I have removed NOFOLLOW

All the links on my blog are now straight forward links, Please don’t make me ban you :)

DaveN

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54 Comments | Leave a comment »

1. Esrun | October 25th 2007 @ 4:01 pm

Any particular reason why?
2. algoholic | October 25th 2007 @ 4:04 pm

y?
3. DaveN | October 25th 2007 @ 4:18 pm

Because I moderate my comments and I can ban people if needed.. and people should get some credit
4. henri | October 25th 2007 @ 4:39 pm

Maybe google will have more job if everyone remove nofollow for comments! I think about that for my personal blog but I try to understand the impact of a page with nofollow versus dofollow in the google algo… Any idea dave?
5. Bob Sheth | October 25th 2007 @ 4:43 pm

Thanks Dave,
It’s a good way to get lazy arses like myself to comment. Now just wait for Wikipedia to follow your no follow lead…
Bob Sheth
Proud Owner of http://www.totallyproperty.com - Which should be no followed…
6. JLH | October 25th 2007 @ 4:58 pm

Dave, I’m glad to see you take that stance. I’ve done it as well as have many others, I even saw a Googler blog with that recent addition and a post about it. I like to think of it as responsible blogging. If you take the time to moderate comments and who’s commenting then you can also make the quick decision to allow/disallow the links on your site. I cull the ones who don’t use a name and try to slip “ONLINE CASINO BETTING” in as their anchor text, but if the comment is worth showing on my blog and thus adding to the content of the site which I should benefit from I see it only fitting to credit the writer of that comment. On the other hand if you don’t moderate comments and just let any fool fill up your blog with nonsense, then nofollowing them is probably the right decision, and for me, and indication of the quality (low) of the blog.
7. Scott Johnson | October 25th 2007 @ 4:59 pm

Way to go, Dave! I think more blogs should do this, especially as a form of retaliation against Google’s recent paid links PR changes.
8. Wicked Keemo | October 25th 2007 @ 5:08 pm

I agree. This should definitely be a trend to apply to all blogs. Especially if comments are moderated.
I’m looking to apply it to mine soon…when I get the time :D
9. Adam Taylor | October 25th 2007 @ 5:20 pm

Nice post about I have removed NOFOLLOW by avid Naylor.

;)

Good move though in my opinion (Y)!
10. Local SEO Guide | October 25th 2007 @ 6:24 pm

Well met Dave!
11. Tom Lyons | October 25th 2007 @ 7:10 pm

Good for you Dave. The whole point of the web is interconnection, and there should be a small reward for contributing. Good to see you take stand here.
12. Online Marketer | October 25th 2007 @ 7:38 pm

Good move Dave, that is how links are supposed to work in the minds of most SE’s. They should be filtered by a human. This whole no-follow crap was just for the lazy.

I suspect that it will drive some activity as well. ;)
13. Jan | October 25th 2007 @ 8:47 pm

Nice move Dave! I guess ranking was not your motivation for removing the nofollows, but just out of curiosity, which effect do you think this will have on the rankings of your blog?
14. bl.asphemo.us | October 25th 2007 @ 9:10 pm

Word up to blogs take the stand. I got convinced by the movement a few months ago, meself…
15. Seocracy | October 25th 2007 @ 9:24 pm

I think we’re being lied to about NoFollow anyways. I think its a farce.

Just my .02 though.
16. Sander | October 25th 2007 @ 9:36 pm

Latelty I’m seeing more and more mayor blogs turn off the no-follow tag. Then think about this; when having about 20 comments on a article this will give over 20 outbound links on posts in your blog.

Within months you’ll have many, many outgoing links, would Google threat your (and other) blogs then as a linkscheme? I’ve asked this question specifically after the pagerank adjustment for selling links. I know comments aren´t selling links.

Good luck with your blog, like reading it :)
17. Russ Jones | October 25th 2007 @ 10:11 pm

We removed NoFollow from theGoogleCache for similar reasons. We moderated every comment and, more importantly, came to the rightful conclusion that it simply doesn’t make sense to tell the search engines you don’t trust a link, but tell your users that you do (they would have to read the source code to know the difference).

In my opinion, the only reason to ever use a nofollow would be if you were trying to dupe your users into something, and in that case, you might as well cloak.
18. Joff | October 25th 2007 @ 10:27 pm

What a great incentive for people to comment on this post :D

In my opinion, a link is a link is a link. If sites have a policy of using no-follows, they may as well just strip the entire anchor tag completely, leaving just the URL as plain text.

If search engines believe that a page with a lot of outgoing (non-nofollow) links is a potential risk to the serps, then they need to sort out their strategy at their end, not expect us lot to cripple the most basic underlying function of a web site.
19. Adam Moro | October 25th 2007 @ 11:01 pm

Thanks DaveN! I think I’ll do the same.
20. Peter Carvell | October 25th 2007 @ 11:51 pm

Guessing you will see the amount of comments on your blog go up also!

I think everyone should follow suit. It’ll be a pain to keep the spam out but that’s Google’s fault for giving so much relevence to anchor text of links. It doesn’t take a genius to tell a computer not to give much weight to a crappy link but Spam works through the volume of links, which was a good reason for the nofollow, discounting the value all together. There must be a way to algorithmically discount ALL spammy links that show no relevance to the content - it’s just laziness I think ;-)
21. Search | October 26th 2007 @ 12:26 am

Thanks man! Well Daven, this is joke of course but I have an idea about making “Internet initiative” “switch to Yahoo” where people would start dialog with Yahoo, make request list and ask from Yahoo to implement after that should support action “Switch to Yahoo Search”.

Google just should get serious competition it’s not healthy for mankind present situation.
22. Joost | October 26th 2007 @ 12:40 am

Good stuff Dave, if I were you, I’d now build a widget, which shows the posts with the least comments from the last 3 months or so :)
23. Igor The Troll | October 26th 2007 @ 1:05 am

Better late than never! DaveN Welcome to the nonofollow club.

You should get one of those You comment I follow badges from Randaclay
http://www.travelinasia.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4230

Oh, and thanks for the Authority tip, I do not use weather.com but I do it with Google, works like a charm!
24. New Orleans web designer | October 26th 2007 @ 3:54 am

Bold step for such a blog, you are setting a shining example for other blogs to follow. Simply stating that you moderate your comments should make the spammers try to contribute more than just reposting a portion of the original post.
25. Hawaii SEO | October 26th 2007 @ 6:58 am

Hmmm… I predict that in a few months you’ll start bitching because people are using anchor text in there signatures. I’ve been using this handle since 2004 and never had a complaint until people started removing nofollow. From what I can tell… Signature links on dofollow blogs don’t do you any good in Google but give you a small boost in Yahoo! What is your observation?

Aloha,
Dave.
26. Thomas | October 26th 2007 @ 9:47 am

That’s a rather surprise move - I am looking forward to see what the results of that will be.

I hope you made sure that all old comments are as well ok to link-out. (I once experience that kind of problem in a (discontinued) blog where old comments broke my neck.)
27. Dave Davis | October 26th 2007 @ 11:06 am

Thanks Dave. I think my pagerank just went up ;)
28. Igor The Troll | October 26th 2007 @ 1:59 pm

Well every coin has two sides and Dave does not give way something for nothing. If he did he would be out of business. Getting read of rel=”nofollow” benifts Dave more than us.

So, today Dave is becoming an Authority on our names! Yes my name and my allies are ranking better on my sites, but Dave’s site ranks better than my sites for the two. This is the result for SEO an IT sites, because I have not been doing SEO on my name and allies. I do SEO on my clients sites, which rank well.

But most of you will not be experiencing this because you do SEO on your SEO sites, but you will see Dave coming at you from behind and coming up in the results just right after you.

Dave is a clever cookie, I am not critisizing him but complementing him.
He has a brain to be original in the SEO war…

So Vanessa Fox Nude is Buffy of SEO, and DaveN is Merlin of SEO, and I am just Igor The Troll. :
29. Dave Dugdale | October 26th 2007 @ 2:45 pm

Wow! When the nofollow movement started earlier this summer and then kind of died out it seemed I thought it was over with, but perhaps with you and Greg Boser writing about it, it might have a come back.
30. Igor The Troll | October 26th 2007 @ 2:48 pm

Okay DaveN, I know I am dealing with a Master, so I have to anti up!
Here is some link bait, I know you going to love this one.

http://www.travelinasia.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5432
31. Chris | October 26th 2007 @ 3:01 pm

32 comments! Is that a record lol?
32. g1smd | October 26th 2007 @ 4:54 pm

Almost. There have been a few topics with a lot more replies.
33. Paul Anthony | October 26th 2007 @ 10:25 pm

The recent Google update seems to have sent a few ripples through the blogging community…for the better.
34. Everett | October 26th 2007 @ 10:27 pm

I’ve had the nofollow off on my blog comments for about a year now, and only recently have I noticed people trying to take advantage of it. Someone will link to their website and leave a half-assed comment in very poor English, then leave never to be heard from again. So I ask myself, do I push it through, delete it, or mark it as spam? Most of the time I just delete it unless it’s obviously spam, like some of the bot-created crap that comes through. I do get a tiny bit of extra spam, but I also get to reward people who participate. Overall, I’d say my experience has been positive.

Welcome to the movement Dave. :-) Plz done ban me matey.
35. SnoopBloggyBlog | October 26th 2007 @ 10:39 pm

Nice moves. I need to do this as well.
36. Egonitron | October 26th 2007 @ 11:05 pm

I’ve been removing my nofollow links too, I’m pissed at Google. If they keep this up, more people are going to be removing their nofollow links and then their whole plan with it will be screwed. MUAHAHAHA!
37. Igor The Troll | October 27th 2007 @ 12:40 am

Maybe this thread will get syndicated to Google Finance and everyone who reads it will remove the rel=”nofollow”

Wordpress will have to update its software with a security patch to fix the rel=”nofollow” bug.
38. Mubin | October 27th 2007 @ 11:48 am

WOOT! Free Links!!!
39. Lyndoman | October 27th 2007 @ 12:51 pm

My blog has been “do follow” for many months, but I have recently been hit by smart arses trying to get their clients sites ranked. But I agree, a well moderated blog should not need nofollow in the comments, else why have comments if you can’t be bothered to read them
40. Balitech | October 27th 2007 @ 6:11 pm

i think it is good approach dave , i wonder if it is out going links also after all help your pages SEO and the no follow never really stops no comment spammer, dont bother to check if have no follow tag, it faster for them to post a comment.
41. Bloggers going for Do-follow. I don’t follow. - BlueVerse | October 28th 2007 @ 10:38 am

[…] removing the NO-Follow tag from the links on comments and comment content as well, i read it on Daven’s Blog as well, personally i do-not agree with this as a good traffic generating strategy (long term), […]
42. Mubin | October 28th 2007 @ 12:34 pm

As long you keep it well moderated you should be okay. Shoemoney modereates his comments pretyy well unlike johnchow where all the nAMES are something like “travel for free” or others just trying to use comments to rank for terms.
43. Tom | October 28th 2007 @ 7:03 pm

So now will Google lower the value of all of your links because you got off of the nofollow power trip?

Enquiring minds want to know…
44. A few points on blog commenting - Razvan Antonescu | October 28th 2007 @ 8:58 pm

[…] when that happened but I bet that this came after they were downgraded by Google. I just hope that DaveN won’t do the same under Google’s […]
45. Fireblade | October 29th 2007 @ 4:20 am

I think it’s a good move and encourages participation. I’m a big strikepoint fat by the way! Great show.
46. Ken Teegardin | October 29th 2007 @ 4:59 am

First, Thanks for the theoretical link-love.
Second, Shouldn’t you still be selective about what type of site you link to. It seems like eventually it will lower the quality rating of your site (and maybe your traffic) if most of your outbound links are to gambling, real estate or spam sites.
47. adi azar | October 29th 2007 @ 6:22 am

But you still have rel=”external”, what does that attribute mean exactly? Does Google concern about it?

Thanks
Adi
48. HonDev | October 29th 2007 @ 11:19 am

Lol. Suddenly you have way more comments than you usually do.
49. Aikido man | October 30th 2007 @ 1:07 pm

I think you just removed nofollow links (and communicated that publicly) for testing pupposes on how frequently people will spam the comments (which will give you some thoughts on people reading your posts and articles) :)
50. ukgimp | November 4th 2007 @ 12:09 am

This sounds like one of those exercises I would do if I were google to flush out the enemy. Wait and see who dropped a link and ban the mutha :-)
51. Mitchel | November 9th 2007 @ 1:24 pm

I think removing no follow is a very brave move. I see many people in the business do it, but I’m still not sure if I am going to follow their example.
52. Joff | February 21st 2008 @ 1:28 pm

Dave… I thought you said you’d removed NOFOLLOW? :P
53. How to remove? Gianni | March 6th 2008 @ 11:54 am

Hi, just wondered if can help me out. How can remove nofollow on my blogger page? Is there something in he settings or do i need to edit the template?
54. IT Recruitment | March 10th 2008 @ 6:12 pm

Look at all the comments you’ve attracted from SEO companies lol

I have removed NOFOLLOW

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