A large number of websites, search engines, and web software packages are using the the rel=”nofollow” tag on links to external sites. For those who don’t know what this is all about, and you should, it essentially means that Google will not give pagerank to the destination site. Pagerank, or the equivalent on other search engines, helps build a sites authority and popularity in the search engine results pages. The basic concept is that uncontrolled websites (wikis, forums) or part of websites (comments pages, guest books) are often attacked by spammers and their spambot software to try and get as many people to their site as possible. Linking to bad domains (spam sites, malware/virus infected sites) is not good for your websites reputation with the search engines. So the nofollow concept absolves you of responsibility if links appear to websites you don’t endorse or have not personally checked. Ok, so that is the pro’s.

The con’s are that passing pagerank between sites is the best way to build reputation and gain authority in the search engines. And placing in the top 10 (preferably top 3) search engine results is really the holy grail of search engine optimization (and of course, most people want their site at number 1 position for their chosen keywords or phrases – a difficult task for popular niches). If a contributor to your site adds something of worth and leaves a link to their own site or a relevant website that “adds value”  to your own content, why shouldn’t they be rewarded with some pagerank juice?

The solution is to automatically nofollow uncontrolled or unsolicited content such as blog comments and then to manually remove the nofollow attribute once you have reviewed a post. I am a big fan of profollow/dofollow links, and have installed the NoFollow Case By Case plugin for WordPress. Anyone who comments on my articles and adds something of value (over and above the “nice blog, check out my site” type of comments which Akismet generally takes care of automatically) will have the nofollow removed from their comment if they supplied a link to their website or blog. I believe this is the best way to reward people for their thoughtful comments.

I hope that a ProFollow/DoFollow movement builds up, and other bloggers and webmasters start removing the nofollow attribute to useful user generated material.

For more information on NoFollow and ProFollow see the following pages:

• ProFollow entry on the AboutUs.org web directory, and their article How to improve AboutUs pages
• nofollow entry on Wikipedia
• About rel=”nofollow” on the Google Webmaster tools site
• Nofollow on MediaWiki’s Meta site

Related posts:

1. Thesis – Should you buy a commercial WordPress theme?

I became aware of the Thesis WordPress theme around the time I started exploring using WordPress as a serious blog/CMS package. I looked around for reviews of it, and found many people questioning why anyone would want to waste spend their hard-earned money on a commercial WordPress theme when there are thousands of free WordPress themes. Combining a free theme and a bunch of plugins (such as HeadSpace2 and various SEO plugins) it is possible to do many of things that Thesis does. However, Thesis has one primary ‘feature’ that sets it apart – continued support and updates.

Thesis Support and Updates

In the past few months I have frequently research and discovered some really useful plugins for WordPress, and some really well designed themes.  On installing them in the latest build of WordPress (currently version 2.8.4) I have ended up with warnings that they are no compatible with my version of WordPress, or worse still they fail to run, rendering a good plugin useless. On the other hand, Thesis has ongoing support and updates, so will always be compatible with the new releases of WordPress.

Separating Design from Content

Although I have spent many years designing websites (in Frontpage, Dreamweaver, and even in Notepad!) and developing database driven website using ASP and PHP scripting, moving to an established CMS package that has ongoing support and updates (especially regular security updates) has given me a lot more time to concentrate on writing or organizing the content of the sites – which is where the money is. Yes, if I develop a website for a client I get paid, but there are only so many hours in the day. The whole point of having an online business (whether a blog with Adsense and affiliate links, or an online store) is to allow revenue to be generated outside of normal business hours, and to research markets that traditional physical forms of marketing and selling just can’t reach. To be able to customise the overall design and layout of your website by essentially clicking buttons an changing a few settings saves a lot of time, and there is an area where the Thesis theme excels.

Credit Where Credit is Due

The kind people at DIYThemes (makers of Thesis) put in a plug for an article and video on the workings of Thesis, and just how easy it is to use. The post, “Hey Bloggers! I’m in Love With Thesis!” by Lisa Irby, has a video in which Lisa shows some of the behind-the-scenes workings of Thesis, which makes for a compelling reason to buy! Lisa’s two main reasons for choosing Thesis are similar to my own: support and easy customization. Of course, for me the SEO aspects are another bonus.

Search Engine Optimization

Increasing search engine traffic is essential when building a website for marketing purposes. There are dozens of WordPress plugins that allow you to do this, however Thesis has this taken care of. Simply install the theme and the options are there. The main thing I wanted was to be able to enter Meta Description data for each posting or page that I create, as this is generally an important part of optimizing a website for Google and other major search engines. Meta keywords are not so important (for Google), but you can enter a few of these also.

Cost or Investment

There are two ways of looking at this. Buying the Thesis theme is either a cost (and unnecessary) or it is an investment. I believe it is an investment that can pay dividends in saving time and money. Customizing WordPress to make it stand apart from all the other sites and blogs on the internet is a time consuming thing. To  be able to make minor tweaks and changes (and some major design changes)  all from the WordPress control panel is very time saving. Yes, I can build my own themes. Yes, I could write by own plugins. Yes, I could pay a freelancer to build themes and write plugins. But an off-the-shelf option such as Thesis saves time and money.

The Dunedin Web Hosting refit

Before the move to thesis I had this site using the free Gears theme. I liked the simple design. I had installed HeadSpace2 and another plugin to allow me to add Google Analytics script to the bottom of the webpage HTML code. Thesis made these two plugins unnecessary.

Before:

Dunedin Web Hosting Gears Theme

After:

Dunedin Web Hosting Thesis theme

This is the Thesis theme straight out of the box. Nothing super flashy, and it needs the Widgets to be manually added to the sidebars, but most of this is drag and drop, or point and click. Simple, time-saving, and efficient.

Conclusion

If you are using WordPress for deploying sites, or considering using WordPress, then think very carefully about investing in Thesis to allow rapid and easy design changes and instantly add a bunch of useful and necessary SEO features to WordPress. To view the sales blurb or buy: WordPress Thesis theme.

Note: At the time of writing I am still customizing the site and learning how to use Thesis fully. There are a lot of advanced options beyond the basics.

Related posts:

1. Why WordPress?
2. NoFollow or ProFollow – Do you follow?