Yes, you didn’t hear it wrong. Wayne Liew, who is always on the pro-reader side is taking one step back by adding back the "nofollow" tag to the outgoing links in my comment section.
Photo by Half Chinese
First, sorry to those who commented previously just to get some link juice from Wayne Liew Dot Com‘s articles after my article, You Comment, I Link You. In this article, I will be explaining why I am taking this move. You can see it as excuses but I hope you can understand my blog position in a saturated niche.
6 Reasons I Start to Use "nofollow" tags
- Google is Getting Serious with Comment Linking
When kljs told me about the worries of Google penalizing bloggers that dofollow commentator links, I shrug it off as Google and Matt Cutts does not have any statement on this.
Now, Google secretly made an effort to show that they are taking this issue seriously by removing "comment with a link" option from Blogger, Google’s own free blogging platform. You can read more about this at The Death of Do-Follow.
In default, outgoing links in WordPress comment section is always parsed with the "nofollow" tags.
- Quality Commentators Prevails
Although I don’t face such problems on this blogging tips site, many blogs out there are. They receive commentators that use names like "Make Money Online" and "Poker Site Online" to comment which I don’t see as a sincere act. Their main intention to comment is just to get link juice for their sites.
I am rather lucky to have top commentators which post quality comments like the current Deimos Tel`Arin and Jalaj instead of "Cheap Viagra" and "Rich Forex Trading".
- Focusing on Search Engine Optimization
I used to comment on other blogs that Google Page Rank are somehow irrelevant to search engine ranking position on Google but I have been proven wrong. As you can see, I am actively doing search engine optimization improvements for this site after winning the SEO Book.
In this saturated niche, I need to get targeted traffic through search engines. Do you know that search engines can bring in thousands of unique visits daily for a site? Wayne Liew Dot Com is way under-performing in terms of search engine traffic.
- Not Listed in Comment Hunt
Luckily for me, my blog is not listed in the Comment Hunt, which link building experts use it to find dofollow blogs so that they can build links for their clients or their own sites. This makes the previously dofollow status of my blog remained unknown by most of the passing readers.
For those who really comment for the sake of links, hop over to Comment Hunt. I am sure that the search engine can help you out. One event that I foresee is a drop of search results that it will provide to you because of the reasons I am adding back my "nofollow" tags.
- Google Page Rank as a Credibility Meter
Photo by -fabio-Will you ever want to see a site you are learning things from are penalized by Google? The little green bar shows more than a rating for a site nowadays. It brings up trust from first time visitors as explained on Frustrating Yes – But I Want Google To Be My Friend.
- Boosting Number of Comments
In the later part of this article, I would encourage my readers to comment more by giving extra incentives. Try to implement it on your blog so that your readers will continue to put in efforts in commenting.
Solutions for Bloggers in the Same Shoes
Photo by dooda
We will be blamed and that is for sure. The biggest temptation that we are making people commenting might just because the link of their names are dofollowed. At this time, keeping the comment numbers up will be difficult. Amazingly, my most popular article, 10 Reasons You Are Not Getting Comments does not state that not offering dofollow links as one of the reasons!
You still have hopes! I will provide you a few ways that can keep you the level of comment.
Blow away reasons for not getting comments
Does your blog contains one of the 10 Reasons You Are Not Getting Comments? If so, remove it or modify your blog to make it more comment-friendly. Comments don’t come in with just good contents, it has other factors that is affecting it as well.
Show Top Commentator Plugin
Are you using the Show Top Commentator plugin? If you are not, it is time to install one to your blog, read 5 Tips for Show Top Commentators Plugin Usage and start rewarding commentators who comment frequently on your blog.
Make the links dofollow (don’t be that stingy). A link on your homepage is extremely rewarding because take Wayne Liew Dot Com for example, a link from my homepage will mean a link from 205 pages because the link will appear in each and every one of my pages and articles as crawled by Google bots.
Feature Your Commentators
Show that you do notice their effort. Feature them in your articles. Show them that you do read and appreciate them for adding value to your blog through your comments. Dofollow their links in your articles like what I did with this article.
Off-blog reward for commentators
Do you need me to teach you more on this? Put up a cash prize or reward in any form such as free advertising or free guide ($$$ is still the best motivation) to make your readers comment.
When you are using such method, make sure everyone that visits your blog knows about it through notification in prominent places. Also, you will need to take extra effort in moderating your comments so that only contributing comments are eligible for the contest.
What Is Your Say On This Event?
Is my move correct? I know I am gaming with my credibility but I really need Google’s help in building my traffic base. Yes, blogs like John Chow dot com can totally ignore Google’s guidelines and sell links "notoriously" but he already has established traffic!
Will you stop commenting on blogs which are not dofollow now? What will you have to say about this action of Google? If you are still on dofollow or the U Comment, I Follow program, will you add back the "nofollow" tags?
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