Back in early 2005, Google created rel=”nofollow” [1] as something to help stop comment spam on blogs. I was blogging elsewhere back then, and remember all the excitement. It hasn’t worked. The Akismet plugin [2] for WordPress takes the cake for spam catching as far as I’m concerned, and nofollow hasn’t really lived up to expectations. That’s why some people [3] have disabled it. Now some people includes me. The majority of comments that make it past Akismet are real comments, so I won’t begrudge you the link boost in Google, Technorati, or other search engines that recognize nofollow. If spam picks up and it gets too bad? Well, I can always turn it back on [4]. That’s the beauty of WordPress plugins [5]!
8 Comments To "Nofollow No More"
#1 Comment By Bangkok Baby On June 27, 2007 @ 10:40 am
I have been getting lot of comment spam lately. I have always wondered why people do this though google will not be counting it since most of the bolgging softwares add a nofollow tag.
May be you are right. The nofollow tag didn’t work to our expectation. Back to Akismet or spam karma seems to be a better option.
Regards,
bangkok Girl
#2 Comment By SimonC On June 29, 2007 @ 7:08 am
I think no follow is pointless, almost spiteful. As you rightly say, Akismet picks up most of the spam on WordPress blogs.
What is the big drama about giving a way a little bit of ‘Google Juice’ if someone is prepared to make a decent comment.
#3 Comment By Brandon Thomson On June 29, 2007 @ 3:50 pm
I definitely agree with you. I think adding nofollow to links will reduce the number of comments that blogs get because people won’t bother to comment on a regular basis if their link isn’t even going to be counted.
It also seems a bit disingenuous to add the nofollow tag without letting users know.
#4 Comment By David Szpunar On June 29, 2007 @ 4:18 pm
I agree with you Brandon but I think it’s more practical to add some indication that you’re not using nofollow right now because it’s so universal after being in effect for so long, and on by default in so many blogging applications (many either without an option to turn it off, or the option is only available through add-ons). I’m not sure but I believe it may be impossible to disable the “feature” on some of the hosted sites like WordPress.com and Blogger. WordPress.org installations require a plugin or manual code editing.
The minority is the one that needs to announce itself at this point. Otherwise, assume you’re not being counted!
#5 Comment By 1080p-onsale.com On July 4, 2007 @ 10:15 am
i agree with the opinion that is sucks for blogs to automatically not pass on blog juice for valid comments. i actually feel that spam isnt a problem if your blog is properly moderated.
I run a few blogs and I could care less WHO comments as long as those comments are relevent to the current discussion.
why stop that person from blog commenting? my blog has benefited from their comments why would i deny them a very small reward that costs me $0.00?
#6 Comment By Fox On August 16, 2007 @ 2:05 pm
Thank you! I’ve been wanting to install akismet and just did because of your post!
#7 Comment By Gary On September 12, 2007 @ 8:22 pm
I agree with 1080p in that there is no reason to deny a “legitimate poster” whatever small benefit they may get from their post link. 80% of the blogs (like this one) don’t have any significant PR themselves so the links aren’t worth much. Probably better idea is to have a clearly stated *comments policy* and then enforce it to maintain a community of “legitimate posters”
#8 Comment By Nick On March 24, 2008 @ 6:48 am
I could not agree more with you.
1. A large part of the web (web 2.0) is about interaction. Blogs play a large role in this. Basically that means a growing part of the web is denied the right to express their vote.
2. This will likely not improve the comments, since the text stays the same. The only yet laborious way to combat this will be to put the comments for review.
3. Paid links are a nuissance. However adwords are also paid links ;-)! So the question is, are they fairly valued? If yes and that is my belief, it should not be too much of a concern in economic terms. Keep in mind, that “paid” work is still possible under the current circumstances yet it is more subtle.
4. In my opinion it is designed and it’s core purpose is to retain google’s dominance. There was a growing number of web 2.0 portals (e.g. social bookmarking) that tried to market the google “linkjuice” that they could pass on on their own. Google sees the web 2.0 as a threat and this was their only possible responce. In my opinion it is all about (google’s) money ;-)!
Best regards,
Nick