We are now ‘nofollow’ free
Daniel | Sep 12, 2009 | Comments 15
Two Go Round-The-World is now 'nofollow' free...
As of today, we’re providing frequent commenters on our site with a link—we’re doing this as a thank you for those that have made a contribution to our site’s content via our comment stream. Starting today, after five comments have been recorded, a user’s author comment link will be automatically changed to a ‘trusted link’ that search engines are encouraged to follow.
Why the change?
Every time one website links to another, it’s actually an endorsement for the page to which the link is being directed. In a default WordPress blog, links in the comment stream are discounted. This functionality was introduced to WordPress blogs in 2005 to help prevent spam comments.
However, as filters become more and more efficient, spam comments are becoming increasingly rare. Hence, we have decided to re-enable linking through the comment stream. This is our way of saying ‘thank you’ for comments on our posts.
So feel free to leave a comment on any article or post herein. Once you have recorded five comments, your backlink will be marked as trusted.
Filed Under: Blog • Dan's Blog • Featured
Comments (15)
We are nofollow free! What does this mean to you? Click here for further info. Also, Two Go Round-The-World is Gravatar enabled. If you don't have a Gravatar, go here to get one. Upload an avatar and all Gravatar-enabled sites will search for your image and place it neatly next to your comment!
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Bravo! I’ve been preaching this for a long time, because I’m a big believer that the ‘nofollow’ tag has done more to inhibit conversation than anything else – busy bloggers have only so much time to comment on other blogs, and many choose to focus where they can also help improve traffic to their own site – I don’t blame them. This is a great move!
Thank you for the comment, Trisha. I agree with you that the ‘nofollow’, while once necessary to preserve the integrity of search results, is no longer needed and does more to hamper conversation than it does to encourage it! Thanks again for the comment — it is much appreciated!
I’m really glad to hear this, Daniel. MSW has always maintained a nofollow free policy. It’s nice to see someone also as an advocate for it.
I wasn’t aware of the, Carrie. Cool. I think that I will try to comprise a list of ‘nofollow free’ travel blogs. Would make afor a good post!
That’s a great idea Daniel. Is there a quick and easy way of switching this from within wordpress or do we have to tinker with the code?
Thanks,
Paul @
TravMonkey World Travel
Hi Paul — thanks for the comment. No fiddling. As easy as installing a plugin. Here’s the link.
Hi Daniel,
I should clarify. Comments on MSW aren’t nofollow. I tried that for a while but I was getting a lot of weirdo folks looking for link love for things that I didn’t want to represent on my site. I really hate it when people drop by and load their comments up with links. It drives me crazy. However, I do reward regular commentators with a link love roundup each month. Those links are always do follow.
I know where you are coming from! If that were to happen, I think that Kathryn and I would revisit our policy. I like your alternative too (monthly link roundup) — we sort of do something simlar on Friday’s with out “What we’re reading…” series. It’s really six of one and half dozen of the other, eh?
Thanks for the plugin. I will have to check my wordpress. I’m still pretty green with this blog business so I don’t even know what ‘no follow’ is till I read your post.
funny, I love your site for the camaraderie and the way you’ve been able to convey your goal for a RTW trip on such a personal level, but everytime I visit, I learn something techie. Thanks for throwing all this into the mix!
I just wanted to say thanks for the link love. I imagine it helps generate some traffic, and most people would try to leave better thought out comments to show their appreciation. I have to agree with Tammie, there is a great sense of comraderie (I hope I spelled that correctly) on this site. Thanks and have a blessed day.
Kewl Kat
I too am now a “dofollow” or “nofollow free” blogger. I am just understanding how this works. How can we test it to ensure it is working properly? I had a commenter tell me they had it installed buy couldn’t tell if it was working now it’s got me wondering.
Thanks,
Tam
Hi Tam — the attribute is called “nofollow” with rel=”nofollow” being the format inserted within an anchor tag. Have a look at the HTML output of the page on your site. To check if the plugin is working — this is how the HTML markup for a ‘dofollow’ link might look:
< a href="http://www.site.com/page.html" >Visit My Page < /a >This is how the link would look after the nofollow attribute has been added —
< a href="http://www.site.com/page.html" rel= "nofollow" >Visit My Page < /a >Let me know if this explanation helps.
I do “no follow free” in my blog
just curious: are you still ‘no follow’ free?