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I have joined the blog “Do Follow” movement. After doing some research, I concluded that this falls in line with the new online world (Web 2.0) where community and user experience are king. So, I decided it was time to follow the movement.

What is “Do Follow”?

“Do follow” is the opposite of “No-Follow”. Wordpress blogs, by default, use the HTML nofollow attribute on links that point away from the blog. This no follow attribute comes into play with the posting of blog comments. The no-follow tag tells the search engines NOT to follow the link to any other web sites.

The logic behind using no follow is, it’s good for the blog since there will be fewer outgoing links and therefore less “link bleed”, leading to better Google page rank. Sounds good!

Using no follow also makes sense because there are blog spammers out there who will, and have, posted blog spam comments solely for the benefit of getting more incoming links to their site, which helps page rank. That makes sense!

So why turn that off?

If you’re like me, you want people to comment on your blog posts. You want more of an interactive community. That’s what Web 2.0 is about - community and user created content.

But, how do you encourage people to comment on your blog posts? You give them something in return. You give them an outgoing link to their website, when they make a quality comment on your blog. You also allow the search engine to follow that link to their website by using the do follow attribute.

You also need to let people know that you are a Do Follow Blog. Some visitors will have no idea what that means, but those who do know what it means will appreciate it and will often leave a comment.

You will notice I now have a Do Follow notice in the upper right hand column of my blog. This graphic is courtesy of Randa Clay who is a Do Follow advocate. I’m letting others know that they are welcome to leave relevant comments, and letting them know what my expectations are.

Okay, but what about comment spammers?

No doubt there will be spammers who try to take advantage of your generosity. If you have a blog you probably are already getting comment spam, I sure do. But, I have found that the Spam Karma plugin does an outstanding job of filtering out spam comments.

You will still need to monitor comments, but it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes each day.

How Do I Set Do Follow?

Unfortunately, the option to turn No Follow on, or off, is not an option in Wordpress. I have looked at a couple of plugins, and have decided the DoFollow plugin works best for me.

With the current Wordpress blog comment spam plugins now available, I see no reason not to be a “Do Follower”.

Once you join the Do-Follow movement, let everyone know your blog is do follow by adding your blog to the do-follow blog list.

Let me know what your thoughts are by commenting below.

Mike