“NoFollow” is an HTML attribute that you can assign to a hyperlink to instruct the search engine crawler that it should not acknowledge this link while assigning a rank to the rank which has been linked to. “DoFollow” isn’t a real attribute. If a link does not have the “NoFollow” attribute, then it is considered to be a DoFollow link.
When you create a link within the content of your blog post, on the sidebar of your blog or in a comment, it is coded as: <a href="xyz.com">Anchor text</a>. If you want to tag the link as “NoFollow”, it should be coded as: <a rel="nofollow" href="xyz.com">Anchor text</a>. The part, rel=”nofollow” defines the link as “NoFollow”. If this part is not written, it means that the link is “DoFollow”.
When to use the NoFollow tag
You should not use the NoFollow tag for links which are associated with untrusted content. By untrusted content, I mean the content or comments which you don’t think are reliable, relevant or good enough to vouch for. NoFollow tag is also used for paid links (links that are associated with blog advertising options) and links to pages which don’t change usually.
Pros and Cons of using NoFollow tag
The pros and cons of using NoFollow tag on your blog are as follows:
Pros:
Using a NoFollow tag for a hyperlink to a site having untrusted content helps you to explain the search engine crawler that your blog or website has no relation to the other site. By doing so, you discourage spammers from targeting your blog and you prevent your blog from being linked to a bad neighborhood. Also, you retain your link juice within your blog and have the chance to get a higher PageRank. Now, if there are paid links on your blog and you tag them as “NoFollow”, you save your blog from going against the Google Terms and Services and avoid getting a penalty from Google.
Another benefit of using the NoFollow tag is saving time and bandwidth and not allowing the search engine to waste time crawling pages which you don’t want it to visit. Such pages could be your login or registration page or your “About Us” page or even your “Terms of Use” page. By using NoFollow tag for the links to these pages, you help the search engine crawler get enough time to visit pages which haven’t been indexed yet.
Cons:
There are several bloggers who post comments on other blogs just to leave behind a link to their own blogs, which helps to boost their search engine ranking. But finding that your blog allows “NoFollow” link, they may not comment because they don’t get the value through linking. So, your blog will certainly lose some activity.
Pros and Cons of using DoFollow tag
The pros and cons of using DoFollow tag on your blog are:
Pros:
When you keep your blog “DoFollow”, you’re actually encouraging others to link your blog with theirs, thus allowing them to get backlinks. When other bloggers indulge in conversations in the comments section, it results in good professional relationship which can further help you to promote your blog or the brand you’re associated with. When you have regular commentators, you can reward the ones providing real good feedback that are helpful for your blog readers. Of course, you shouldn’t forget to highlight the names of those commentators, preferably on your blog’s sidebar. This may boost their activity on your blog.
Cons:
The biggest disadvantage of making your blog “DoFollow” is dealing with spam comments, which is indeed quite irritating. You’ll have to spend a lot of time moderating your blog comments, most of which could be made by spammers trying to get backlinks for their blogs or sites. Your blog may also lose some authority having given out “DoFollow” links to other blogs or sites. So, you lose your PageRank, which can affect your search engine ranking as well.
It’s essential that you should be sure of what your goals are – whether you want to build up a community around your blog or you want it to rank higher on the search engine results page. Depending upon your goals, you should be selective when using the DoFollow tag for links to external sites from your blog.