A decision that I came across a couple of weeks ago was whether or not I would make IronBlogger a DoFollow Blog.
For those you who do not know, A DoFollow blog is where every link is allowed to be followed by search engines. So, for example, If you made a comment on a DoFollow Blog, your link would be indexed by the search engines and thus giving you a free link back towards your blog. This seems like a very good advantage to the commentator, but how does it really effect the author who owns the blog? I decided that I would make IronBlogger a Dofollow blog for the course of a couple weeks, and these are some of the results I have gotten. First, lets look more at the positive and negatives effects of having a DoFollow Blog.
First thing I did was install the No Follow Free Plugin. This plugin here will easily allow you to switch your comments from Nofollow to Dofollow with just click of a button. After that I waited to see what would happen.
One thing that seemed very obvious to me was that, I would probably experience more comments as my readers are getting a free link out of the deal. What seemed to actually happen was that instead, I just ended up getting a lot more spam comments. I did however notice a tiny increase in comments, but not a whole lot.
I was also interested to see how giving out more free links would affect my search engine traffic. It seems that it could have the potential, but one thing I noticed was that the majority of the comments I was receiving were from smaller blogs. Since I was giving out a lot more links to Blogs that were smaller or just as big as mine, my search engine ranking did experience a little bit of a drop.
In the end I decided that I would take DoFollow off of IronBlogger, and keep the comments NoFollow. Instead, I installed Comment Luv, which will give the commenter a free back link and only one per commenter. This way I could give back to my readers for commenting but at the same time not kill my SEO ranking.
Here is a few points as to why you may be interested in making your blog DoFollow:
- You will get more comments from your readers
- You will be giving back more to your readers for commenting
- Your blog might rank well with other bloggers because you are giving off free links, as there are not many Dofollow blogs out there.
Here are some negative points:
- You will experience much more spam comments
- This can negatively effect your SEO ranking.
- You will have to be more careful on what your standards are for allowing comments
In conclusion, having a Dofollow blog can get you a few more comments and make your blog stand out but at the same time it can have an negative effect on you. I’d say try it out, and if it works good for you, keep it. Obviously if it does not work, get rid of it. Everyone’s results will probably be different on this, so go and experiment with it.
As you can see this method did not work out for me. Instead, I installed CommentLuv and stuck with that.
I will also say that if you want to find out whether a blog is DoFollow, Install the SEO For Firefox Plugin. Once installed, turn this plugin on. When you browse other blogs with this plugin on, every link that is Nofollow will turn up Red. This way you can easily spot if a blog is Nofollow or DoFollow.
If you have had any expeince or thoughts about this, let me know!
[...] Go to the author’s original blog: To Follow or Not To Follow [...]
IMO dofollow brings more trouble than it’s worth.
People that comment *just* to drop their link are probably not going to be leaving comments of any quality. I’d prefer less comments, but more thought in each one.
Also, dofollow counts each comment as an outgoing link - TUK had more than 5,500, which definitely affected the blog in the PR update
Jasons last blog post..8 Sure Fire Ways to Lure Comments for Your Posts
I guess it could actually benefit you in that way. I also know that Google check the quality of the sites that you are linking to as well.
[...] of IronBlogger weighs the pros and cons of having a dofollow or a nofollow blog. Is it better to follow or not to follow? What do you [...]
Write a strict comment policy on your blog, maybe that would help.
I think it is fine that you are going nofollow, I know I have stayed that way, and learned it is too much of a hassle to go with do-follow. I do not really pay attention to who have d and n, I just read and comment.
I think it can help bring awareness to your blog by using this plugin. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have found you!
Susans last blog post..WP Fast 3 Columns
for me its follow
but am wondering for nofollow 
narendra.s.vs last blog post..Download 19 sets of free icons collection for a better blog
I wouldn’t even think of making my blog do-follow :O I think that a top commentators plugin is enough
If I am going to have people commenting for the sake of a free link, I don’t want them to comment at all!
Rajaie AlKoranis last blog post..Buzz Theme Officially Released
No follow kinda has a negative aspect to it—-so I prefer the do follow—-but your post was well written and informative.
GaryJay
http://threescoreplusten.blogspot.com/
GaryJays last blog post..The Sun Sets On Friday—the bloggo sphere population dies by 90%
I have to agree with Jason with all the buzz around my blog lately this is an issue I have had to start to put some deep thought into. While I want to promote conversation and reward those that do, I do not want to promote my pr going in the toilet nor do I want the quality of comments to go down.
Pick your poison wisely and run with it.
Big Ben Pattons last blog post..Blogging And Internet Marketing Tips
[...] To Follow Or Not To Follow - Iron Blogger [...]
Hmmmm, I don’t know…that’s what comment moderation is for! Lol, I’ve been dofollow from the jump and don’t plan on changing anytime soon. I feel it’s only cool, the people that read and comment on my site help make it what it is…so they get some loving.
FYI comment luv is nofollow
As you say, it’s up to each person, it’s not that big of a deal to me, yeah…I’d like to see some PR love, but it really isn’t that big of a deal to me as long as my traffic and readership keeps increasing.
Normal Joes last blog post..Tired of this crap man Feedburner stats are wack
I wasn’t really concerned about spammy comments on my dofollow blog, Askimet seems to be doing a good job filtering close to 30+ spams each day.
I’m not too sure whether it will affect my PR as there are differing views on the subject of Google lowering your PR due to your blog being dofollow. I guess the jury is still out on this issue.
I’ll see what happen on the next update but for now, my readers are pretty happy with it.
Yan
Blog Tips for Beginnerss last blog post..Publicity Wheel Can Boost Your Blog’s Traffic In a BIG Way
Thanks for the comments everyone. Some really good views and perspectives were shown here. I think it all depends on your personal taste and opinion on the subject. It seems that it is a 50/50 vote on this one.
For the time being, IronBlogger is going to remain NoFollow. Unless someone can give me a reason not too :).