I'm pretty sure Google is doing this as a preventive measure against the hordes of spammers that are going to try and use the service to artificially boost search rankings for their lame made-for-adsense and affiliate sales sites.
Chip Griffin
· 1 year ago
Agreed with one clarification needed, I think. I have seen some blog posts so dense with links that they can become hard to read. For instance, in this post you mention Twitter and don't link to it -- and I agree with that choice. Links should be saved for when you are adding value. If I refer to a series of companies in a post but am not focusing on them, I often will not link because it clutters the post and distracts from my message. But I if I were focused on Twitter or LinkedIn or those sites added real value to my discussion, I would link. Make sense?
Gordon Brander
· 1 year ago
I like your take on it, Chris.
It's interesting to think that when you link, you're not just building a network of intention, you're also building a network of who you are--your personality on the web. It's like a networked version of integrity, or a good name; you can't fake it, the only way to get it is the slow way and it's worth gold.
@Gordon - forgot about that guide. Brilliant! Thank you!
@Michael - well, true. I agree with THAT part, but that's what sparked my post, not really my intent to call them out. : ) Thanks for reminding me that I didn't close THAT loop.
Jim Spencer
· 1 year ago
Chris, I notice that each commenter on your blog gets a link that is no followed. Can I give you any grief for that in the context of this discussion?
Jeff O'Hara
· 1 year ago
The problem is spam is ruining the trust in links for everyone. What google needs to do is some sort of "trust" system. I have no idea of the feasibility of this, just thinking out loud.
-Jeff
Chris Cree
· 1 year ago
NoFollow is a classic case of punishing the innocent to try to stop the guilty. Google originally suggested its use to combat spam.
Three years later it should be obvious that the nofollow anti-spam initiative has failed miserably. Just look at the Akismet figures with 90+% of the comments coming through as spam today.
Spam is still on the rise in spite of nofollow. There has got to be another way to deal with the problem, preferably one that actually deters spam instead of just filtering it or "nullifying" the link juice for it.
Louis Gray
· 1 year ago
Using links wisely is a huge deal. We talked a lot about this back in September, and got good conversations with Engadget, Mashable and others. Those who over-abuse internal links don't add a ton of value to the blogosphere as a whole.
Outbound links from trusted content providers are worth their weight in gold.
I judge links by trying to quickly see what the intent is.
For instance, Chris, you don't have Adsense running on your blog, to me that gives you more credibility.
I've seen many blogs that have links auto-placed by services such as Kontera's ContentLink. To me this just erodes the quality of the links. I'm 80 percent less likely to click on any link in any post if I see the person is running something like ContentLink.
Linking is critical to the "wormhole" network. I read your blog, you link to someone, I go there, see that person has few people I've never heard of on their blog roll and off it goes.
BTW, love FriendFeed.
Britt Raybould
· 1 year ago
Another thing to consider is what the links say about you beyond your personal opinion of the individual you're linking to. Links are a great way of giving people insight into where you're coming from and where you're going. The broader the link offering in someone's writing, the more intrigued I am by what they have to say and the more I think they have to offer. I may not agree with a particular point someone is making, but if they've provided the link to what sparked the thought, I can gain a greater understanding. By exploring these link networks, I think we're increasing our opportunity to be exposed to new ideas that might not otherwise cross our paths.
steve Garfield
· 1 year ago
Hey Chris,
Thanks for linking to that guy's photo. Flickr does not make it easy for you to do it in the manner specified by his CC license, BY.
What Flickr needs to do is to include HTML code for photos other than your own, so that it's easier to link to.
Plus, they also need to include in that code, links back to the creator AND CC License information.
It would be SO easy for them to do this. I've discussed this with the Creative Commons people, and we agree.
Now only to get Flickr to add this feature.
communicatrix
· 1 year ago
Until Flickr gets its act together and makes it dead simple to give proper credit, might I suggest the following idjit hack:
1. Create a piece of boilerplate in an autotype program with everything but the actual link to the photo itself. TextExpander (from whom I receive no renumeration!) is esp. great b/c you can set it to move the cursor to where you want to start typing.
2. Write your entire post, upload your photo from Flickr and link it.
4. While you still have the URL in your computer's memory, scroll down to the bitter end of your post and type your shortcut, then paste that URL in the appropriate spot (like I said, TextExpander is the bomb for this.)
This allows you to build in as much excellent info and linkage as you like with a minimum of time & keystrokes.
For example, when I type in my shortcut--"ffl"--this pops up...
...with the cursor automagically in the space b/w "by" and "via." (Hopefully, your blog doesn't convert the html, but if it did, you can just select the link to see how many characters I stuffed into that shortcut.)
I also like to go back to Flickr and leave a brief thx. note as a comment, along with a URL, both as a backup way of making sure they see their photo in use and a way to let other users know how much this photo is beloved!
Anyway, this is a long-ass comment, but I'm telling you: setting up this system has saved me insane amounts of time and made me feel better about sharing linkage.
communicatrix
· 1 year ago
Bah!
Okay, now I feel like (more of) an ass. I uploaded a screenshot of the WP editor so people can see what the hell I'm talking about.
And remember: it just took three characters (and some setup time) to get there!
Michael Martine, Blog Consulta
· 1 year ago
hanks for reminding me that I didn’t close THAT loop.
I don't know if I'm the Christ, or the Anti-Christ. I'm just here to help.
Michael Martine, Blog Consulta
· 1 year ago
And perform cut-and-paste errors, apparently. :)
Jim Spencer
· 1 year ago
Photo Dropper offers a solution that is the real bomb if you are in the Flikr photo, CC and WordPress soup!
For those not on WordPress, but using Firefox and GreaseMonkey, check out GetFWA (get Flickr with attribution) - which you can use with any blog platform.
All Comments
It's interesting to think that when you link, you're not just building a network of intention, you're also building a network of who you are--your personality on the web. It's like a networked version of integrity, or a good name; you can't fake it, the only way to get it is the slow way and it's worth gold.
I really like A List Apart's styleguide on linking. It's thoughtful and has become my personal guideline for linking.
@Gordon - forgot about that guide. Brilliant! Thank you!
@Michael - well, true. I agree with THAT part, but that's what sparked my post, not really my intent to call them out. : ) Thanks for reminding me that I didn't close THAT loop.
-Jeff
Three years later it should be obvious that the nofollow anti-spam initiative has failed miserably. Just look at the Akismet figures with 90+% of the comments coming through as spam today.
Spam is still on the rise in spite of nofollow. There has got to be another way to deal with the problem, preferably one that actually deters spam instead of just filtering it or "nullifying" the link juice for it.
Internal Linking On Some Tech Blogs Is Out of Control
http://www.louisgray.com/live/2007/09/internal-...
I judge links by trying to quickly see what the intent is.
For instance, Chris, you don't have Adsense running on your blog, to me that gives you more credibility.
I've seen many blogs that have links auto-placed by services such as Kontera's ContentLink. To me this just erodes the quality of the links. I'm 80 percent less likely to click on any link in any post if I see the person is running something like ContentLink.
Linking is critical to the "wormhole" network. I read your blog, you link to someone, I go there, see that person has few people I've never heard of on their blog roll and off it goes.
BTW, love FriendFeed.
Thanks for linking to that guy's photo. Flickr does not make it easy for you to do it in the manner specified by his CC license, BY.
What Flickr needs to do is to include HTML code for photos other than your own, so that it's easier to link to.
Plus, they also need to include in that code, links back to the creator AND CC License information.
It would be SO easy for them to do this. I've discussed this with the Creative Commons people, and we agree.
Now only to get Flickr to add this feature.
1. Create a piece of boilerplate in an autotype program with everything but the actual link to the photo itself. TextExpander (from whom I receive no renumeration!) is esp. great b/c you can set it to move the cursor to where you want to start typing.
2. Write your entire post, upload your photo from Flickr and link it.
4. While you still have the URL in your computer's memory, scroll down to the bitter end of your post and type your shortcut, then paste that URL in the appropriate spot (like I said, TextExpander is the bomb for this.)
This allows you to build in as much excellent info and linkage as you like with a minimum of time & keystrokes.
For example, when I type in my shortcut--"ffl"--this pops up...
Image by via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.
...with the cursor automagically in the space b/w "by" and "via." (Hopefully, your blog doesn't convert the html, but if it did, you can just select the link to see how many characters I stuffed into that shortcut.)
I also like to go back to Flickr and leave a brief thx. note as a comment, along with a URL, both as a backup way of making sure they see their photo in use and a way to let other users know how much this photo is beloved!
Anyway, this is a long-ass comment, but I'm telling you: setting up this system has saved me insane amounts of time and made me feel better about sharing linkage.
Okay, now I feel like (more of) an ass. I uploaded a screenshot of the WP editor so people can see what the hell I'm talking about.
And remember: it just took three characters (and some setup time) to get there!
I don't know if I'm the Christ, or the Anti-Christ. I'm just here to help.
http://www.photodropper.com/wordpress-plugin/
Love it.
Thank.
Rino.
For those not on WordPress, but using Firefox and GreaseMonkey, check out GetFWA (get Flickr with attribution) - which you can use with any blog platform.