Comments on: Why You Shouldn’t Nofollow Links in Posts

By: Carnell Mathis

Carnell Mathis — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 23:21:07 +0000

I’m just wondering how much this really effects PR. I just changed all of my links back to nofollow after using the dofollow plugin for a while and watched my site jump to number 2 for a coveted spot.

By: Fiji Web Design

Fiji Web Design — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:32:04 +0000

Personally I think google should be more specific and read things like: rel=”advertisement” or rel=”comment”.

By: Fiji Web Design

Fiji Web Design — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:29:14 +0000

Why would you want to nofollow a link that is a reference in your post, then the only reason is to not credit them for the information they have supplied freely to you.

By: DailyTechPost

DailyTechPost — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 10:10:37 +0000

I think this feature has created a lot of confusion. But if the whole idea of no follow is conceptually clear then it will definitely boost your site’s ranking

By: Jonathan Dingman

Jonathan Dingman — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:06:46 +0000

Ryan, read my reply in the comments and you’ll see that I agree with you. I’m speaking from a general sense, not a complete blanket overall of everything.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:53:08 +0000

There are reasons to nofollow links depending on their nature, content, position on your site etc.

You can’t just make a blanket statement that nofollow’ing links in posts is a bad idea as that is clearly not true.

By: Jonathan Dingman

Jonathan Dingman — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:19:19 +0000

Ileane,

I don’t think there’s any “rule” on the web that you must link, but it’s proper edicate and proper form. Just like when writing a paper in school, you must cite your sources. In the same circumstance, I feel it’s appropriate to cite those sources in a post online.

We still nofollow comment links here because it’s user contributed data and we don’t always vouch for those users. If I link to something in a post, I am vouching for it as it’s content that I wrote myself.

Your last point is head on, that yes, I wanted to write this to bring up some awareness to people and to get feedback from what people think on the subject.

By: Ileane

Ileane — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:04:26 +0000

I think it’s very interesting that bloggers would choose to nofollow some links yet dofollow others.
Is there any rule that states a link must be included at all? I mean, if you’re going to quote a source (Google, CNN, Wikipedia) it tells your readers that you feel the source has some credibility – unless the reference is derogatory. Bottom line when it comes to major news or information sources most people will go and find the site anyway if they are interested enough. My blog is dofollow for the benefit of other bloggers not news sites.

I think this is a good conversation to have because there is a wide range of views on the subject. Thanks for getting it going.

@Ileane

By: Nimit kashyap

Nimit kashyap — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:25:01 +0000

I am using no follow for all the external things now i need to re-think about it.

By: Jonathan Dingman

Jonathan Dingman — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:39:39 +0000

I agree, you shoulnd’t “never” put nofollow, but I think generally, it’s a good idea to link to out to sites you trust. I personally don’t really like wikipedia, so I never give them any link juice. But say, CNN.com, there’s really no reason you shouldn’t link to CNN, any link going there should be followed, in my opinion.