid linking to malware or suspicious sites, which Google could potentially punish your site for, allegedly.
- DoFollow
Now DoFollow sites and links allow the search engines to see the links in your site like comment links etc. As far as I know commentluv is NOT dofollow according to the plugin I have. So having a dofollow site allows the other links like your title name in your comment and commentluv etc to act as a link to your site when a spider searches that site.
Again, not an SEO expert but this is what I can gather.
So if dofollow sites allow spiders to see my links then why doesn’t everyone do this? Well the main reason is spam, a dofollow site will usually attract more spam comments than the norm’. I’m going to combat this will a good spam plugin which will hopefully deal with the majority of the problem.
- Tutorial
OK so now you want to turn your site into a dofollow site and start giving out backlinks to everyone who visits, well first you need to download the plugin DoFollow by SemioLogic you can find it in your WP add new plugin. Below is a quick video on before and after on this site with nofollow and dofollow to give you some idea about the impact this plugin will have on your site and it’s readers.
The other thing to use is a add-on to Firefox called NoDoFollow, this is what I use in the video to show what links are do and no follow. It’s a fantastic and quick tool to use if you ever want to check your site or someone else’s to see if you will get any search engine benefit.
So what does everyone think? Is your site DoFollow yet?
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I can see how having your blog DoFollow would encourage comments and even attract new readers, but it seems a bit risky. I am hesitant to do it on my own blog. Keep us updated on how it goes for you!
Btw, I am a new reader of your blog, and I like it a lot! Keep up the good work.
.-= Patrick Toerner´s last blog ..Amazing Way to Get 100% Unique Articles for Free! =-.
Hey Patrick,
Yeah you could be right, hopefully with proper management and spam catching it will benefit all.
I’ve definitely been curious lately about the nofollow/dofollow shiz. I have been dofollow for about 2 months now. I had to edit it in my html template since I use blogger. I have not received any spam or maybe one or two since I switched it. Now watch I’ll get bunches..lol
I have been wondering though and read a little here and there but not enough to convince me to switch back. I wonder if once your site, my site whatnot is established is it ok to return to nofollow. The reason I am curious is that when visiting some sites that are well established I’ve noticed they are nofollow sites. Curious, anyone know.
I’m comfortable with it being dofollow except in some instances when I link out to something for reference only and don’t want ppl to leave prior to reading full content and comment etc.. For me it’s a tough call but overall like I say I’m ok with it as dofollow and spam hasn’t hurt me..YET…
There are some from the 2009 SEO report over on seomoz that say that these two factors have very little importance. The tipping point is when your nofollowed links are poor quality or outnumber dofollow. (carlos del rio and jon myers) Keyword anchor text and valid links are more important is what I get outta the reading.
.-= Lees Shizzle´s last blog ..Help my RSS Feed isn’t working.. Whew, OK I Fixed it… =-.
Hey Lee thanks brother,
Yeah man I think it’s worth the switch if I see a difference either positive or negative I’ll bang it straight up, have you got a link to that report brother?
Dude what your talking about is what sites like DIGG and Mixx did once they were strong and thought they were all set they switched and used the old we were scared of Google and all the spam.
All my friends and people that been there pass right on thru 
Mixx was dead wrong I spoke with the owner I have not been to the site in a year. I have 5000 comments on my blog that means like 15000 plus links could you imagine what would happen if I switched them all ? That’s SUICIDE . Also spam is no more or less with do follow.I check every site that leaves a comment and I make a choice whether to approve it or not
Best wishes James on yet another great move for your site
.-= John Sullivan@The Blog No One Reads´s last blog ..What is your best post to date ? =-.
Thanks John,
Thanks for the tip I’ll monitor the results brother
First off, WordPress is default no-follow only in the author name link in comments. All other content areas, including comment content area, are do-follow by default.
The reason a link is no-follow has nothing to do with search engine spiders. It has to do with passing pagerank. Google cracked down several years ago on sites who sold links that passed pagerank, so webmasters started using no-follow tags to still allow human visitors to follow links (spiders too) but to also send a signal to GOogle that “we are not sending juice, just people”
There is no risk in opening up followed links in your comments when it comes to your site as long as you moderate. IOW, you don’t wanna give a link out to a p*rn site or vi*gra spam site…. but you have to moderate those comments anyway.
I don’t get very many spam comments on my do-follow blog… no more than anyone else and Akismet does a good job of catching most of them anyway.
The downside to making your blog do-follow in the comments is that all the juice from the page is shared between all the outgoing links, so if you get 100 comments like I do, then 100 people are watering down that juice.
AL
.-= Allyn´s last blog ..How To Get Links By Darren Rowse And I Agree! =-.
HI Allyn,
Glad you made it here cause I know you know the score. So could do-follow in the comments affect PR when it comes round again?
This site has over 6,500 comments so would that be a problem potentially?
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..What Are DoFollow Sites? Tutorial + Video =-.
I don’t know if it would hurt your pagerank or not but who cares?
Remember, PR on your own site means nothing really… it’s the PR of pages linking TO you that matters!
AL
.-= Allyn´s last blog ..How To Get Links By Darren Rowse And I Agree! =-.
Yeah officially confused then, if it doesn’t hurt your page rank or not or the fact that it isn’t important why does the link juice matter?
Links are endorsements of your site and sites that have high pagerank are seen as authorities in a niche.
So if a high PR, high authority site about “personal motivation” links here, you are getting a good endorsement and your own PR will rise.
So down the line, if you start ranking high in the SERPS for the term “personal motivation” it is because that authority site linked TO you and told Google, “hey, this guy knows his stuff when it comes to ‘personal motivation’” and in turn, Google trusted you and sent you human visitors from search who wanted to know about “personal motivation”
NONE of what I just said has anything to do with your own pagerank and everything to do with the high PR, high authority link sent TO you.
as my friend John says below, if you get, you should give. Pass it on when it makes sense.
AL
.-= Allyn´s last blog ..How To Get Links By Darren Rowse And I Agree! =-.
Nice one thanks brother
Dude this is off the hook…as far as post comment, but wanted to say I checked your youtube vid. and appreciate what you say..
I’ve got my share of readers from theinfopreneur and I’d like to say thanks back at ya.. keep truckin..
gotta appreciate your audience from beginning to end!
.-= Lees Shizzle´s last blog ..Help my RSS Feed isn’t working.. Whew, OK I Fixed it… =-.
Hey Lee,
Thanks brother anytime
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..What Are DoFollow Sites? Tutorial + Video =-.
Well I figured my site has no juice anyway so why not share what I can. I try to share as much as possible in my posts so if my 2 readers can get an edge from making comments on my blog, good for them. This blog is not for making money its for helping people get the right information and finding the right networks of people that can help them earn a living online. My site is also dofollow and I have had no issues with spammers. I get just as many spammers on this blog as I do on any other. But like Allyn states the juice can get watered down.
.-= Denise´s last blog ..Making Money Online is Boring =-.
Hey Denise
Yeah Allyn is the guy to listen too when it comes to this, I figured with over 6,500 comments on the site that it may make a difference it may not.
As soon as I see any change I’ll put the results up, which spam plugin do you use?
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..What Are DoFollow Sites? Tutorial + Video =-.
James,
Last year, I wrote an article on how to find and comment on dofollow blogs.
http://techthinker.com/commenting-smart-on-dofollow-blogs/
The response I got from a dofollow blogger was that most of the comments in her blog were spam. Later this blogger switched back to nofollow.
I didn’t want to go dofollow, because it will dilute your blog’s page rank. I know that page rank is no longer important as it used to be, but still I like to preserve my current PR.
.-= Aaron´s last blog ..How Businesses can Make Money on Twitter =-.
Hi Aaron,
Did her dofollow blog not have a spam plugin to deal with all that?
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..It’s What You Know AND Who! + Video =-.
She was referring to human comment spam, just a useless comment written by a person to gain one more back link.
.-= Aaron´s last blog ..How Businesses can Make Money on Twitter =-.
I disagree totally
1 I don’t get many links linking to me that are off value
2 I don’t get any spam I can’t deal with or any more or less then any no follow blog
3 My sites a 4 but I expect a 5-6 next update
4 Hoarding page rank like MOST well known blogs do and all that is not my style
Give it to GET IT I say
Basically what I’m saying is I GIVE PR away in the funnel method Google gives it to me I give it to you and REPEAT
Works great for my blog that has been do follow from day one and is 2 years old this month
Ultimately everyone has their own agenda, goals and choice to make
.-= John Sullivan@The Blog No One Reads´s last blog ..What is your best post to date ? =-.
Very nice video. Ofcourse having a blog with do-follow links on blog would encourage a lot of commentors.
.-= Nishant´s last blog ..Perfect Businessman- 4 Tips to keep people influenced! =-.
Hey it’s going to be interesting for sure to see if it actually makes any difference
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..What Are DoFollow Sites? Tutorial + Video =-.
James, my site has been dofollow since the start… Can’t say I’m really sure if it makes any difference, I read a bit of stuff with arguments both ways..and in the end decided to be open. I’ll watch with interest how you’re reporting on your experiment goes.
.-= Mick Morris´s last blog ..How to help yourself. =-.
Yeah I think it will be interesting to see the change if any, as soon as I notice any I will put the results up
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..What Are DoFollow Sites? Tutorial + Video =-.
DoFollow vs NoFolllow is a long going debate. I am currently NoFollow. Haven’t decide if I should go DoFollow.
DoFollow encourages comments but Spams too and also most comment for Links. Eventually I will go DoFollow too.
But currently even my Blog being NoFollow I get lots of Spams. 3-4 times more than legitimate comments.
.-= Agent Deepak´s last blog ..Interview with James Richmond – The InfoPreneur =-.
Hey man, my spam counts at around 3,200 blocked compared with the 6,500+ legitimate comments. What spam catcher are you using?
I do not worry about SPAMs, They are well blocked. I use WP-Spam Free.
.-= Agent Deepak´s last blog ..Interview with James Richmond – The InfoPreneur =-.
I think I’ll watch and see what happens with you, at the moment I don’t want to switch over. This isn’t because I want to deny anyone link juice or anything like that; it’s more to do with what Allyn said in one of his posts a while back with the juice being shared.
For example, say I decided to do a feature of my favourite bloggers. I’d rather have the link love go to them than them plus all the comments plus all the other links on the page. Makes it more powerful for them, and puts my own site in a better position for moving forward.
As I said I’ll keep an eye on what happens for you, and an open mind, but at this stage I think I’ll be leaving it as it is.
.-= Heather´s last blog ..Three Sites that Play with Colour =-.
Hey Heather that’s kinda why I did it really to see if it made a difference and to then pass the findings on
Never really gave much thought to DoFollow and all that.
I might look into this later on as my site progresses and maybe that’s the wrong way to go about it but we’ll see.
Good post brother.
.-= Eric´s last blog ..Build Your Blog With Fire In Mind =-.
I recently changed my blog to DoFollow with CommentLuv and Top Commentator.
There are many blogs with high PageRank that are DoFollow: http://dofollow.info/blog/high-pagerank-pr-dofollow-blog-list-edu/
http://www.iwoodpecker.com/list-of-do-follow-nofollow-blogs-with-commentluv/
On another note. Great job with marketing your site. You are everywhere. Do you sleep?
I don’t think you need to worry about PageRank. At the next update you’ll probably be at least a 5. But why even care. Your Alexa is ridiculous without the PageRank. Keep up the great work!
.-= Dr. Kal´s last blog ..Obesity In America =-.
Ha ha I do get some sleep but not for long brother!
yeah pagerank alexa all of this is useless without the respect of your readers and hopefully everyone who visits this site knows that they have my full attention, thanks for visiting if you need anything just give me a shout
I think I’m going to stick with Patrick’s comment here. This seems a good idea, but there’s a lot of arguments for not doing it. Not least Allyn’s comment about watering down your link juice.
Keep us posted James and I’ll review this.
thanks for sharing.
.-= Matthew Needham : Big Red Tomato Company´s last blog ..The secrets of becoming rich =-.
Hey Matthew,
Yeah that’s why I am doing it really. I mean it has to be tested to find out, like John said though he has been do follow for a while and he is a PR4 expected to go 5/6 next time round
great one, but I have been told that it is really up to google whether or not they will follow the links. I think the spiders can see them all and they decide if your site is credible or not. Or, are we really giving that much credit to google.
Dave – laughs at his cancer diagnosis.
.-= Dave Woodson´s last blog ..Laugh, I am =-.
Hey Dave,
Yeah there so so many theories on it it’s the reason I have done it to see if it actually makes a difference at all.
Also James I’m going to give you one more tip because I see you have it just the way I do. 99% of the blogs that are do follow don’t follow the twitter link, but think about it 99% of the people that are active and blogging etc have PR5′s so I believe that exchange the back and forth will also play a role in your site being Stronger
I will tell you an even better one but damn I have to have some chance
LOL
Good doing business with you Sir
.-= John Sullivan@The Blog No One Reads´s last blog ..A Tale of Two Strangers =-.
http://ja-ta.com is a dofollow social bookmarking site with pr:-1
That’s a cracking video! Yeah, having a blog with dofollow links will get loads more comments.
Great post about Do-Follow site. Thank you for sharing your post has helped me.
It is nice video for easy to understand do follow blogs.
Thank for sharing this informaton.
Nice information for new bies
qwerty´s last [type] ..Janet Jackson Number Ones
Thanks qwerty….
ps…awesome name.
Hi Brandon,
First, I have to give a LOL to Dr. Kal on the “On another note. Great job with marketing your site. You are everywhere. Do you sleep?”
I found it funny because many times when looking up information I’m led right here. So, to mirror his sentiments, great job!
And I can’t really add much to the discussion that hasn’t already been said. Besides, the NoFollow / DoFollow debate will be going on for a long time yet.
But, another plugin I found recently that has been very useful, if not just plain interesting, is SeoQuake. It also will show you which sites are DoFollow plus a whole lot more.
And hey, thank you for keeping your site DoFollow. I’ve always believed in giving back to my readers, pagerank and spam be damned.
Thanks for the post and thanks to everyone who commented. Some great information and things to think about!
Vince
Vincent Parker´s last [type] ..DoFollow Sites- How To Track Down Them DoFollow Sites
Hey Vincent,
Thanks for the comment, and you know what…I LOVE SEOQuake. I use it about every other day for various things…mainly since I’m doing some offline stuff, I need to keep on my game of seeing what the inbound link numbers are for some various sites.
Take care!
Brandon