Without links, the web would not be what it is, today. How did you find my blog? Did you type www.markuszeller.com in the addressbar or did you click a link?

A link brings you to another web resource, mostly a another homepage. If you click one, then you are following it.

Any website containing a link, has a source code looking somewhat like this:

<a href=”http://www.markuszeller”>Markus Zeller Blog</a>

Web-Spiders and search engines will look at this source codes and pick the links out of it – and now we are coming to “follow” and “no follow”.

This is a follow link, that means the search engine or spider will follow that link and index the content to present it when you search for it or some words and keywords containing the site.

No follow makes sense for areas or directories of your website you do not want to be found. Let us say, I have a directory like http://www.markuszeller.com/secret and do not want anything in there to be found. Then I can advise the spider not to look in there by putting in something like this in the index file:

<META name=”ROBOTS” content=”NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW”>

See: http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/appendix/notes.html

Another way would be, if I link it somewhere in a user-only area:

<a href=”http://www.markuszeller.com/secret” rel=”nofollow”>Keep out</a>

This, is in my opinion the ONLY reason to use a no follow!

Google says, a no follow would prevent blog spam, and WordPress is believing this advice and made ALL commenters as a no follow. So when you leave a comment in a WordPress blog, it would not be credited in Googles and some other engines search results.

Blogging is hard work and eats a lot of time, so I will credit every commenter! Spam will be deleted, and in case of that, there is no chance and credit for spammers. If you have the same thoughts, then you can get out of this with your blog with just installing the free WordPress plugin DoFollow by Denis de Bernardy.

Here is a list with 11 reasons why NOT to use no follow by nonofollow.net:

1. nofollow does not prevent comment spam
2. nofollow is confusingly named
3. nofollow harms the connections between web sites
4. nofollow is not useful for humans, just for search engines using PageRank or a similar technique
5. nofollow could be used to shut web sites out
6. nofollow discriminates legitimate users as spammers
7. nofollow heists commentators’ earned attention
8. nofollow could be used to further discriminate weblogs
9. nofollow prevents the Web from being a web
10. nofollow eliminates the dissemination of free speech
11. nofollow was developed in privacy with only search engines companies taking part in the discussion

Do you trust SEO-experts? Before you do, have a look at their pagerank! If they are experts, they must have a page rank over 5. If they do not, they are lying and making money with your credulity. You may this free online pagerank checker or any SEO toolbar for your browser.