Seems like search engine experts are finally admitting that the Google idea to add a tag of “nofollow” to certain links has proven to be a big failure. This is an excerpt from here:
I think it’s time we all agreed that the “nofollow” tag has been a complete failure.
For those of you new to the concept, nofollow is a tag that blogs can add to hyperlinks in blog comments. The tag tells Google not to use that link in calculating the PageRank for the linked site.
In other words, if I post a comment on your blog, and my comment includes a link to my site, people can click on that link to see my site as usual. Ordinarily Google would see that link and view it — as it views most hyperlinks — as an implicit endorsement of my site. This would ever so slightly boost my site’s ranking in Google search results. But if your blog software adds the nofollow tag, Google won’t give my site any added weight at all.
The half-baked idea was that if everyone adopted nofollow, it would quickly make comment spam pointless. The thinking was that comment spam is aimed at creating lots of links to a certain site, thereby boosting that site’s rankings in Google searches. Example: If I fill your comment pages with links to haiku, then maybe Google will start to believe that my haiku site really does have something to do with haiku.
Since its enthusiastic adoption a year and a half ago, by Google, Six Apart, Wordpress, and of course the eminent Dave Winer, I think we can all agree that nofollow has done … nothing. Comment spam? Thicker than ever. It’s had absolutely no effect on the volume of spam. That’s probably because comment spammers don’t give a crap, because the marginal cost of spamming is so low. Also, nofollow-tagged links are still links, which means that humans can still click on them–and if humans can click, there’s a chance somebody might visit the linked sites after all. Heck, if we really wanted to eliminate comment spam, why don’t we just get rid of hyperlinks altogether?
Worse, nofollow has another, more pernicious effect, which is that it reduces the value of legitimate comments. Here’s how:
Why should I bother entering a comment on your blog, after all? Well, I might comment because you’re my friend. But I might also want some tiny little reward for participating in a discussion, contributing to the content on your site, and generally enhancing the value of the conversational Web. That reward? PageRank, baby. But if your blog uses the nofollow tag, you’ve just eliminated that tiny little bit of reciprocity. Thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather just comment on my own blog. And maybe, if you’re lucky, I’ll link back to you.
This blog entry was referenced by a Yahoo search expert which had his own words of wisdom regarding this train of thought:
Look. Linking is part of what makes the web work. If you’re actually concerned about every link you make being counted in some global database of site endorsements, you’re probably over-thinking just a bit. Life’s too short for that, ya know? Link and be linked to. Let the search engines sort it out.
I think the line “Let the search engines sort it out” is the most educated thing I’ve heard any search employee ever say! The most ironic part of the Zawodny post is how his Google AdSense is displaying a banner from Txt Lnk Ads. Good for those guys getting prime pub.
10 comments ↓
I was pleased to discover your haiku site! I write haiku myself, although my verse wouldn’t fit your traditional definition. Mine’s mostly about news and politics, and usually satirical.
Great post…. Only thing is that the ref=”nofollow” tag does work if big “g” and the other engines don’t count it towards and we can’t expect that this tag will stop link spam….
Because ” Linking is part of what makes the web work.” search engines come and go… but we still need to link to sites we like….
What if one day you realize that some engine has decided your site is a spam site….. you better hope you worried more about building links then seo….. remember g, y, msn are all “business looking out for their #1″ not yours…. link away
Why not just use image verification systems and/or email double optin systems? That would stop comment spam!
I find the rel=nofollow attribute quite useful for controlling the flow of PR within my own sites, but I agree that it’s not at all effective in preventing blog spam.
Personally, I think it’s only fair that someone leaving a legitimate comment gets some PR recognition for a minute or two of their time.
As for spam, we just have to deal with it as it comes. There’s no “easy” way to get rid of it.
Where I see the nofollow tag working is in blogs that don’t moderate their comments. Personally, I couldn’t imagine running a blog where I never pay attention to what people post on my site. I’ve read blogs where you get to the comments and they are just littered with comment spam…it makes me think the owner doesn’t care about the site.
There are good things about it…but I think overall it’s a joke.
Honestly I’ve never paid much attention to the nofollow tag. I personally don’t use it though I should. If Google wants it to work better, they could do a better job pushing it to the webmastering crowd. Eventually the spammers and the people hiring the spammers would start to hear more chatter about the nofollow tag and it might begin to cause a ripple.
Good Post, after reading this post about the no-follow tag it made me think about all the back links i have from different sites and to check that they are linking the right way. if not i will put no-follow back to there sites, it has to be 50:50 they link to me and i link to them and we both benefit.
I’ve got it! keep the nofollows and award the best, handpicked, comments a link back to their site - as a reward. I’m going to implement that on my site, once I’ve coded the comment and user system.
Simon, do you think that both parties benefit from a mutual exchange of links? I think, given the way pagerank works, that there can only ever be one winner- ie one person will take pagerank off the other.
Greg, both parties benefit with a link as long as the no follow tag is not used as after posting this link before I have just checked the source on this site and yes it uses the no follow tag which has not helped my site in any way.
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