To follow or not to follow?
To paraphrase a famous line from Shakespeare, that is the question when it comes to setting up your blog commenting options.
There are those on both sides of the fence, and the answer is not clear. We will examine the pros and cons of each here, and let you make that decision yourself.
NoFollow
Let’s start with a standard definition of NoFollow from Wikipedia: an attribute value used to instruct search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the ranking of the link target. This is done so that some forms of spam are reduced in effectiveness.
In other words, a link in a comment on your blog will not be followed by a bot and will not receive a boost in SERP. Of course, most know that search engines use the amount of incoming links to a web page as one way to rank it.
Pros Of Making Your Blog NoFollow
• It prevents a link from your site to that of a spammer, or any site with untrustworthy content.
• Google will not penalise a paid link that is NoFollow, but the converse is also true. Your links must be NoFollow to play nice with Google and other top search engines. If you are monetising your website, this is an important key to remember.
• You will gain the benefits of links yourself, rather than sharing the wealth with other sites.
• For certain pages on your site, such as your “Terms of Use” or “Member Login”, there is no need for search engines to crawl through this information. Make sure these pages are NoFollow.
The Cons Of NoFollow
• You may not gain as much activity as you would with a DoFollow blog. Some social marketing specialists will not bother to leave a comment if it will do their target site no good.
• There is a benefit to sharing information on the internet and using NoFollow code defeats that purpose. It prevents good content from getting attention as well as spam.
Pros Of Making Your Blog DoFollow
• The opposite of the con for NoFollow listed above. Making your blog DoFollow means you will get lots more comments, especially from those who build links for a living.
• With DoFollow, you can also utilise CommentLuv and various other plug-ins that spread link love and provide further advantage to commenting. This is a great way to encourage communication.
• Expect increased traffic with a DoFollow blog, which will help your site rank better. The fact that it allows search engines to follow links will attract visitors who might not otherwise stop by and join an ongoing discussion.
The Cons Of DoFollow
• Along with a lot of comments, you are bound to get a lot of spam. If your blog is a WordPress one, you can counteract this by utilising a plug-in such as Akismet. Still, it takes time to go through the comments and decide if you agree with Akismet’s banning standards.
• If spam does manage to get by you, it will downplay your blogger authority index. Anyone who visits a site with a lot of spam does not think highly of the content.
• You end up sharing the positive benefits of linking. Not necessarily a bad thing, but why give away what you’ve worked so hard to earn?
When it comes down to it, you must weigh these pros and cons yourself to decide whether or not you should NoFollow or DoFollow.
Whether you are aiming to purely monetise your site or wish to gain more traffic and visitor comments, these will be the main considerations to help you decide.
Have a most outstanding day.
Sean RasmussenAussie Internet Marketing
www.SeanSEO.com © 2008 - 2012
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
yes you are right both have the advantages and the disadvantages. but i use the do follow blog because i think that commenter must acheive some benefit if he is visiting your blog because you are also getting some benefit on the visit of every commenter.
That’s right for both but I like to use do-follw ’cause I will get benefit from commenter and also backlink for this.
Great primer on do follow links. I’ve decided to allow do follow links on my blog and I pay for it when it comes time to moderate comments. however, I do appreciate the traffic and interest on by blog that I may otherwise not enjoy.
Great post!
I have been looking into this for a while but I haven’t found a definative guide of the pros and cons of “do follow”.
Thanks alot!
Katie
I prefer the follow option as I want the interaction with the commentators. As my traffic increases that may change, but for now I’ll leave it as follow
I prefer do-follow because I want the site activity and backlinks to my site.
On pages such as “Terms of Use” and “Member Login” I think it’s quite okay to have the no-follow activated.
Thanks Sean.
Hello Sean,
To do or not to do is the question? The answer is depending on your needs for your site. I prefer “do-follow” but its not the case for everyone. If you do have NoFollow, can you change it to “DoFollow” if the needs arise? Acutally I am not sure if I have come across a NoFollow site? It would have to be for privacy issues, eg:- set up for family members only….?
Cheers
Lisa
Hi Sean,
I prefer the do-follow option on my blogs because I think it’s better for my site. And, I find CommentLuv is great for getting traffic.
I agree with Jazz, I prefer do-follow, Means a bit more work for me to sort out the the spammers, but I can help the good guys a bit with the backlinks they can get from my blog.
We’re looking at making the switch to do-follow right now. Anyone have some experience with this change that they’d like to share? Did spam skyrocket? I don’t mind spending some extra time to weed through the good and the bad, but not if I’m going to be spending hours each day.
Also, did you promote the fact that you’re do-follow?
There is a fair chance you will get more spam comments Rick. If you have Akismet or something similar, this is not too much of a problem.