11 Reasons against nofollow
The attribute rel="nofollow" for hypertext links in HTML web pages was originally proposed as a way to limit the effect of blog and forum comment spam on search engines’ indexes. However, the proposal has some serious drawbacks. We want you to watch the spread of nofollow and support us. We give you some very good reasons against nofollow and show you that there are a lot of people out there, thinking like we do.
11 Reasons against nofollow
- nofollow does not prevent comment spam
- nofollow is confusingly named
- nofollow harms the connections between web sites
- nofollow is not useful for humans, just for search engines using PageRank or a similar technique
- nofollow could be used to shut web sites out
- nofollow discriminates legitimate users as spammers
- nofollow heists commentators’ earned attention
- nofollow could be used to further discriminate weblogs<
- nofollow prevents the Web from being a web
- nofollow eliminates the dissemination of free speech
- nofollow was developed in privacy with only search engines companies taking part in the discussion
[…] From a website owner’s point of view, relying solely on search engines is a risky strategy. What if algorithms change? What if your SEO expert inadvertedly commits a mistake and your site is dropped from popular search engines? What if no-follow giants like Wikipedia keep sucking up link energy and eventually rank higher for your own name or niche than you do? […]
[…] But sholud we consieder nofollow Attribute harmfull in any case and forever like No NoFollow intitiative do? Let’s inspect their 11 Reasons agains nofollow: […]
[…] All spam solutions these days attempt to integrate seamlessly with the host site so as not to spoil the experience for the user (except CAPTCHAs, which have serious accessibility issues), but nofollow takes that benefit of a relevant link away from a legitimate commenter. In an attempt to hurt the spammers, all the real, live, human commenters have taken a hit and this is the crux of the problem with nofollow. There are other problems, but this I think is really where it goes wrong. […]
[…] Oh, by the way, there also exists 11 reasons against nofollow from a German site dedicated against the use of rel=”nofollow”. And, more reasons from Loren Baker, which could be what you really need to understand that nofollow is not the answer. […]
There are a lot of bloggers out there who are not aware that the attribute rel=”nofollow” is set up as default in comments in WordPress.
I hope that the word will spread and more bloggers disable the nofollow attribute on their blog. there are plugins available for this.
The reality is that the nofollow tag is hurting bloggers and not fighting spam and people commenting should receive credit for the contributions they make to a blog’s content.
[…] While there are no strong statements that say “nofollow is dead,” the way bloggers talk about it says it all. Lorelle VanFossen (of Lorelle on WordPress fame) mentioned it on the Blog Herald. Plugin authors are creating anti-nofollow remedies. Sites like nonofollow.net have sprung up, and even made a “manifest” against nofollow. […]
[…] Here’s one of the sites that’s actively advocating against nofollow: No Nofollow. Here are 11 reasons why nofollow is not effective, and expanded explanations on these (and 5 more). […]
[…] Szczerze to polecam przeszukanie googli oraz delicji w celu poczytania o nofollow. W skrócie Google wymyśliło taki atrybut, który maił służyÄ zapobieganiu spamowi. Jednak odkÄd stało siÄ oczywiste, że nie działa on wedle pierwotnych założeń nie ma chyba głÄbszego sensu go stosowaÄ. […]
[…] Much has been said about why nofollow is silly, including this seminal post. I agree. For starters, comment spam is absolutely rife. […]
I have delete the nofollow in my site
Google nd Yahoo deside to use nofollow attribute to protect search result from manipulating. Searchengines search result’s depends from links between web site, and SE use links to make search results more quality. For example? Google use Page Rank and Trust Rank, based on links.
I don’t understand, why blogs is discriminated and excluded from Links_Internet_Community?
If the site is thrown - it does not develop, there is nothing interesting on it, nobody will put references on such site. Then the weight of references from such sites will be low. The system should be as much as possible self-adjusted.
The engines also need to come out with a clarification of using rel=nofollow on internal inks. Lots of webmasters are no using rel=nofollow on links in their navigation thinking that this is a way to control the flow of pagerank to certain pages on their on their site. This seems to be doing more harm than good - SEO types advocate adding rel-nofollow to pages like “about us”, etc. Its just silly!
I was just thinking whether this site is also using the nofollow tag, but found nothing. Well I really hate nofollow tag just because a genuine comment is getting the penalty for something which is not even done by him. There are few people who do spams and others genuine user too have to face the nofollow tag, and their hard work to post a good comment goes into vein.
These are some very good arguments against the use of nofollow. Now we just need to spread the word throughout the blogging community so that more webmasters can join the NoNofollow movement and restore blogs to their rightful place on the Internet and in the search results.
I removed the nofollow tags on my blog through the use of a plugin called NoFollow Case by Case. This plugin is an excellent solution to the nofollow dilemma that will allow bloggers to receive credit for their contributions to other blogs while still allowing us the ability to block spam comments without having to censor the content. I installed the plugin on my blog approximately two months ago, and so far it is working very well even after changing themes.
The nofollow tag is very popular and I myself recently added it to one of my own sites however after reading through these 11 reasons not to include the tags I am seriously considering removing them. I don’t like the idea of search engines cutting up the web into sections and blocking paths between sites, and your right it has not stopped spam or even slowed it down.
Thank you for developing this site in support of the NoNofollow movement. After finding your site about three months ago, I removed the nofollow links from comments and trackbacks on my blog with a Wordpress plugin.
Earlier today, I returned to this site and clicked through to the Wikipedia entry and noticed the HTML code for your NoNofollow button. I now have the button and link installed in the sidebar of my blog.
The only one, but very big reason why google needs Nofollow tag is in SEO. Because when promoting through SEO costs a little, it will be hard to have good income with help of Pey Per Click advertising.
[…] (de “11 Reasons against NoFollow“) […]
I understand your arguments, but why would WordPress ship with external nofollow turned on?
Patrick, I think you ask the wrong people… Try Matt directly…
I think people use the whole no follow idea without knowing about it. The two most popular blogging platforms are wordpress and blogspot and both (and all other blogging platforms) have the no follow in comment links by default.
Many bloggers don’t even know this or don’t know how to remove this.
I’m torn about this: default nofollow hurts search engine coverage, no nofollow encourages spam. what’s the solution to this, I wonder.
I agree your post,But i still afraid of spam.no nofollow will encourages spammer to add my blog to his software sending more and more spam comments.i know If i removed nofollow,may be can get more comments,it’s difficult to choice to me.
Say No! to Nofollow…
One of the most controversial subjects in the world of blogging recently has been the growth of the use of something called “nofollow”. However, there are ways to remove it from most parts of your blo……
[…] However bloggers can easily prevent spam using better methods such as anti-spam plug-ins. There is no reason to need nofollow, it just deters genuine blog […]
[…] this? This site has joined the MOVEMENT. The attribute rel=”nofollow” for hypertext links in HTML web pages was originally […]
Well I didn’t know a thing about this until now. Thanks for the info and my site is now a part of this movement.
Using “CAPTCHA”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha without “nofollow” and actually monitoring your comments is the way to go.
[…] un poco llegué a una entrada en un pequeño blog donde se expresan 11 razones contra el nofollow. Está en inglés, por lo que si no lo entendéis […]
Even though I wonder about the “canonical“ “no nofollow” website (there appear to be a few …), I may all the more emphasize my sympathies for “nofollow doubts”:http://meiert.com/en/blog/20070106/nofollow-still-considered-harmful/ … site owners should not generally mistrust linked sites but rather do their homework and manually avoid “questionable” links, unless software really does that job.