Understanding Follow Tags
Yesterday I was asked a question through a comment on my post, PageRank Is Back. The question is valid and I thought instead of hiding the answer in a reply to the comment I’d make a post to answer and explain.
The question that was presented is this:
I don’t really get it what is the meaning of ‘nofollow’ or ‘dofollow’… Hope you could help me out. Thanks in advance.
For this type of question I can go in two directions. Give you a good breakdown on what a bot sees when it crawls your site or just answer the question.
Because of the multiple complexities and the length it’d take me to write up an explanation of what happens when your site is crawled, I’m going for the easier route.
Each time you link to another website/blog post from your website/blog post Google considers this link to be a “vote” for the site.
Using the method of “dofollow” this means that you’re are indeed telling Google that you’re making a vote for this site. You like the content and you believe it to be “worthy.”
By default, most blogging platforms have a “nofollow” installed for all links. A “nofollow” tag within a link structure (or site wide if you do not change the default) tells Google that you are not placing a vote for the site that you are linking to.
When the WordPress plug-ins appeared on the scene that removed the site wide “nofollow,” a trend started. And thus we now say “dofollow” meaning that we have removed the default no follow.
Let’s get more simple.
If you leave a comment on I’m Blogging That that includes your URL, I’m automatically giving you a vote for your site because I am a “dofollow blogger.” When a bot crawls my site, it will follow the URL you have left on my site thus giving you a vote from my site to yours. This is where that famous “PageRank passing” comes along.
If you’re not nofollow, you’re dofollow.
Now, if you install one of the multiple dofollow plugins but manually link to a site you do not want to “vote” for, you still have the manual option to do that.
Let’s break down a link to understand how to nofollow on a link.
Basic HTML code for a link is as follows:
<a href=”http://www.imbloggingthat.com”>I’m Blogging That!</a>
This simple line of code will do nothing more but link the words I’m Blogging That to my blog URL.
<a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.imbloggingthat.com”>I’m Blogging That!</a>
By adding target=”_blank” I have just coded into the link that the words I’m Blogging That should open my blog URL in a new window.
<a target=”_blank” title=”Visit I’m Blogging That” href=”http://www.imbloggingthat.com”>I’m Blogging That!</a>
In this link structure, I have added in title=”Visit I’m Blogging That” which is what would be displayed when your cursor hovers of my link of I’m Blogging That.
<a target=”_blank” title=”Visit I’m Blogging That” rel=”nofollow” href=”http://www.imbloggingthat.com”>I’m Blogging That!</a>
Finally, this link structure I have added rel=”nofollow” which removes my vote in the link for I’m Blogging That.
It’s a lot to take in, especially if you’re just starting out. Understanding something of this nature is vital especially when it’s such a hot topic. I highly suggest that every webmaster and/or blogger know how to properly structure a link without a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor.
I also want to add to this that the last example for a link structure should be used when you’re placing a URL in a comment and have already left your URL in the requested box. Don’t just paste in a URL, structure the link properly so that you do not hurt the blog’s design.
If you still have questions, feel free to ask. I hope that this explanation was helpful and not more confusing.
Technorati Tags: Linking, Link Structure, Passing PageRank, PageRank, Google, Websites, Webmaster, NoFollow, DoFollow, DoFollow Plugin, WordPress Plugins, DoFollow Bloger, Bot
January 11th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I’ve had a basic understanding of the href html tag for years now, but I really like the breakdown the way you explained it. I’m going to print it out and keep it with my html cheat sheet!
Thank you for making your feeds full instead of partial. I’m much more inclined to take the time to read (and subsequently comment) when I don’t have to take an extra step to read it.
January 11th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Kirsten » Great! I’m so glad I could help. After writing the post I was a bit concerned that I’d end up giving more confusion rather than being helpful. I’m happy to see that at least in your case, that wasn’t true.
As far as the feed, you’re welcome. I would have done it A LOT sooner if I had just found the plug-in that enabled it sooner.
January 12th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Thanks, Katy! Let’s say I’m going to ‘clean-up’ all the paid postings links without deleting the articles, then, I need to insert the rel=”nofollow” tag in the given links by the advertisers, am I right?! Pheww… you’re not making me confused except that I really want to restore my PR and do the product reviews without violating Google TOS. Hope to hear from you soon. Happy Weekend!!! :)
January 12th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Choc Mint Girl » Sounds like you have the right system down.
When I cleaned up my site to be reconsidered for getting PageRank back, I deleted posts and added no follow to old sponsored posts that I didn’t want to delete. Additionally, I removed the “dofollow” bloggers list of links, reworked my disclosure policy so that it in no way matched the ones from discosurepolicy.org and I removed “paid to blog” banners from my site.
All those things got me my PageRank. The best news is that for me, it just took a couple of weeks.
January 12th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Thanks Katy! I really enjoy your posts because you provide good info and how to do it. You’re the best. Woot!
January 12th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Aww, thanks Manda! :o)
January 13th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Good explanation.
January 13th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Mikster: Thank you. :o)
January 13th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Two questions.
If I have a standard installation of wordpress does that mean have the snobby “nofollow”? And why have “nofollow” in the first place? Is there a Google penalty for using “doFollow”?
BTW you are doing all sorts of things on your blog I’m going to copy.
January 13th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Colin » With a standard install of WordPress, you are running with nofollow (unless of course, you install the do follow plugin). I believe nofollow started to prevent comment spam. But honestly, I have no real answer other than that.
In regards to Google, I have seen no penalty and even left my “do follow” plugin activated when I requested reconsideration from them after losing my PageRank. In all, I haven’t heard of anyone being busted for enabling the ability to follow.
Lastly, what is it that I’m doing right for you to copy? Thank you, I think? LOL
January 13th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Hi Katy,
Thanks for the fast response. This post is has some of the stuff I’m going to copy. The stuff:
1) You follow up on most every comment. I always like to be acknowledged for my comments and I’m sure everyone else checks back too. When I look at your posts I see you give a response to comments which makes me want to give a comment.
2) You build on previous posts( the blue highlight on this post)
3)Logical Flow. You have “About-My Sites-My Social Stuff”
4) You make things simple “Cards-Drop Yours”
5) Your writing is natural and personal.
January 13th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Colin » Wow, great compliments. Thank you for sharing those with me… it lets me know that I’m reaching my goals because you’ve pointed out what I’ve wanted to get at by wanting to copy them.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Since nofollow was originally intended to stop spam on blogs, I believe if the writer checks all comments are valid and not spam then there’s nothing wrong with following the links.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Bill » I agree. Enabling the follow tag hasn’t done anything unusual for me, like provided me with more spam comments. And of course, there are always multiple comment spam plugins to aid in keeping comments clean and on topic.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
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February 5th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
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February 13th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Does “no follow” effect SERPs at all?
February 14th, 2008 at 5:59 am
hi there! can i ask is “external nofollow” different from “nofollow”
i used external nofollow last months, and when i try to search for that blog in technorati, my blog is one of the sites that gives vote(authority) for that blog!
Which i don’t want =(
February 14th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Lisa » I’ll be answering your question with a post later today. :o)
Julia » External nofollow and nofollow are essentially the same. External nofollow becomes more specific than nofollow because it also tells Google that the link is not to another page on your site.
As far as the Technorati vote, any link, followed or not will do that. Technorati doesn’t play the nofollow game, that’s for Google that ’some’ other search engines have picked up.
February 14th, 2008 at 10:47 am
[...] the comments of my post, Understanding Follow Tags a great question was asked that I thought I’d give special attention to with a blog post. It’s [...]
February 14th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Lisa » I’ve just posted a article to answer your question: No Follow and Search Engine Results.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:53 am
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