DOFOLLOW Blog Link Test

We know that the NOFOLLOW attribute was introduced to stop people gaining any bennefit from blog comment spamming.

Its now widely accepted that most blogs have the NOFOLLOW attribute applied to all comment links.

There is a lot of speculation that finding Blogs that don't have the NOFOLLOW attribute applied is benneficial. These can be termed DOFOLLOW Links.

I have set up a test on DOFOLLOW Blog Link Test.

It would be nice to get a couple of links to the test page to get it rolloing, then once its indexed I will see where it sits, then get some DOFOLLOW Blog links and see what an effect that has.

I'm interested in this test.

I put a link to your page in my (DoFollow) SEO blog.

Well, the blog is in french, but a link is a link, isn't it?

Thanks, I will keep the site updated as to progress with this test.

The location is not an issue to test out this DOFOLLOW link weight.

While I don't mind sharing to further the science of SEO [OK well the understanding of SEO] the underlining and absolutely undisputed fact... "even if there is any value on gaining comment links - it's SPAM!"

Let's take an example...100% of the publicly posted comments on Matt Cutts' blog are "on post topic" and provided without any thought of a backlink... what do you think his comment pages would look like if they were:

1. do follow and
2. unmoderated

ANSWER: comment after comment of crap to the extent that his superb blog is nothing more than a spam catcher and that reduces the quality of the blog and trust of the domain ... your link is then worthless.

If you're going to test the value of dofollow comments you really got to put the test in a real world environment - e.g. every post is full of...

"camel prewar blastozooid hypermorph loyolism cyanoaurate duplicity sulphuric my link anchor is here"

"nice post mexico canada pharmacy"

"I didn’t agree with you first, but last paragraph makes sense for me… so online poker"

... what are we testing here?

A Valuable Valid Technique? or SPAMMING!

...you can pretend 'til the cows come home that no one interested in valuable SEO linking strategies would spam for links in comments... but that's a lie... 100% of the time... the only people that use this technique can't be bother to make their own domains interesting; so they need to spam sites that are; just because their not.

Just because a domain opens itself up for this... doesn't mean your link is wanted or desired... and I highly doubt anyone that can't afford to provide value-added to a domain they wish a link from [with permission] will provide that value-added without that permission.... they got no problem adding spam though... it's copy, paste, submit, DONE!

SPAM!

@Fathom:

I agree with your post and I think tstolber is trying to prove the exact same thing: posting comments on dofollow blogs for SEO benefit is worthless. Maybe after his experiment his complete, a lot of people will learn that it's a pretty weak tactic and move on to more quality approaches.

Oh wait, no they won't, but we can try pointing them in the right direction.

Is this is a test or link bait , unfortunately I dont have dofollow blog to help you in the test but I will get you some comments from some SEO blogs

I have done many similar tests but I would like to see more to reclassify my link building techniques efficiency. That is what SEO community needs less talk and more tests.

Trying to prove whyat?

"A link is a link"?

... the jest of the experiment will show that... "a link is a link"... it won't show anything until the post page has something to share with the comment attached page... and at that point the comment page has something to share with the links leading off...

We know this be the very fact that Google invented rel="nofollow" to provide blog owners control over what links get something and what links get nothing [and blog developers 'mostly' made rel="nofollow" the default setting [not Google]...

So just like any domain that provides a 'one way link' the blog via comments is no different...

What the experience "won't show" is the futile effort this all is...

As tstolber requested he needs links to show "something" -- "anything"... and that's the point!

Any blog that has "do follow" doesn't have naturally gain lionks and likely doesn't have a strategy for gaining links and any blog that you don't need to post a comment of value [e.g. spend a fair amount of time writing providing a natural setting for why reader need to click to find more info... and surely you'll not be able to easily create that natural setting blog after blog so you back to spamming]... and if you're comment [and link] isn't helpful it's moderated out... and if not the "test isn't for those blogs" this test is for successful blog that "if" the changed them nofollow to dofollow -- and stop moderating comments... this would be the value you'd get [for a short period].

In the end - this is the same as: proving "walking to work is heathier than driving"... but if you're always late is walking healthier the real issue or not have a job because your never on time?

Yeah the point of this test, and any other test I do is to provide answers and prove things with FACT.

So many people on this forum come on here with theories and ideas and there is a lot of talk and contraversy and not much proof.

Thats why I got this section added to SEO Chat and I am more than happy do futher testing.

As to the suggestion the idea is link bait, I can see why someone may think that. I did ask for suggestions intially but I didn't want to dilute the relevance of my site and it is a very uncompetetive keywords. I don't expect to get any business out of this.

I am open to suggestions and other tests if anyone wants to set up another test domain.

My thoughts are this will have a very small effect on a very uncompetetive keyword. Do I waste my time doing it? NO!

I am a very analytical person. You can't realy argue with data and proof so I inted to do lots of tests that provide answers to many of the SEO fabels and Myths that exist.

I agree... you can't argue with with data and proof ...

This however is what you will prove... [IMHO]

1. without building the link juice up on the post page - the comment page has zero chance of being helpful to link building so you've proven in this situation that this endeavor is useless for link building.

OR

2. build the link juice up on the post page so it can actually pass something to the comment page and then you've proven that comment spam is a worthwhile endeavor.

...and like you said "It's hard to argue with the evidence for either case" -- unfortunately [if I'm right] what did you really prove?

I guess my question to you is which way do you want your experiment to go? ...because the outcome "depends" on what your specific biases are.

If comment links didn't work [at all] why did Google invent rel="nofollow" if links in comments don't work?

You can easily bias results by asking for link help to start with... or putting up a phenomenial piece of linkbait that gains unprecedented links "naturally"...

Course neither situation is a natural environment for those blogs that allow links in comments.

Be that as it may - I recommend "no one link to the post" for a few months.... and then "everyone add a link to it" and you will see that:

1. yes it is a worthwhile endeavor "if" [and the if's are many]

a. superb linkbait that receive vast amounts of links
b. only a couple new posts per month
c. few categories
d. ...allow links in comments
e. doesn't have volumes of comments with links in them

OR

2. no it isn't a worthwhile endeavor "if" [and the if's are many]

a. poor post quality
b. volumes of new posts per month
c. lots of categories
d. ...allow links in comments
e. has volumes of comments with links in them
f. un-moderated or limited moderation

Did this test ever get a conclusion?

I just searched and your top 10 for the term. So with everything that has been said, what are the conclusions?

Hi

No it didn't. I got hardly any links to it initially.

It could be concluded now.

If a lot of people go and link to it from relevant blog sites we can watch what happens.

I am guessing not much. I do see a few people finding that page for searches but I haven't bothered with the test because there was not much interest in it.

I am happy for it to continue though.

I think what is more interesting is many seo's still leave comments even if the link is no follow. I have heard they can still help and can show up as backlinks even if they are nofollow.

Any thoughts on if the no follow for blog comments is a solid barrier or not?