As I gain more experience at this blogging thing, and by visiting other blogs, I find ways to enhance my own blog and make it more friendly for my visitors. One idea that I had trouble understanding was the DoFollow/NoFollow issue. Finally, today I was able to sort out what this is all about and consequently I’ve added a plug-in to my blog to address the issue.
Lucia’s LinkyLove is the plug-in I’ve chosen because of versatility it provides in taking care of the NoFollow tags as well as protecting myself against comments that are nothing but SPAM. Basically, after someone posts three comments to posts on Tar Heel Ramblings, links to their blogs will no longer have the NoFollow tag inserted.
Let me give you the low-down in Lucia’s own words which explains what is happening better than I ever could:
- Encourages good comments: Dofollows are added to the author “name” and links in comment text after a commenter leaves some minimum number of comments. The blogger can set this minimum number to anything between 3 and 10. This encourages regular visitors to comment, but discourages spammers by forcing them to visit your blog many times before they get “dofollows”.
- Encourages links. Dofollows are added to trackbacks and pingbacks only after the blog author has left some minimum number of comments, trackbacks or pingbacks. This discourages scrapper sites from sending you spammy trackbacks but rewards real bloggers for linking you.
- Gives peace of mind. Dofollows will not be added to comments left more than 14 days after you published your most recent post. This is a safety feature that prevents your blog from becoming a link farm should you ever be unexpectedly absent from your blog due to illness or any other major life event.
- Thwarts overly aggressive SEO types. The blogger may refuse “dofollows” to “names” that contain too many characters. This can be used to avoid giving “dofollows” to commenters who claim their name is “cashmere dog sweater”.
- Gives you more control over dofollow / nofollow options. As is always the case, the blogger can also delete the comment, report the comment to Akismet or delete the name or url. That’s good for truly spammy comments. But with Lucia’s Linky Love, you get another, less drastic, option. You manually prevent “dofollow” but still show the comment url and name by deleting the user email address when editing the comment. This lets you permit borderline visitors continue to comment, but deprive them of “dofollows” until they behave the way you like visitors to behave.
My hope is that this type of improvement will repay those who contribute to my blog by adding their comments which improves the quality of my blog.
I have also updated my CommentLuv plug-in to the latest version. This plug-in takes the URL information provided in the comments section and tries to parse it into a link to the contributor’s last post in their own blog. The updated version gives the option for the poster to not have this link created to their blog. I’m not sure why anyone would want to do this, but the option is there.
Now, I have a question for my loyal readers. What plug-ins do you use in your blog that you just could not live without? Where did you get the plug-in, and what plug-ins would you like to see that you can’t seem to find?
Lee young man you are a veritable fountain of information….I shall have to investigate these things and use what I can….:)
robert bourne’s last blog post..Monday-Monday
Lee! Welcome to your new digs. I LOVE the look. I’ve updated BOTH the blogrolls (Six4Paula and Polliwog’s Pond). I’m working really hard to get them both up and running. My latest backup for the pond was corrupted so I lost 4 months of posts there, and so the most recent one for now is from August. I’m waiting on a new banner a friend if making me for Six4Paula. Wish me luck and I hope I’ll be back on your blogroll soon.
Paula’s last blog post..Hello world!
Lee — There’s one plug-in that I was happy I found recently: No Self Pings. It stops pingbacks from my own posts being registered in the comments of the post I’m self-referring to.
I also think Subscribe To Comments is helpful for my readers.
Kathy’s last blog post..A Tech Tip From My Cat
I love my akismet plug in, Stops the spam, so far it has stopped 40,155 and I only installed it recently.
Blank target comments which Adds target=”_blank” to urls in comments, and comment author url. Removes rel=”nofollow” from comment author link. By Tech Wench.
WordPress Email Notification Plugin v2.3.1 Allows People To Sign Up For E-Mail Notifications
Fuzzy Recent Comments A WordPress widget that lists a fuzzy number of recently commented entries. To use, call the_recent_comments(); where you want the tile to appear. Alternatively, do nothing and the tile will display when wp_meta(); is called.
Customizable Comment Listings Display Recent Comments, Pingbacks, and/or Trackbacks, as well as other comment listings using the comment and/or post information of your choosing in an easily customizable manner. You can narrow comment searches by specifying post IDs, comment types, and/or comment status, among other things
Barbara (Xerraire)’s last blog post..Mini Concert
Robert: For me the hard part is making sense of terminology that is pretty new to me. I keep reading and I keep learning. Not bad for an old guy, huh?
Paula: Glad you like the new digs! I did add both Polliwog’s Pond and Six4Paula to my blog roll today. Can’t wait to see regular posts on both. If you need any help let me know and I’ll do what I can.
Kathy: I’ll look into the plug in you suggested. I’m still not sure I understand exactly what pings and such are. It’s all still almost Greek to me. But I’m learning! :0)
Barbara: Wow! Thanks for the list. You really answered my question thoroughly. Right now, I’ve got Akismet plug in disabled and I’m using Defensio in its place. I’ve read good things about both. I think because my blog is so new I’m not seeing much SPAM yet. In the mean time, I’ll check out the other plug ins you mentioned.
Lee’s last blog post..Site Updates and Plug-ins Added
Even though I have been blogging for well over a year now, I am still a complete and total idiot when it comes to most of this stuff. I’ve noticed a lot more “spam” comments showing up on my blog lately but I just tend to delete them and call it good. Still, perhaps something like this might be a good idea to incorporate. Thanks for the info!
Linda’s last blog post..I’ve Got a Question – You’ve Got an Answer
Linda: I know what you mean about feeling a little lost with all that goes into maintaining a blog site. I’ve done web sites, know HTML and have used Cold Fusion, but all of this blogging stuff is new to me.
As far as the SPAM issue, Defensio or Akismet would be better choices to deal with that. Akismet is probably the most well known and has it’s benefits. I chose Defensio based on several reviews I read.
Lee’s last blog post..Sunday Scenery