So last week I had a little rant on my Facebook page about “guest posting spammers” who want do follow links.
The reason it bugged me mostly was the fact that, in the email I received, the “blogger” made it sound like she was doing me a favour by offering to guest post on my blog (never mind the bit where she said that it wasn’t going to cost me anything!)
I was reminded that not everyone may know about do follow and no follow links on blogs.
So I’m going to try and explain. Or confuse you.
Do Follow links are basically a vote for a website. For example, I’ve linked to the lovely Organised Housewife. If I make this link “do follow”, I’m basically telling Google that I recommend this website and this “link juice” will be considered for things like Google Page Rank.
This is why these “bloggers” will offer to guest post on your blog and place some strategically placed keywords in the post linking back to the website they are getting paid to write for.
This is also why, if your blog has a PR3 or higher, you might get emails from spammers offering you money to put text links in your side bar, or in a blog post whether the words are related to your post or not.
Big no-no. Google doesn’t like this and if you get caught, your site can be banned from the search engine. No point in continuing to blog if no-one is going to be able to find you on Google!
Get a lot of spam comments on your blog? The reason that blogs get so many spam comments full of links in them is because those spammers are trying to create link juice for themselves.
No Follow links are not taken into consideration where ranking is concerned. They still bring traffic to your blog but a no follow link just gets ignored by the spider bots that trawl through our sites.
Most Blogger blogs are no follow by default (I think!) and I believe WordPress blogs are too, but if not, then there is a plugin that you can install to make your links no follow.
So while both types of links bring traffic, no follow is better than do follow….unless you are trying to build that link juice for your own blog, then you may want to find blogs that are do follow and comment on those.
Me? I don’t care if a blog is do follow or no follow. I comment if the blog post interests me, not because I’m trying to create back links for TGDM.
Confused yet?
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{ 24 comments }
Yes, of course. Always.
Can we have a post that says what all the PR2 and PR3 means and who says what you are?
Michelle recently posted..Sleep – should come with warnings
Hey Michelle, Page Rank is basically ranking blogs based on popularity. You can check your own page rank here: http://www.prchecker.info Each blog has a rank out of 10. To put it in prospective, ProBlogger is a 6. And my blog is a 3.
The more I blog the more I realize I don’t know. I don’t even know what my PR is. Oh well… at least now I’m learning what I need to learn!
Misha recently posted..Comment on An urban legend by Martine@themodernparent
Misha, you can check your page rank here: http://www.prchecker.info
Well I have learnt something. That makes a lot of sense. Thank you. Rachel
Rachel from Redcliffe Style recently posted..Please settle an argument
I’m glad! I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to explain it well!
It’s a tricky one, but you explained it well. I would have managed to make it worse. Haha.
Rachel from Redcliffe Style recently posted..I had a dream last night…
Ok. I need to go back to the very basics……does “do follow” mean a link you can click through? Meaning if I have a blogger’s button in my sidebar, I have set them up for a “do follow”? Your example is within the context of paid posts (monetised blogs) who will, or is it may, write for you? I’m not monetised so can I assume the do or do not follow applies still?
I’m clueless on PR rankings too, but from your post, you mention spammers might offer to put text in your sidebar and pay you for it. I assume legitimate businesses might do the same. Can you set them up for “do follow”?
After all I’ve asked, I just realised the end of your post says both bring traffic, so maybe I’ve misunderstood what “follow” means?
Sorry for the barrage of questions. I am truly clueless about this!
Veronica@ Mixed Gems recently posted..Wordless Wednesday – Bathed in Sunshine
Both types of links allow you to click through. As a blogger, you DO want to have your links/buttons on other “do follow” blogs because that shows Google that your blog is recommended by others.
Do Follow links are beneficial but you just want to be wary of spammers using your blog (if it’s do follow) for their own benefit.
My blog is no follow and I have never had any businesses/Brands request that I change their links to do follow. In my opinion, that would be just the same as the spammers buying popularity, iykwim.
Hope that helps. I was worried that my post was going to create more questions. Hehe.
Thanks for explaining that. I think I saw last year a whole heap of blogs that promote they are “do follow” and I wonder why they would want to be if that will ruin their own ranking with Google. I too am always in awe of how much I will never know about blogging – i already spend too much time trying to learn more, but at the expense of actually writing my blog LOL
Deb @ Home life simplified recently posted..Simplify your life {Week Nine: Go easier on yourself}
It’s so easy to get caught up with reading about blogging. I need to schedule my time a bit better.
Thank you!!!!
So clear and now I know what people are talking about. I like that
Ames recently posted..Happy Monday
I’m glad it helped
Ok, I am going to admit that I am quite confused! I sorta know what you’re talking about, but not sure if I’m right or not. I am not technically inclined!
Bee recently posted..French Onion Slow Cooker Stew
The main thing to take away from this, I guess, is that if you are offered payment for text links and they are requesting it to be do follow links, don’t accept.
I read this post a few times before thinking I think I’ve got. I have also been going over you past blogging posts and have learnt so much thanks for the useful info.
If you have any questions, let me know and I’ll try to explain a bit further…if I can! Thanks for reading my previous posts. I’ve been meaning to start doing them a little more often.
Ummm…. very confused!
Deborah recently posted..Mix tapes
I’ll just copy what I just wrote up there ^^
The main thing to take away from this, I guess, is that if you are offered payment for text links and they are requesting it to be do follow links, don’t accept.
Thanks Tina. I checked out the PR rating thing and my diet blog (more popular/read than my mainstream one: Diet Schmiet) only ranked a 2 anyway… so doubt anyone will be banging down my door!
Deb
Deborah recently posted..Mix tapes
Let’s say I was linking to tis post and you asked me to make it do follow or no follow, how would I even do that? Can yu tell from looking at a link if it is a do or a no follow?
Claireyhewitt recently posted..My Exclamation.
I make cup of coffee and slowly read this article and i think is very helpful article…
Thanks for the useful informations, I haven’t heard about the difference of nofollow and dofollow before, now it’s already clear for me. And you’re totally right, the commenting must depend on the content, not on the dofollow status.
Julie recently posted..wisdom teeth
I certainly don’t have a PR 3, but lately random people have asked me if they could guest blog on my site. I was confused as to why they wanted to since they were not interior decor bloggers.. now I understand and I am happy I politely declined. =)