BlogToProfit Tip: Remove rel=”nofollow”
Last month, the issue that Wikipedia has implemented rel="nofollow" to all outgoing links from its pages hit the blogosphere, and hit it hard. It sparked another version of the never-ending debate if the link attribute1 that was originally meant to prevent comment spams is really effective and worthy to be used or not.
I vote for not.
The main argument is that Wikipedia gets, but doesn’t give back, link love. It receives many linkbacks from sites whose owners trust the information it provides, but it refuses to spread the love around. The issue became more serious as many speculates again the evilness of nofollow. They concluded that the attribute is only for Google’s gain as it decreases the spam links that pollute the SERPs. Yeah, I know, it’s still useful as Google would give more relevant search results, but to tag nofollow as a means to combat spam? Nuh-uh. I’ve been meaning to write about the attribute since then, but Aja did me a favor and beat me to it. He has just posted an article describing the rel="nofollow" attribute, so I leave it to you people to read it.
Personally, I think that rel="nofollow" is one heck of a harmful an unnecessary attribute. It doesn’t do what it should because spams rely on the clicks, not the listings. Spammers will still spam your blog, nofollow or dofollow. In the process, it hurts the bloggers, not the spammers. Wanna eliminate spams? Use Akismet, or Spam Karma, or Bad Behavior! Just don’t follow nofollow. To quote part of my comment on Aja’s entry,
Nofollow = pointless, if the reason why it’s there is to prevent spams. The use of it causes more harm than good (what good?) because it breaks the link chain of genuine and legitimate commenters who deserve every link love, traffic, and pagerank they should get. Moreover, since the internet is all about information technology, using the nofollow attribute prevents the free flow of information between websites.
Sadly, WordPress2 has adopted this attribute and integrated it in the system. Anywhere that users can add hyperlinks by themselves (read: comment area) have nofollow automatically added to the links. Thus, this disproves the thought that commenting on other sites like crazy is going to raise your PageRank. Even if you leave your mark on a thousand blogs and link your site a million times, it’d do nothing but make you look like a desperate fool3. Especially if you’re the type who has nothing better to say than, “Great layout!”
Obviously, I’m leading to the conclusion that rel="nofollow" is a nuisance and should be removed. Heck, even the Matt of WP thinks that it doesn’t [quite] work.
So what does this have to do with Blog to Profit, you ask?
B2P relies on your PageRank to determine how much moolah you can get by posting 10 integrated-to-blog-entries links. It goes without saying that the higher your PageRank is, the richer you are. Although honestly, I wanna spank many people who wail that they need the money. Screw them! Need is hell of a lot different from want. Errr, whatever. Oops, I need to stop being so bitchy because I always scare off a lot of people, bwahaha. 
And so the numerous despair calls inspired me to make this post. You know, the “Can you help me increase my PageRank?!” Yadda, yadda, yadda. People, you4 can help one another by simply removing nofollow from your CMS. As simple as that. It can raise the PageRank of those who comment on your blog, and, if you tell them to do the same, you also get the PageRank juice. In this sense, both you and your visitors benefit. Juices can’t be any juicier than that.
Now, the question: How do I remove nofollow?
I don’t trust anyone to mess with the core WP source code like I used to do in the past. I’ve just found out that Jem has written a tutorial on how to remove nofollow, but it’s only been tested in WP 1.5. So, for the safety of your sanity and your blog, I recommend the use of plugins which you can install to dofollow and not to nofollow. A list of plugins to address this issue is provided by Andy Beard. More recently, another plugin called Nofollow Case by Case has been released. Choose whatever fits your taste. I know I‘m still thinking what I’m going to install.
Funnily enough, yesterday night is the awards night of a Philippine SEO contest, Ituloy angSulong. I wonder if this has become a well-discussed topic?
Oof! Panalo Ginebra! 
PS: If somehow you fancy joining Blog to Profit, please input my email address rakshari@gmail.com in the referral’s email field. Yeah, I know, I’m such a greedy dork, haha.
SHARI!!!!!!!!!!! So that’s why your address wouldn’t work, I had it as misteryosa.ORG!!!! And I removed the link on my site because it was DEAD. HAHA! So now your site is linked on mine. *WINK WINK* *HUGE HUGS* I have yet to read these entries of yours.
There’s a reason “SEO” is one of the most searched keywords, everybody is trying to drive more traffic to their site.
An easy but sometimes overlooked way to increase traffic is by doing exactly what you are doing here … providing good information for your readers. I was using the Google Blog Search and this article caught my eye. If you provide good information on your website people will be attracted to it.
There are several good books and sites on SEO. SEOBook, Webmasterworld, Sitepoint, etc. These resources contain just about everything a beginning or expert webmaster would want to know about SEO. From using Adwords (http://adwords.google.com) to participating in large-scale advertising networks (http://www.worldwidereviews.co.....raffic.htm) these resources cover them all.
Nice job.
Heheh, I like the “nofollow” NOT because it prevents spam, but because my site won’t get listed on search engines… Hahah…
don’t worry shari, i don’t think “bitchy” scares a lot of people…makes you all the more interesting.
rel=â€nofollow†–> nonsense! Also, it will add another cofing work for me. Geez! Not all people have that time to edit and edit thing just to comply with their standards.
Speaking of Blog to Profit, I needed money before and it helped a lot. When I need money sometime, I might post ad links again.
@ Stella ~
Yeah, she keeps on moving, really. And I keep on stalking following her since the Nile (host) Era. What does that make me?
I tried understanding pageranking before but I dozed off when it started talking about algorithms. ehehe
Hey! I learned so much about “nofollow” I didn’t know you could do that so that web crawlers won’t crawl into these links. Like an electronic dam. Sadly though, I’m not a WP user so I can’t relate. hehehe…
Nerd! ahahaha… I love a fellow nerd, well my nerdiness is for other things but we’re both nerds nonetheless.
I’m really jealous of you Shari. When I post an entry, and you post yours about the same topic, you get more comments just within minutes—I only got two, and it has been four days already!
Guys, guys: I posted first! I posted first! Haha! ROTFLMAO
Sorry for the lame comment. I just have nothing to add anymore as I’ve already said everything I can about the topic on my entry. :P
Stella: Misteryosa.org’s still alive.
Haha! I guess I forgot to inform you about the move. Oof, sorry! But then, I always visit your blog to see if you’ve come back. And you have!!! I’ve missed you so! 
John: I, along with many others, have stressed the importance of good content. Sadly, “good content” means not-so-good graphics, useless and erroneous tutorials, and the likes. Thanks for the comment. Greatly appreciated.
Sexy Mom: I swear, I scare off a lot of people.
Euri: Haha, I have a grand plan to which I would need a great dose of money.
And that makes you a stalker.
But hey, I think I’ve known Stella that long too.
Alternati: Same here. I mean, what algorithms?! Yikes! Never you mind those things - just do what they tell you to do to increase your pagerank harhar. Nerd? Who’s the nerd?
Aja: Silly you! Magtigil ka nga dyan, haha! Hey, you got one major blogger who left a comment. That must’ve worthed millions.
You still get those robots with nofollow. Kinda useless….
Or is it that the spambots are more “brainy” than these codes? LOL
Askimet and Spam Karma are good plugins to prevent spams but sometimes it(SK) gets screwed… It’s either it would be in conflict with other plugins or it moderates comments from approved commenters
Hey, I know how to remove that
nofollowwithout even installing a plugin. Lol. Yes, I do edit some of the WP core files. Haha. Want to know how? Lol. But then, as you had said, you don’t want to mess the WP core files.And oh, I’ve installed all of those three plugins for combating spam! Haha. But I had to change something in the codes of Bad Behavior because if not, most legitimate (even I) commenters will not be able to comment.
KT: Yes. I think so.
95% of comments Akismet catches are false positives. It irks me.
Christian: I already know how to do it eversince WP 1.5, however it’d be too much of an effort especially when upgrading to the newest WordPress release. I’ve been tinkering with WP core files for years, and it frustrates me to have to do it all again when there’s a major update available. Hence, the plugins. I only use Akismet and Bad Behavior, but Akismet annoys me.
@Shari: Oh, yes, yes, yes, it also annoys me that I have to edit two WP core files whenever it has a new release. Hu? Akismet annoys you? It never annoyed me, it was Bad Behavior. Lol.
Christian: As I’ve told KT earlier, 95% of comments that Akismet catches are false positives. They are made by legitimate people. I’ve never had a problem with Bad Behavior.
huwaw!! love the layout!
what plugins are you using? galing naman! teach me teach me!
Hi Shari,
Have you been to the meeting for the organizing committee? I have plans on going there today but am shy (shy daw ako?) wala kasi akong kasamang pumunta kaya parang alanganin ako baka puro matatanda lang yung andun. hehehe
Anyway sumali ka pala sa B2P, sasali din ako dyan as soon as naaus ko na yung WP blog ko yun yung link n name ko ngayon…
May problem nga ako ngayon sa WP ko eh hindi ko mapuntahan cannot find server daw…ewan nakakainis nga eh minsan meron minsan wala naloloka na nga ako eh…hay….gusto ko na sanang lumipat dun eh….
I’ve you read this msg. today and have plans on going to the meeting mamaya sa PBA ‘07 let me know ha para may kasama ako drop by at artworks.blogspot.com yung blogger blog ko…
Pero kahapon ka yata pumunta eh..basta.
Ciao!
I am using nofollow. I have removed my site from search engines too.. for some “professional” reasons … ahahahah!
First off, I’d like to say that I’m astounded by the beauty of your new layout. O_O
As for the nofollow issue, yes… I read about this issue about a month ago and installed “DoFollow” plugin by Kimmo Suominen. Blogging for me is a lot about giving back Google juice love. It’s all about the love, baby. Despite having a computer programming diploma and testing software (most management, really) for a living, I’m rusty with the actual hands-on Web programming stuff + I hate to mess with WordPress core files. Mostly, it’s because I’m super lazy.
As for this entry, good read, good info.
whoa. buti na lang firefox user ako at isa ako sa witness sa napakagandang layout / css effect ng blog mo ngayon, shari.
hmm. hindi ko masyadong alam yung sa nofollow, pero i can feel na sakim yun. grabe naman. o.o
and oh. sa mga blogs na napupuntahan ko, may mga B2P rin sila. ganun pala yun. XD well.. okay naman na member ka nun since ang daming nagbabasa ng blog mo, saka interesting kasi mga pinoposts mo. hehe.
saka.. being bitchy sometimes is.. well.. cool! haha.
i’m here again, posting a comment. yey!
love,
dyei.
I never really understood no follow until now. lol. I’m a bit slow.
I sincerely apologize Shari. I can’t relate no matter how many times I read it.
Out of the topic question, since I’ve read the word ‘vote’ in your post *chortles* have you registered with comelec for this coming election?
Pardon me for such stupid question. rofl
Take care!
I actually have no idea with the “nofollow”. but anyway, though Akismet helps me to prevent spams, there are still times that spams can enter my blog! Hhhmm… oh well, I’m gonna look for more info about this. thanks!
Philip: ahh nofollow? *shrugs*
chette: lol well it doesn’t matter, as long as you get what they told you
Hi Shari
Thanks for the mention. I agree that it is easy to make changes in the core files, but with Wordpress updates happening faster all the time, unless you want to constantly be tweaking things and patching bleeding edge files from the SVN, then playing with core files is too time consuming.
It is much better just to use your plugin of choice.
p.s. I find Spam Karma doesn’t have as many problems with false positives, because comments that almost pass are highlighed and easy to recover. It can also use Akisment as an additional barrier using another plugin.
aww!! is that so!? hmm.. your so “updated” in sort of things like that uh!? your a keen observer.. hehe!!
anywei.. thx for your info!!
Hello Shari! I use Spam Karma and it was a really really good help to me when it comes to eliminating spams!
Jenny: Haha, I thought you want my other theme? I’m still updating it to be compatible with 2.1
LA: I wasn’t able to go today and yesterday.
Hiya nga ako eh, I was really set on going. But hey, they seem to have everything under control. 
Maybe something’s wrong with your server? Better talk with Ate Ems.
Ate Ems: Robots?
Fruityoaty: Thanks. *blushes* Hehe. Anyway, I don’t even know anything about programming and softwares. I just know what I read - when I’m not lazy. Boohoo.
Dyei: Hehe thanks! Sign up ka gamit yung hosted blog mo. Di ka pa umaalis dyan sa Tabulas.
Brandy: Honestly, me too.
Seij: But…why not?!
Harhar! By the way, no, I wasn’t able to register, poor me. 
But I’m campaigning for Kabataan Party and, maybe even Oakwood Mutineer Antonio Trillanes. 
Sandra: I don’t think anything can stop spams 100%.
Philip and Chette: Hehe. *grins*
Andy Beard: I agree. Anyway, I think I have Spam Karma installed, and I’ve never had problems with it. Thanks for the comment.
Anne: Yikes, no I’m not.
Chase: Good for you. And Spam Karma!
Thanks for clearing up the no folllow thing to me. I saw it in one of my links and I just wondered why’s there such an attribute! haha. I just recently joined blog to profit. I need moneh $_$
woot~ i ♥ my smiley! lol
It’s true that nofollow “doesn’t quite work” since the page would still be crawled by spiders and would still be listed in SEs, but I personally think the attribute nofollow is useful, for the ’sole’ reason that it prevents you from involuntarily “voting” for the site you are linking too in PageRank terms (unless you want to vote for them then you can just remove the attribute), especially in Wordpress comments and other sites (such as Wikipedia before they implemented nofollow) where literally every user of the www is free to use — may it be for spam or not. I agree that legitimate bloggers like us deserve every pagerank vote, but you’d be surprised of the even larger population of the world of spammers. I’m not talking about the auto-spamming thingamajigs but the actual people whose jobs are exclusively to find websites/blogs (specially those unaware of ‘nofollow’), that they could take advantage of. Sa office palang namin, may iilan na na ganun lang ang trabaho. Hehehe.
Nofollow is useful for another thing. If you’re maintaining a business website and you’re pagerank-conscious, you can use “nofollow” on the inner pages of your site to point back to your homepage. That way, you’re main URL’s pagerank would not be affected or saturated by your low-pagerank pages, since pagerank is more on the quality of backlinks and not quantity.
Hindi nmn napag-usapan ung nofollow issue last night sa SEO.ph party. The people there were mostly engrossed in the awarding, the prizes, and the free food (haha!). Mae and I were talking last night, and we both agreed na mas makulit ung blogparteeh nung nakaraan. Tsaka mas maraming raffle prizes nun. hehehe!
Response to :
Talk to him. Wala talaga akong magagawa kung yun ibang ISP nahihirapan mag-recognize ng ibang IP addresses. What’s weird here is that the server where LA’s account is hosted is hosted at ev1servers. I already thought him how to detect if its due to his ISP or the server (of course I know it’s not about the server because I can access it). Go to command prompt, type “tracert ” yun first 3 results dun are the ip address of your ISP. Pag walang lumabas dun ibig sabihin yun ISP ang hindi maka-recognize ng ip address ng server. Kung server ang may problema, sa bandang latter part ng tracert results magkakagroon ng problema. Sorry but TALAMAK na issue yan with most ISPs especially here in the Philippines. I was a victim of my own ISP before (PLDT DSL). And honestly, HINDI na resolve ng PLDT ang problema even after SEVERAL tickets I opened with them. Dahil sa sobrang BWISIT at DISAPPOINTMENT ko, I took the initiative to research the net. And there I found out that the problem is called as “Selective Browsing”. Then I researched even more and good thing I found a forum whereby it talks about the different ISP companies and their services here in the Philippines. Sila yun nakatulong sakin as they were able to give me the CORRECT DNS settings for my internet connection. And VIOLA! Lahat na ng sites na-a-access ko!
sorry that should be *talked* to him … bilis kasi ng kamay eh.. hehehe sensya na po :-D
by the way Shari, if ever someone contacted you about that problem (selective browsing), you might want to tell them to try http://opendns.com/
I’m not sure though if it works for all ISPs but it somehow does the magic for PLDT DSL.
Ayaw nila akong iapprove. lol.
Ang cute ng smileys!!! hehe
Argh - first times always the hardest.
Huh, I hadn’t heard about this issue, and am still confused by the fancy internet-language, haha. It sounds like a useless nuisance, but I’m sure ways around it will be created before long, as with most internet-related things.
Joni: That’s besides the point. You’re looking at it in an SEO expert’s way, and I’m explaining it in terms of its huge contribution to raising the PageRank of people who want to get into the Blog to Profit program and an ordinary blogger who should be seeing the results of its so-called anti-spam moves.
Ate Ems: Maybe you can tell us the URL of that forum you’re referring to?
Benj: Bago kasi domain mo. Pag may PageRank ka na.
Sy: Hehe, I’ve actually been in the program since November.
Aenka:
oo tama, dapt manlang may spam karma or akismet for protection ksi mag spam lng naman tlg sila eh kht ano pa gwen mo tsk tsk.
What can I say - I follow!
Ate Ems: Maybe you can tell us the URL of that forum you’re referring to?
– nakalimutan ko na nga eh ang tagal na nun last year pa yun eh
basta it talks about philippine ISP companies.. lumabas lan yun sa google search ko nun nag search ako ng mga problems sa PLDT DSL. Anyhow yun OPEN DNS thing, dun ko din yan nakita and for pldt dsl, somehow, its doing its magic.
i think i found it:
http://www.pinoydsl.net/viewto.....+brows ing
thanks
so that is how we can increase our page ranks huh? wahahahh!
new layout yipee…di kau pumunta nila joni at mae sa meeting..hmp.
yeah, ginebra won! i was there..hehe.
Ate Ems: Perhaps you should address the issue officially? So others who are having the same problem would know what to do. Hehe.
The only site I’m having an issue with is Christian’s. 
Shai: Ssshhhh…
Liz: They weren’t able to come too? Harhar! I guess I shouldn’t be too guilty now. Everything seems to be in some semblance of order anyway. I heard Globe is co-presenting the awards now, so yay for us!
hala.. ganun pala un.. haha! yeah, i admit.. i’m a b2p member. oh well, i WANT money.
haha!
i should look for dofollow plugin. hehe.. thanks shari for this post.
Waaah sayang Shari hindi ka naka-punta dun, I was expecting you pa naman pero OK lng buti na lang very welcoming sila dun…
Oo nga eh, super tulong nga si Ate Ems sakin eh. ANg bait! May pinagawa sya sakin called open dns yun muna yung ginawa ko…
*salamat Ems*
i’m also a b2p member. i need money talaga because i don’t want to be dependent to my parents when it comes to my personal finances.
in relation to this issue, i wonder if b2p sucks page rank. just my conclusion. kasi after posing the 10 assigned links i lost my page rank just like a snap.
by the way, natawa ako dun sa post script mo
Since I’m swamped with school and this child, I have yet to hear about this. But gosh this was very informative, I’m gonna look into this most likely later on. Don’t stop being bitchy Shari! It gets you to so many places in life.
Honestly, I only have the vaguest idea of what nofollow is all about but based from Aja’s entry and what you mentioned, I agree it’s a nuisance. I’m pretty much satisfied with my Akismet.
I heard of Blog to Profit before but I had been always unsure whether I should join or not. Maybe it’s because I think it may be a scam or something.
I absolutely love your new layout!
And the smilies too! 
LA: Buti nakahabol ka. Inggit ako.
Janelle: That still falls in the “want.”
Just tell that you NEED money to the people who barely get by.
Anne: So far, it’s not.
Join. I referred you LOL By the way, where has your blog site gone?!
nice tip! I’m on blogtoprofit as well.
[...] Filipino language and are lazy enough to try to understand this post, you can leave a comment on this entry instead about the link attribute rel=”nofollow” and its advantage to earning through Blog to Profit [...]
[...] BlogToProfit Tip: Remove rel=”nofollow” - A simple tip to increase PageRank: a give and take [...]
Hi
I want to all of you know, World is mine, and yoursite good
Bye
The site looks great ! Thanks for all your help ( past, present and future !)
hi nice site.
[...] and more bloggers are removing nofollow every day. So what are you waiting for? Hop on over to Randa’s blog and [...]
Does removing this nofollow have an effect on ones site in terms of page rank? I’m thinking of doing this as well.
Since you don’t like a “great layout!” comment, how about this one;
I don’t like your blog, and i don’t like your writing. What’s with the “blogtoprofit tip” title if your gonna brag the whole post about relnofollow?
And anyway, yeah, your layout sucks.
Umm, but Shari… right now… nofollow is actually ENABLED on your site. I just checked. You do know this, right? Methinks the plugin you’re using to remove nofollow… isn’t working or got accidentally inactivated.
Regards,
Massa P
yeah… !
Wonder what happen if we all use nofollow on our websites? And how about DMOZ & Yahoo directory.
Have a good one.
How substantial is the gain in traffic and comments from implementing dofollow? Are all your new visitors just coming by one time to fish for a link?
This is a great idea. I do-follow links now on my Aussie housewife blog. After a long time procrastinating I have seen the importance of dofollow and using the “do follow” principal to help keep the Internet better connected. http://www.reallyreally.net - Take a look at my dofollow blog and feel free to comment. Thank you, Regards Bree.
how long ba usually blogtoprofit pays after you’ve done the job,..?
I also don’t use nofollow any more
I’ve noticed that Gogle Webmasters started to count incoming links with “nofollow”. Does it mean that Giant is changing it’s default behaviour regarding this matter?