What’s A Backlink?
When I first started blogging, what I knew about search engine optimization (or SEO) could have been inscribed on the head of a pin. I knew you had to include keywords for your blog to get found- and that was about it. I didn’t know anything about how to backlink.
Much, much reading later, I learned that there were all kinds of things you had to do to get found by search engines (and thus by readers). One of the topics that came up frequently was the use of backlinking. To put it simply, backlinking is placing a link to your site on someone else’s site. This could be accomplished by commenting on a blog, guest posting on someone else’s blog, or writing articles free or on the cheap for aggregators that would include your link. Getting a backlink that points to your site tells search engines that your site has something worth linking to. Over time, that can boost you in search engine rankings.
What’s Nofollow and Dofollow?
It was (and is) common for people to buy backlinks in quantity, although often of dubious quality. Of course, the search engines and the people who write the programs for websites caught on to these methods and threw in some monkey wrenches. Search engines began ignoring the influence of backlinks from certain domains, and most comment links and forum links were purposely designed to be what’s called “nofollow” (as opposed to “dofollow”). A nofollow link looks normal to the average site visitor. You can click on it and it works. However, a little bit of code embedded in the page tells search engines to not to pass “link juice” to the linked site.
Why Is Everyone Nofollow Now?
Since buying links cost money, many people (including spammers) instead took to commenting on dozens or even hundreds of blogs to gain backlinks. Pretty much all websites have made their links “nofollow”- that’s now the default setting, often without the blogger even being aware of it. It’s become a standard practice because search engines are now penalizing sites that have a large amount of dofollow links. In Google’s eyes, it makes a site appear like a spammy link farm, and thus you get demoted in search engine rankings.
To confirm that this was standard practice, I used a list of the top 20 baking blogs with the highest Google Page Rank (thus valuable sites for backlinks) and checked each one to see if it had nofollow in the comments. Every single one was nofollow. How did I check? I used the Google Chrome browser and downloaded a free add-on to it called MozBar. You can go to a blog, look at the comments section, then click in the MozBar to highlight any links that are nofollow. If all the commenters’ names (which is where their links are located) get highlighted, you’re looking at a nofollow comment section.
Should You Still Leave Blog Comments for Backlinks?
In my niche (food blogging), you can generally tell a backlink comment a mile away. They say something complimentary but extremely short, i.e. “That looks fabulous!” or “Love it! Yum!” and almost invariably end in an exclamation point. The more considerate bloggers at least try to leave a thoughtful remark with their backlink.
So, if you comment on a blog, you’re getting a backlink, but no link juice. Does this mean you shouldn’t comment on blogs? Not at all. Nofollow backlinks are still 1) pointing search engines to your site, which is a good thing, and 2) creating a live link that could lead to referral traffic when people click on it.
Sometimes, when you write a guest post or are featured in a roundup, you can ask to have your link dofollowed. It’s worth asking.
Ask Away!
If you have any questions, you can comment below. Heck, you’ll even get a backlink! And for all you SEO geeks out there, if I’ve left something out, please let me know. Although I have been known to be capable of programming VCRs (dated myself there, didn’t I?), I’m not an SEO expert. Your additional information is always welcome.
(In case you’re wondering if I have any ulterior motive for writing this, I don’t. I learned this stuff the hard way after trying fruitlessly to build my own backlinks. I just want to save everyone else the wasted time and effort.)
Photo by hux on FreeImages.com
Jen @ Blue Kitchen Bakes
This isn’t something I had ever really thought much about when commenting on blogs, thanks for taking the time to explain it so clearly. When I make the switch to WP from blogger I’ll be sure to install CommentLuv to share the link juice with all the people who leave lovely comments on my blog.
Katie
Thanks for stopping by! I’m glad I was able to help. ๐
Fareeha
Thanks for this post.. oops, i was tempted to use the exclamation mark :d have already installed the mozbar and loving it.. thanks for sharing the info
Katie
These days, there are very few sites with dofollow links, because Google has been penalizing sites for having them. Thanks for stopping by! Come back soon! ๐
Fareeha - faskitchen
I am back again, Katie.. I have commented before but forgot to bookmark this page.. After searching the length and breadth, I have landed here again, thankfully..
I have a question, can u pls help me.. since u mentioned that commentluv creates a backlink, but i checked all comment luv links show nofollow..
I am still very new to blogging and cant seem to crack the backlink code.. can u pls explain further
Katie
Hello again, Fareeha! I wrote this article last year, and things have changed somewhat. Google is seriously penalizing sites with lots of dofollow links, so now pretty much every site (including mine) is set to default to nofollow links in the comments section. I’ve updated the information above, but to summarize, a blog comment backlink is still a backlink that 1) tells search engines your site is worth linking to, and 2) leads to referral traffic as people click on your link. They just don’t pass link juice any more. If you have beginner blogging questions, feel free to ask away or email me at katie {at} recipeforperfection {dot} com.
Fareeha - faskitchen
Thanks a lot, Katie.. i am so glad I came across this post so early into my blogging. I really am not a person who could go blog commenting in every blog i come across. Ask me to comment 100 times in a blog I like, whether dofollow, nofollow.. I don’t care. I would love to do that.. But not just for the heck of it..
I keep coming back and reading this post again and again.. And really i get a very clear picture about backlinks and blog commenting.. I hope u wouldnt mind my persistence and mail u with my questions.Thanks a ton again..
Katie
No problem! Glad to help! ๐
Marie
Hi, wow Thank you so much for sharing this information, It’s really nice, I am using MOZ extension, It’s nice ๐