By default comments in wordpress are nofollow. I have often had a post sitting out there only doing so-so in ranking.
Then someone leaves a comment, and it goes up a bit. Soon after I get another and another comment on the same post.
Suddenly my post is way up in ranking. All because, it would seem, of those nofollow links. Why?
Do-follow links are beneficial to you when you leave comments on blogs, forums, etc. With you comment you leave your website's URL and potentially your website gets some link juice from the blog/forum.
But of course - if you leave valuable comments and people who read them want to find out more about you by clicking on your URL, it doesn't matter if the link is no-follow. You still get traffic. But Google doesn't value no-follow links as much (I've heard it does some though), so it won't help you as far as your position in search results is concerned.
If you have your blog set up so that people's signatures are do-follow, your pages loose some link juice. Basically, you don't want your page to have more outgoing links than links to other pages on your website.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you're talking about people leaving comments on an article of yours, and that article going up in ranking because of it. You have comments on that article left as no-follow.
If I'm not misunderstanding you, and please forgive me if I am, then you have some confusion about how no-follow works. You see, links *back* to your article, like those you might post as comments on someone else's blog, are the ones which are affected by no-follow. If they're not followed, Google won't "follow" them back to your page and give them weight (or at least, only a minuscule amount).
If people are leaving comments on your own article, they might be trying to link out to their sites, but they aren't linking to yours. Follow or no-follow doesn't affect you the same way in this scenario. In fact, leaving no-follow on for comments on your site keeps your pages from "leaking link juice" out to your commenters. Meanwhile, each comment posted on your site tells Google that your article is updated and active, making it look good and potentially climb in rankings.
I hope that clears things up and I didn't completely misunderstand your scenario. If I did, though, I think the other possible interpretation is answered by the other posters.
Yeah a few of you did misunderstand me, but I understand your misunderstanding!
I know all about how links, backlinking, nofollow and dofollow links are suppose to work.
What I am saying is that somehow, when people leave links on MY site via comments, that seems to make that page go up in rank.
I know, that is not how it is suppose to work. But it does.
Every single time a post of mine gets comments, it gets more popular, ranks higher and gets even more comments.
Even though those links are nofollow. Yes I know they would not supposedly benefit me anyways since they are links on my site, not theirs.
But it does.
Oh, I see what you mean (I just read your first post again and it sounds clear now).
This is interesting. I didn't know comments would affect your SERPS.
It could be that Google somehow does value outgoing links, or maybe for blog types of pages Google specifically watches the number of comments left? Or, as readydesigns suggested, just the fact that your page gets updated gets Google's attention and admiration. I think the last explanation is the most likely.
Either way, thanks for sharing this. Good to know.
by Dennis L. Page 11 years ago
Why do people write personal fan mail notes, but yet haven't commented on an article?Am I the only one who sits in utter amazement at people who send personal fan mail notes telling you how wonderful, inspiring, creative and informative your writing is, only to find out they have NEVER even written...
by Michael Willis 13 years ago
It there a way we can allow comments and at the same time "Disallow" the hyperlink? Especially for the non-members of Hubpages.Sometimes the comments are OK to allow, but I may not want the link on my page, especially when multiple links on multiple hubs are the same. I know I could...
by Shawn May Scott 12 years ago
I am still new to Hubpages and have been enjoying a rather successful start. Thank you to those who have voted my articles up and those few of you who have begun to follow me. But I have noticed one thing of late and maybe it is the way it goes but I think it is disrespectful. I have commented on a...
by Mark dos Anjos, DVM 14 months ago
Since this feature was deleted, HP staff have told us that this would be reinstated. It does not matter to all of us, but I know that in my case the readers find it very helpful. A former staff member told me last year that this would become a reality in June of 2021. That did not happen. If it is...
by Audrey Hunt 9 years ago
I just added an external link to a comment in hopes of helping the reader. I now find out this will make my hub a 'no-follow.' How can I correct this?
by Randi Benlulu 10 years ago
Do you think it is important to add follow-up comments when people answer your questions?When I answer a question or leave a comment on someone's hub, I appreciate some awknowledgement. I feel surprised (and a bit "cheated" when there is no response) Am I setting my expectations too...
Copyright © 2024 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2024 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |