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WordPress, other blogging software and some Content Management Systems come standard with “nofollow” attributes applied to external links and comments.

It all started back in 2005 when Google’s webspam team came up with the concept.

They favored nofollow because they thought it would cut down on comment spam on blogs and prevent spamdexing.

So, what does this mean to you?

I realize that when you interact on another blogger’s site, for instance, that you intend to leave a quality comment — whether it be an additional point, a different opinion, or a simple thank you.  However, there’s also the additional benefit of link building, right?

With nofollow, your link won’t be followed by search engines and thus no link building is happening.

The controversy over this began as soon as the attribute came along.  Some SEO folks thought that the nofollow attribute would plug holes and keep search engines on the site indexing internal links instead of leaving to go to external links. Others vehemently disagreed.

Basically by adding a rel=”nofollow” attribute to anchor tags, search engines are being instructed that particular links are not relevant to the post or page.

However, the point of search engine indexing is to find the interrelatedness of a page or post to determine its position, as compared to other sites and pages. That’s why link building works so well.

In my opinion, I’d rather share the love! Let your commenters’ links be followed. Get the “DoFollow” plugin for WordPress and reward those that engage in the conversation on your blog.  They will appreciate it and return to comment more often. (Download here or use Search in your Plugins section for Do Follow.)

Of course, this also brings up another question:  How can you tell if a blog is using nofollow attributes?

View the source code and scroll down to the comment area.  If you don’t see the attribute rel=”nofollow”, it’s not being used. By the way, the DoFollow doesn”t actually tell search engines to follow the link in question, it’s just not telling them not to follow.

Note: In case you’re not familiar with “View Source” here’s what you do:

In Firefox look at the top of your browser and click on “View.” In the list you’ll see “Page Source.” When you click on that a new window will open and you’ll see all kinds of coding.

In IE choose “Page” and then “View Source.”

I don’t have a MAC so I can’t tell you what to do in that case, but I’m sure it’s something similar.

I use DoFollow!

Do you feel differently about the NoFollow attribute? I invite you to argue the point below in the comments.

If you agree and you think everyone should share the love, let your voice be heard…

Thanks for stopping by!

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