Do you blog on the Blogger platform? Did you know that your commenters don’t get “credit” from Technorati or any of the other major ranking sites because Blogger has a “do not follow” policy they build right into their templates? What that basically means is that your commenters don’t get credit for linking their name to your blog. For shame!
There is a movement going on in the blogging community you may not be aware of. It’s called the “U comment, I Follow”. Randa Clay sums it up best:
Almost all blog platforms by default are set up so that a “dead end†piece of code is inserted wherever there is a link in a comment, so that search engines will not “count†the link as they are crawling the internet. This was originally designed to help stop comment spam, but it doesn’t work. What it does is remove some of the incentive for your readers contribute to your site by commenting on your posts.
What can you do about it? Turn off “nofollowâ€. Show your commenters that you appreciate them. Spread the link love.
Randa also has a variety of buttons you can save and use on your site to show you are comment friendly. In addition, I’ve found a website that explains in very SIMPLE and concrete terms how to remove the “no follow” from your blog template. I was able to do it with no problems whatsoever. One very important side note – BACK UP YOUR BLOG TEMPLATE before doing anything. That way, if for some crazy reason, it goes wonky, you still have your original code saved on your computer.
And feel free to leave a comment, ’cause you’ll definitely get credit for it with me! Be sure to head on over and see Shannon @ Rocks in My Dryer for more Works for Me Wednesday tips!
Technorati Tags: removing no follow from Blogger, improve traffic, Texas
Vickie
January 22, 2008 at 10:11 pm (15 years ago)Thanks so much! I have heard of this but have not tried to do anything about it yet.
Blessings,
Vickie@PursuingSimplicity
Phyllis Sommer
January 22, 2008 at 10:13 pm (15 years ago)thanks for the explanation and the tip!
Vickie
January 22, 2008 at 10:15 pm (15 years ago)That is hilarious! I did not get every post read last week or I would not have posted it! LOL!
Ornery's Wife
January 22, 2008 at 10:16 pm (15 years ago)I tried this once, but had no success. I may ask my blog designer to fix it for me. She probably knows how and then I won’t have to worry about messing up the template! Thanks for the reminder!
I have never commented with the thought that it boosted my rankings, only to share my opinions or encouragement. I didn’t realize comments helped that until recently. Oh, well!
TM
Chilihead
January 22, 2008 at 10:20 pm (15 years ago)Yep. More people need to hop on this bandwagon. 😀
Kimi Harris
January 22, 2008 at 10:42 pm (15 years ago)wow! I didn’t know that! thanks for the tip.
Dawn
January 22, 2008 at 11:51 pm (15 years ago)I didn’t know this one. Can I link to your post on my site? I think others need to know too! 🙂
Frazzmom
January 22, 2008 at 11:59 pm (15 years ago)I’ve seen this button on a couple of blogs, but didn’t know what it was for… Thanks for the info!
Mommy Cracked
January 23, 2008 at 12:07 am (15 years ago)Great info! I’m off to see what I can do for mine.
Liza's Eyeview
January 23, 2008 at 2:30 am (15 years ago)I quickly read the instructions before and it seems hard for a non-technical person to do it (sigh).
infinitygoods
January 23, 2008 at 2:30 am (15 years ago)I’m not with Blogger so it doesn’t apply to me, but I like to comment to encourage or help others. I like receiving comments and I’m sure others do too, so I comment as much as I can. I hope most people don’t base their decisions to comment or not comment just to boost their rankings. Even on other blogging platforms, statistics show that fewer than 1 percent of visitors leave comments.
Kim from Hiraeth
January 23, 2008 at 6:33 am (15 years ago)The world would still be waiting if it were up to me to figure stuff like this out.
It never occurred to me that links to my blog left in a comment would increase ranking! I thought those links were like a little invitation: “I live here, come visit me!”
Stephanie
January 23, 2008 at 7:41 am (15 years ago)Ah on my to do list for blog tweaking! 😉
Playful Professional
January 23, 2008 at 7:46 am (15 years ago)I did this and it worked out great. If you right click on the Alexa ranking in the bottom right hand corner of the page and click on highlight nofollow links, they’ll all get highlighted in pink. You can tell you were successful when they’re not anymore!
SAHMmy Says
January 23, 2008 at 8:24 am (15 years ago)Great tip–did not know this! I also noticed your Technorati tags–thought they had to be one word keywords but I see you have phrases–so a twofer tip for me today–thanks!
Fresh Girl
January 23, 2008 at 9:22 am (15 years ago)Wow, I did not know any of this! I mean, I use Technorati tags, but the comment thing was definitely something I was missing out on. Great tip, Karen! I’m going to save this post and work on my blog later and fix that in my template.
Thanks!
Jeni
January 23, 2008 at 9:54 am (15 years ago)Good suggestion! I’ll have to look into that!
{Karla}
January 23, 2008 at 10:17 am (15 years ago)i tried this recently and had problems. i’m off to try the link you provided.
Thanks!
blessingss,
Karla
(ps – i usually read you in my feeder, so i don’t know if this is the template you had pre-Christmas, but I LOVE your blog design!)
ellen b.
January 23, 2008 at 10:32 am (15 years ago)Don’t judge me too harshly but I don’t understand most of this stuff… 🙁
One thing I know it irritates me that blogger doesn’t let you leave a direct link to a specific post on your blog!
Peggie
January 23, 2008 at 10:33 am (15 years ago)Thank you for the info. I did not know about this and will try to do it on mine also. It just does not make sense to have that on there. Thanks again!
suzof7
January 23, 2008 at 11:14 am (15 years ago)That’s very helpful – though I think I’m using classic. Oh well.
Flea
January 23, 2008 at 11:30 am (15 years ago)Sweet! I’ll probably still get my own domain name, but this is very helpful!
lisa (lost pezhead)
January 23, 2008 at 1:13 pm (15 years ago)i’m still a little confused…so people want credit for their comments? and if you don’t turn this thing off they don’t get credit? why do you need credit for comments?? this is the first time i’ve heard of this! so much to know about blogging!
Ribbon Rock Star
January 23, 2008 at 4:31 pm (15 years ago)hmm, I will have to check this out! Thanks for sharing.
Linda
AutumnFawn
January 23, 2008 at 8:04 pm (15 years ago)I consider myself to be an amoeba when it comes to understanding computer related stuff, so thanks for sharing and maybe I can try to check this out for myself.
Rachel Whetzel
January 23, 2008 at 8:23 pm (15 years ago)OK. I’m going to work on this… BUT FIRST I want your blog template…. I think you need to email it to me.
Whimspiration
January 24, 2008 at 5:29 pm (15 years ago)I didn’t know I could remove the nofollow in Blogger. Thanks for the tip!
I’m removing the nofollow on all of my blogs right now! *grin*
Putting in a graphic will have to wait until later, though.
Audra
January 24, 2008 at 8:11 pm (15 years ago)Thanks for letting us know about this. I think I have it set now to ‘do follow’. 🙂
I’ll work on getting a plugin for my wordpress blogs set up this weekend for the ‘do follow’. 🙂
Now – technorati? I have NO idea how to get that going or anything.
Jane
January 24, 2008 at 9:30 pm (15 years ago)This was new to me. Thanks!
Christine
February 7, 2008 at 6:49 pm (15 years ago)Definitely an eye opener for me. Thank you so much for the great tip.
I love your blog! Keep up the good work. 🙂