What the F... ormatting?

Here's my only contribution to the Wired Wiki nofollow debate:

Kan we hav sum formatting plz!

Honestly. I gave up trying to read what Ross Mayfield, in the centre of the storm, wrote over on WebProNews.

You'll get a much clearer understanding, and nicer formatting, over at Barry's original article with its comments from Danny.

P.S. You can find the original post, with formatting at Ross' blog.








Long live the return key!

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SMX London, Day 2, Think About The Human

The title from this post comes from Danny Sullivan who mentioned it during one of the best pro nofollow speeches I've heard. Think About The Human.

This post is a chance for a short pre-dinner break and to jot down some of today's highlights.

Nathan Buggia is brilliant. It's great that he's over here in London. I really expect to see significant things coming from Webmaster Live. I'm confident that we're going to see added extra from this - stuff we don't get from Google.

I think we'll see some more search engines join the Sitemap XML protocol. This can only be a good thing.

I think - much further down the line - we'll see a Claim Your Content for text offering. No one said that; that's me reading between the lines.

In the Dealing With The Penalty Box track hosted by Danny I thought we got some interesting reactions from MSN and Ask about paid links. It's pretty clear that Live Search are still discussing the issue internally - in fact, at times it might have appeared as if they care less about the paid link issue than Google does.

Ask doesn't think the paid link issue effects them so much. Their focus is so much more, they say, on the quality and relevance of the page.

I think Jane Copland of SEOMoz did really well in her Linkbaiting presentation. I heard a rumour that it might have been her first live presentation but based on her performance I'd doubt it. Also, Ciaran Norris' choice of videos ensured he'll leave the conference as "King of Audience Attention".

I've been going to a lot of conferences, presentations and industry events in recent weeks. At first you start to see a trend, then that becomes a fashion, then that becomes "aarhg! not again!". I seem to have scribbled down a must ban forever list.

On the MBF list I have

• The word 'linkjuice'
• The word 'blogosphere'
• The Blendtec video.
• The Diddy TV video

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Why do I support nofollow?

Since a meeting cancelled itself on me this morning I thought I'd fire off a cheeky blog post and comment on my support for nofollow.

It's easy for me to whisk through reasons why I support nofollow. Let's begin as a webmaster:

• I can link to sites I want to talk about without boosting their profile in search engines.
• I can code my forums to automatically add nofollow to any outbound links. I don't need to worry about users linking to bad neighbourhoods.
• I can code my comment section so that old comments automatically gain nofollow. I don't need to check back through years of old comments to see if any domains have changed owners/content and become bad neighbourhoods.
• I can make it clear on my site that I use nofollow and this will only ever deter spammers, not encourage them.
• I can add funky and fun widgets, badges, or memes to my site and use nofollow to make sure I'm still "Link Safe".
• I can use nofollow as much or as little as I like and it does not directly impact my site.
• I can use nofollow to safely text link advertise on sites (sponsorships, partnerships, etc) without being mistaken for a link buyer.
• I can use nofollow and safely link to partners without being mistaken for a link seller.

Let's continue my support of nofollow as a search engine optimiser:

• I can educate my clients about bad neighbourhoods, the dangers of linking to them and present the nofollow as a practical and effective technical solution alongside best practise link training.
• I can find safe ways to protect my client's rankings when they may contracted or obliged to promote/link to a partner/advertiser when those partners/advertisers are engaged in unethical search engine optimisation. This solution tends to apply when sites must display a logo or a partner link as those contracts do not tend to mention neither nofollow nor search engines. Deals struck explicitly for the "link juice" tend not to be solved this way; instead I have to advise the client as to the risks in the deal and advise them to re-negotiate and stop link selling as soon as possible.
• I'm against link buying and the option of "nofollow" makes it easier for search engines to address the paid link problem.
• Nofollow is an elegant technical solution which is easily applied to large Content Management Systems.
• Nofollow on cooperate blogs helps encourage comments from users and customers with a valid need to comment and not just from people looking for some well placed link juice.
• Nofollow helps enforce the importance of a "link audit / external link audit". In some ways nofollow creates additional job opportunities for the SEM industry.
• Nofollow is precise. Nofollow is applied to a small unit on a page, a single anchor element, rather than the entire page.
• Nofollow links still show up in your analysis of which sites link to you (Yahoo Site Explorer, Google's Webmaster Console) and so you can still analyse your "social media cyberscape" whereas JavaScript (etc) solutions would prevent this.
• The use of nofollow is a Quality Signal.

Why should you support nofollow:

• The more people and sites who embrace it the more effective it becomes.
• Help avoid the "blogosphere phantom economy" where highly ranked blogs receive a disproportionate number of comments/interaction as other bloggers scramble for "link juice".
• Be ethical - work with the search engines rather than against them.
• Be proactive - help combat search spam and comment spam.

I launched the "I support nofollow" campaign on January the 27th, 2007. To date the campaign as attracted one named supporter - me. Ha-ha. On well.

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I support nofollow!

I'm just going to come right out and say this: I support nofollow.

I support the optional enhancement to the web. If you don't like it - don't use it. If someone links to you, but nofollows the link - you'll just have to accept that they didn't want to 'vote' for you.

This isn't a popular view among the SEO community right now. Graywolf's diatribe against nofollow [follow allowed - my choice] is proving popular. I'm prepared to be unpopular on this one. :) Do read Graywolf's post if you have time and the comments on it. Matt Cutts' and Jeremy Zawodny's comments, in particular, are worth your time.

I support nofollow

• Andrew Girdwood

Support nofollow too? Drop me a comment and I'll add your name to the supporters list.

(This blog was kicked out of the long grass less than a month a go. Readership is tiny. A lack of fellow nofollow supporters is as indicative of the low readership as much as it is of lack of nofollow support.)

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