Blogging Addiction has decided to make comments “dofollow,” which will reward our “commentators” for their contributions to the site. Instead of leaving it at that, we’re going to explain the value of allowing “dofollow” comments and encourage our blog addicts to do the same.

Google created the “nofollow” attribute tag as a way to prevent certain links from affecting a site’s search engine rankings. Google also later announced that “nofollow” links don’t affect PageRank. The “nofollow” tag is now the norm on blogs, as it has been used to minimize the abuse of comments for “stealing” PageRank juice.

Why should you make your blog a “dofollow” blog? Using “dofollow” links encourages visitors to read and comment on several pages of your blog. Links are a great way to reward commentators for activity and interaction on your site. Right now, “dofollow” blogs are greatly in the minority. This provides the chance for your blog to stand out by offering the reward for participation.

Becoming a “dofollow” blog won’t increase the number of automatic spam comments you receive. However, one major downside to the generosity of dofollow is that visitors typically create their own spam-like comments, writing irrelevant or meaningless comments as a way to get free links back to their site.

There are two ways to overcome this problem: set the comments in a moderation queue, and create a post listing types of comments that will deleted. Consider it a code of conduct for comments. Here are some different guidelines you may want to enforce:

• Comments that don’t use a “real name” will be removed. No posts from people named “debt consolidation dude,” “search engine pro” or “forex man”.
• Comments that link to spam sites will be removed. Google may further penalize your site for linking to “link farms” and other blacklisted sites.
• Comments should provide some value to the discussion. “Great post!” or “That’s interesting…” are appreciated, but unworthy of a link.

Even the bloggers that comment for the free link will come up with something valuable to say in return for the reward.

Andy Beard, one of the pioneers of the of dofollow movement, has compiled a list of plugins that will allow you configure “dofollow” links on your blog. Blogging Addiction is using Dofollow 4.0, which literally takes 30 seconds to set up and gives bloggers a variety of options including setting “dofollow” links for registered users only.

Many bloggers are making “nofollow” a thing of the past. Concerns about comment spam have been dealt with, thanks to Akismet and other spam-blockers. Any blogger interested in promoting interaction on their blog should consider their own “dofollow revolution”. While the dofollowers are still part of the minority, it’s a great way to reward your loyal readers and encourage communication between the blogger and readers.

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